She blinks and smirks, turning her attention to me. “Who’s your friend?”
“This is Van.” I motion to him with my hand out as if she hasn’t already been ogling him.
He approaches her, dodging the shopping cart. “Hello, Mrs. Kelly. I’m Van Adler.”
“Van Adler, huh? Are you the man my husband mentioned?”
Van side-eyes me and I inhale a deep breath. “We’re just getting groceries,” I say to change the subject.
“Oh.” She puts another grape in her mouth. “So, are you two dating?”
I feel as though I’m thirteen again at my first boy-and-girl dance and my mom just walked in and separated me from Jeremy Schmidt, putting a pillow between us.
“Mom…” I warn, but she smiles, clearly thinking this is funny. I should’ve driven us to Greywall to get groceries so we’d be away from everyone.
“I’m just wondering. You told your dad that you were just showing Van to Lucky’s and now I find you two in the parking lot of the grocery store.” Her perfect eyebrows rise and my shoulders slump.
Although it’s the weekend, she’s dressed as if she came from the office. She probably did. Since my dad isn’t with her, I know he’s probably working, and she hates being home by herself.
“Funny thing.” I glance at Van to make sure he’s up for this, but he has no way to prepare. He clearly doesn’t come from a big family, based on the comments he’s made, and he has no one here to ridicule him for his decision to move in with me. “Van answered my roommate ad.”
A grape falls from my mom’s fingers to the ground. Her eyes shift between Van, his tattooed arms, and me. “Oh.”
“I would like to point out that even though you all thought my ad was anal, I got someone.” I motion toward Van.
“Okay.” She seals up the grapes and grows serious when she looks at me. “Brin, may I have a word? You’ll excuse us, Van, won’t you? It’ll only be a moment.” She’s surprisingly polite.
“Sure, I’ll go in and start shopping.” Van turns toward me. “Anything you’re allergic to?”
I shake my head.
“I’ll see you in there.” He turns toward my mom. “It was very nice meeting you, Mrs. Kelly.” He puts his hand out between them and she shakes it.
“Please, call me Savannah. Welcome to Lake Starlight.”
Van beams, showing off his white teeth and my lips tilt up until I look at my mom and my small smile drops.
As he walks through the doors, my mom heads to her SUV, popping open the back door. “Tell me what is going on.”
I stuff my hands in my pockets. “I told you. He’s my roommate.”
“And?” She places a few bags in the back.
“And nothing. He’s renting Calista’s old room, that’s all.”
She nods, straightens, and closes the back of her SUV. “We don’t know anything about him.”
“First of all, you don’t need to know anything about him. He’s nice. And besides, Rylan talked to him.”
Her head rears back. “Did he?”
I nod. “I picked him and Calista up from the airport. Van arrived while they were there. So… as embarrassing as it was, Calista made Rylan give him a talk about how to treat me.” I chuckle, but she doesn’t.
Instead, she takes my hands. I stare at her perfectly manicured nails and soft hands. I’ve always wanted to be like her, but can’t help but feel as though I’m always just shy of her level of perfectionism.
“Your dad isn’t going to like this. He didn’t like seeing you with him on the sidewalk the other day, and now when he finds out the two of you are living together—” She winces.
“We’re roommates, not lovers living together.”
Her gaze veers to the grocery store and back to me. “That man isn’t going to stay platonic for long.”
“You’re stereotyping him. You’re stereotyping a man who looks just like Dad.”
She sighs because she has no rebuttal. “I knew your dad my entire life.”
“So what?” I shrug.
“I just want to make sure you’re ready for someone like him.”
“What does that mean?” My voice grows louder.
A few people heading to their cars turn around. My mom tugs on my arm to situate us on the other side of her SUV, blocking us from staring eyes.
“We don’t know anything about his family. What kind of guy is he? Why’s he in Lake Starlight? And the thought of you sleeping in the room next to him…” She blows out a breath. “You’re just so fragile.”
I rip my hands from hers. “I am not fragile,” I say through clenched teeth. “I can handle myself. He passed all the background checks. I need a roommate and he needs an apartment. You and Dad wanted me to move on, and I am.”
Her head rears back as if I slapped her. “Brinley,” she says with her last thread of patience. My mom is used to getting what she wants. I turn to walk away, but she grabs my arm. “What is with you?”
“Everyone treats me with kid gloves. And yes, I’m not entirely comfortable with it because I’ve never lived with a man other than our family members and Sawyer, but I’m doing it because I need a roommate and I need to move on at some point. I am not fragile.”
My mom’s hand drops. “Sweetie, you don’t have to live with a strange man to show everyone you’re moving on. Let your dad handle this. You can come home and live with us while Van stays at the apartment.”
“Mom.” I sigh and stare at my feet as an orange leaf blows past in the cool breeze.
“It’s just…” She doesn’t say anything more and my gaze lifts to look at her. “Nothing.” She shakes her head. “You’re right.” She cradles my cheek as she often does when she wants to convey her love for me. “This is your life, and you need to live it. So… please tell Van that I’m sorry if I came off harsh, I was just surprised. But if you need anything, you call.”
“Are you going to tell Dad?”
She purses her lips. “I have to, but I’ll try my best to convince him to stay out of your business.”
I wrap my arms around my mom, and she holds me just as tight.
“Thank you,” I say.
Her hand runs up and down my back. “It’s going to be in BuzzWheel though, with you two parading around the grocery store.” She draws back and puts her hands on my cheeks, staring into my eyes. “People want you to be happy, so they’re going to convince themselves things are developing between the two of you even if they aren’t. You should prepare him for that.”
The town’s anonymous gossip app will probably have a picture of us within days if it doesn’t already.
I nod even though I’m not sure I want to say anything to him about the app. Maybe it’s better if he never discovers it and sees what people say about us on there.
She kisses my forehead. “Well, go on in there, sweetie.”
My mom is the one who usually calls the shots on what we do with our lives, so I’m not sure why she’s being so easy on this one with me. I’m surprised she didn’t call movers right away and have me moved out.