Page 47 of Stay With Me

His eyes grew slightly. “Oh.”

Her expression was coquettish, but she didn’t say anything else so he reeled his mind back in and parked the car.

Before stepping out, he turned to her and kissed her cheek. “Thanks for coming to do this. They’ve been wanting to meet you for a while.”

“Well, I’ve been wanting to meet them too. So thanks for inviting me.”

As they made their way through the front door, Nick was a bundle of excitement and nerves. Excitement because he’d never introduced a girl to his parents before, and nerves because … well, he’d never introduced a girl to his parents before.

He wasn’t worried about his dad as much as his mom. She was definitely the type to tell embarrassing stories and break out baby pictures.

“Hello!” Evelyn chortled as soon as they stepped into the kitchen.

Nick kissed her cheek. “Hey, Mom. This is Samantha.”

“You can call me Sammie.” She laughed politely. “He does.”

“I’m Evelyn,” his mom said, shaking Sammie’s hand. “It is so wonderful to finally meet you, Sammie. I thought I would be on my death bed before Nick finally found himself a nice girl.”

Nick rolled his eyes discreetly.

“Mom—”

“Don’tMomme, dear. Just open the wine,” Evelyn directed and grabbed Sammie’s arm, pulling her to sit down at the kitchen table. “And keep an eye on the dish in the oven. Make sure the pear doesn’t burn.”

Sammie laughed. “Are you sure you want to put him in charge of that?”

“Well, I’ll be able to supervise him from here.”

He rolled his eyes again as the women chuckled at his expense.

“Hey,” he retorted as he poured a glass of wine for each of them. “I’m not completely inept in the kitchen. I can handle monitoring fruit and vegetables.”

Sammie smiled up at him and squeezed his hand as her laughter died down. “Of course you can, honey. You show those fruits and veggies who’s boss.”

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

“You can always count on my support.”

Evelyn bubbled with an enamored expression as she looked at Nick with extreme approval before turning back to Sammie. “Are you from Austin too?”

“I grew up in Georgetown and I lived there until I moved to San Marcos for college.”

“You went to Texas State?”

“I sure did.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with Texas State,” Nick added from the other end of the kitchen.

Sammie lifted her gaze to the ceiling briefly. “I have a tiny inferiority complex because Nick basically got to live out my academic dream, whereas I settled for a program that I knew I could pass and pay for out of pocket.” She flicked a teasing glance at him. “And now I have a riveting career in human resources management.”

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with that, dear!” Evelyn reiterated. “There’s something to be said for being in charge of maintaining professionalism in the workplace.” She paused to sip her wine. “Wouldn’t you say so, Nicholas?”

He shook his head slightly as he opened the oven to poke one of the pears with a toothpick. “Your subtlety isn’t lost on me, Mom.”

“I’m saying that I’m pleased,” Evelyn went on. “And that I was right.”

“You’re always right. These are done.”