Page 99 of Sizzle

Swinging by Dad’s first, be there soon.

“She’ll be along,” says Elliot.

Joelle’s dad had adjusted pretty damn well to our admittedly unconventional relationship. It helped that Connie outright demanded me and Elliot were obliged to come to Sunday family dinner, a weekly event Joelle tells us wasn’t even a thing until Connie decided to make it one. Which happened about a week after Joelle told her dad about us. I suspect Hank puts up with us because Joelle decided to keep staying with him after all. I know it gets awkward for her when she stays the night with us, but most nights she sleeps in her own bed.

I hate it. I hate her staying away from us. I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns—which reminds me of something I need to tell Elliot.

“I think today’s the day,” I say, setting my beer down on the table to my left.

Elliot looks over at me. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. What do you think?”

“I think you should have asked her New Year’s Eve,” he says. I snort.

“Right, because she didn’t have enough going on then,” I say.

“We’re all always going to have a lot going on,” says Elliot. “It’s life. And we’re going to have more of it than most people, since there’s three of us.”

“So you’re still on board with the idea?”

Elliot rolls his eyes. “Dude, I was on board with it before it even crossed your mind. Ask her already.”

I nod, picking my beer back up. The neighbor across the street shuts off his lawnmower, waving at us as he pushes it back to his garage. The sweet smell of cut grass drifts over, and I think it’s a sign. Spring is the season of beginnings, right?

This can be ours.

Elliot and I are talking about preseason when my phone rings.

“Hey Mom,” I say, standing up from the swing as I answer. I gesture at Elliot to grab the now-empty cooler and we head into the house.

“How are you, dear?”

“Great. Is everything all right? You sound a little hoarse.”

“Oh, I’m fine. Just a little souvenir from class last night,” she says.

“Class? Wait. I thought you were taking a cooking class.”

“I am. You’d like the instructor, dear. If it wasn’t for Elliot, I’d say he was just your type.”

My face goes pink and Elliot raises a brow at me, though there’s no way in hell he could have heard Mom from across the room like that. If I didn’t know for a fact that Mom adores Elliot and Joelle both, I’d be worried.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re all still coming to dinner next week,” she continues. “We started on soufflés this week and I can’t wait to try it on my own.”

Joelle and Elliot are directly responsible for Mom’s new cooking class obsession and as such, we’re her favorite test subjects. Mostly it’s fine... mostly.

“Soufflés, huh?” I say, catching Elliot’s eye and watching him wince. “We’ll be there.”

“With bells on,” calls Elliot, making Mom laugh.

“Tell that handsome man I said hello, and give my love to Joelle. Has she heard any more about the show?”

“Not that we’ve heard yet,” I answer. “Possibly this afternoon, though.”

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Andrew’s a big fan of her blog, so I’m supposed to keep the whole class in the loop.”

“Andrew’s your teacher?”