Page 47 of No More Hiding
“Yes,” he said again.
“Girlfriend for sure.”
At least she wasn’t asking if he’d slept with her. “What’s your point to this?”
“My point is, I’m excited. I’m thrilled. Overjoyed. Give me a minute and I’ll come up with a few more words. So yes, you’re coming on Monday and you’re bringing both Sammie and...what’s her name? Oh my, I didn’t ask her name.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself.”
“No, I’m not. You need to catch up. You’re thirty-five years old. Do you know the last time you had a girlfriend?”
“No,” he said.
“That’s right. Neither do I. I know it was after college, but it’s been years. I swear you and Tyler are making me suffer by not bringing home some nice girl.”
“What makes you think she’s nice?” he asked.
“She puts up with you so she must be. Name, please?”
“Vivian Getman.”
“Very pretty name. I bet she’s a pretty girl too. My boys are so handsome. What does she do? Tell me about her.”
He let out a sigh and wished he hadn’t answered the phone now. “She’s the woman who cut my hair.”
“She’s a saint on more than one level. Yes, she is. I can’t wait to meet her.”
“I don’t know if you are going to or not.”
“Please, Brent. We both know how this is going to turn out.”
His shoulders dropped. “With me there on Monday with Sammie and Vivian.”
“That’s right. So I’ll see you Monday. I’m so glad Maureen pushed me into having this cookout like I used to.”
His jaw hurt he was grinding his teeth so hard. He should have known. Maureen had been absent from his dreams lately, which was totally unlike her when things were going on in his life.
“Why am I not surprised,” he said.
“I know you’re pacifying me when I talk about Maureen. I get it. But it makes me feel good to see her. It’s like she’s still a part of our lives.”
“She’s still a part of it,” he said sarcastically.
“Now, now, Brent.”
“Yeah, I get it. I’ve got to get back to work.”
“I’ll see you on Monday. I’m sure you’ll be able to talk Vivian into meeting your family.”
His mother hung up before he could get another word in. He had a few hours before he’d talk to Vivian again and time to figure out what he was going to say.
At eight thirty,Vivian’s phone went off with a text. She was unloading the dishwasher and reaching for it to see a text from Brent asking if they could talk.
She knew what it was like to get a text like that and was dreading it.
Here she was thinking things were going well between them.
No, they hadn’t slept together yet, but she was planning on it this weekend. She figured they’d both waited long enough and the dancing was getting tiring on each of their ends.