Chapter Thirty-Six
Annie – Saturday, One Week Later
“Oh my goodness, you’re like an excitable child,” Mom giggled at me, as I checked the window again to see if Justin had arrived yet.
I really was desperately looking forward to seeing him again, and even more so for him to meet my mom. Okay, so I was a little scared, too, but mostly I was looking forward to it.
He’d been true to his word, calling to me every day, even sending me flowers once or twice throughout the week to Boffees, making me feel very special. This was different now; we were on the way up, and I was really pleased for it.
It was actually him who suggested he meet my mother, and rather than feel nervous like the last time I’d introduced my family to a guy I was dating, I felt really positive about it. Mom would love Justin, I just knew it.
“I know,” I smiled happily at her, glad that she could see me finally moving on. She’d been worried about me shutting myself off from the world ever since Billy got locked up, so it was nice to be able to show her that I was fully capable again. “I just can’t wait to see him.”
“Ooh, it’s so lovely to see you so head over heels for someone, I honestly didn’t think that we would ever see the day.”
“Me, neither,” I admitted. “But I’m glad that I finally got there.”
“And this Justin seems amazing, too. Not only has he taken to Rae really well, but he’s got your book published, too. I always wanted you to do that.”
Now that the publisher had come down to meet with me and I’d signed all the contracts, things were really moving quickly. It was obvious that Justin had impacted on them massively because they were rushing publication of my book to the front of the line. “I can tell that writing is a real passion of yours, and it’s lovely that you can focus a bit more on that.”
She was angling to find out my plans with Boffees now that I had a three-book contract to complete, but I wasn’t giving away any details just yet. “I can’t wait to start writing again,” I admitted. “And it’s something that I can do in the shop during quiet hours, too, so I can combine them both… Oh my God,” my heart stopped dead in my chest as I spotted his car pulling up. “He’s here.”
Rae rushed happily to the window, almost yelling out with joy as she spotted him. She really did adore Justin, and I was glad that I could bring him into her life easily. I’d always assumed that bringing a new man into her life would be hard, but the unusual way Justin had done so had bridged that gap for us. I hadn't yet told her that we were involved, but I was sure that she’d already worked it out. She was far too switched on not to.
“Grandma, Mommy’s boyfriend is here,” she yelled as she ran to the door, proving my point exactly. Mom and I laughed as we followed her behind. I never wanted to hide anything from my daughter, except maybe the nightmare with her dad, but I didn’t think I could anyway.
I’d explained to Mom earlier on in the day why I didn’t want to explain everything to Rae right now with regards to her dad. I wasn’t sure that she fully got it because she knew as well as I did that the truth would come out eventually, but she respected my decision at least. I wouldn’t keep it from her forever, because with the Internet, it hardly seemed worth it knowing that any other way of finding out would be so much worse, but I didn’t want to do it now. Not when she was still so young and innocent.
Maybe one day, I would dig out pictures of Billy, but for now, I just needed to focus on Rae’s happiness. The subject hadn't come up for a while now, so maybe she’d decided to drop it for the time being.
As I introduced Justin to my mom, I did so with a massive grin on my face. I could already tell that they were going to get on like a house on fire – probably too well for my liking – and the contrast between this and my last situation was apparent. Not only was Justin everything that Billy wasn’t, he was willing to stick his neck out to make Mom happy, too, which he proved by bringing her a whole selections of gifts.
I wanted to leap on her to find out what she thought of him, but it quickly became obvious that I wasn’t going to be able to get her alone. Not that I needed to; it was obvious that she adored him from the offset. Even as she cooked, Justin helped, and he was entrancing her with every passing second.
“Do you think that Grandma likes Justin?” I asked Rae quietly, still needing that second opinion from someone. That turned out to be a massive mistake, because the next thing she did was race into the kitchen to ask her outright, in front of him.
“No,” she told me with a smile as she scooted back into the front room. “Grandma said he’s awful, but I think she was joking.”
“Yeah,” I nodded happily. “I think so, too.”
***
“…and then I watched through the window as she pulled off that awful, flowing skirt, to reveal the shortest mini skirt known to man,” Mom chuckled and I rolled my eyes at her.
Maybe embarrassing stories were a big part of meeting the parents, but she hadn't stopped. She was about two seconds away from pulling out the old humiliating photographs of my geeky younger self to really complete the shame. “Her dad chased her down the street, and all the neighbors ended up coming out to cheer him on.”
“Mom, I don’t think Justin wants to hear about my lame teenage attempts to be cool,” I said as firmly as I could muster. “We all know now that I was a nerd. Justin wouldn’t have even looked twice at me in school.”
“Well, no,” he admitted with a sorry smile on his face. “But that’s partly because I was older than you, and mostly because I was an ass back then. Sorry for the language, but that’s the only way to describe me. I was an arrogant little sod, so you probably wouldn’t have liked me either.”
He could probably see Annie the teenage nerd, but I couldn’t picture him being awful. Ever since I’d met him, he had been nothing but lovely to me, the kindest person I’d ever known. Maybe it was good that we’d met when we had, when we were both ready for one another.
“Ooh, I know,” Mom smiled, getting up from the table. “Why don’t I go and get some pictures?”
“Of course,” I shook my head and laughed. “This wouldn’t be complete without terrible pictures.”
“I want to see!” Rae insisted, making it so much worse. “I think you were very pretty when you were young.”
At that moment, I held my breath, preparing myself for the mention of other photographs, but luckily, it didn’t come. Rae was far too involved in Justin for that. I knew that fascination with him wouldn’t last forever, but for the time being, I was really glad of it.
“Oh wow,” Justin chuckled, taking a handful of images to look through carefully. “You really were very pretty. Maybe I would have paid attention to you, after all.”
“Oh, ha, ha,” I teased. “Yep, you would have loved me with the braces, and the high-waisted, knee-length skirt that I had to wear to school.”
“But that mini skirt…I might have enjoyed seeing that.”
That night I wanted to go to a party with Billy, but Mom and Dad had flatly refused. It was back in the time where I thought I was finally coming out of my shell, becoming the butterfly that I’d always been destined to be, and I’d assumed, very wrongly I might add, that the mini skirt highlighted that. I’d thought for the very first time in my life that I looked sexy. Now, with hindsight and an adult wisdom, I could see that I just looked like a desperate fool.
Billy had always brought out that side of me, which should have been my first clue. I could be myself around Justin. I didn’t feel like I had to worry about anything, and that was the way it should always be.
***
Rae got herself so worked up that she actually ended up falling asleep in my mom’s armchair. I offered to get her up and to take the car asleep, but Mom insisted that she wanted her to stay. That was sort of the plan, anyway. I’d packed her an overnight bag, but I didn’t want Mom to feel overwhelmed.
“No, you guys go, have a nice night,” she smiled at us both. Then, as she pulled me in for a hug, she finally whispered her opinion into my ear. “He’s a keeper. Don’t let this one go anywhere.”
That made me so happy, I loved the fact that they got along. It would make things so much easier in the future. I’d made an internal promise to myself as Mom was proven right that I wouldn’t ever date anyone that she actively hated again, and the fact that both she and Nancy liked Justin had to be good. Never again would I be so stubborn as to assume that I knew better than the rest of the world.
As we got into Justin’s car, I could tell that he was happy with the way that things had gone, too. He obviously wanted to impress my mom, and he’d done an amazing job of it. “Your mom is lovely,” he told me happily. “I had a really nice day with her.”
“Yeah, I bet, learning all about my humiliating childhood,” I laughed appreciatively. I didn’t really mind about being the butt of all jokes when it made everyone else get along so well. “What joy!”
“No, you were cute!” he insisted. “That adorable haircut was something else.”
“Mom made me have that,” I replied, shoving him playfully. “Now get me home and you can make me a cup of coffee, make up for laughing at me all day!”
“Now that is a plan that I can get on board with,” he smiled towards me. “It’s all that I’ve been thinking about all week long. Well, maybe not so much the coffee…”
With that, my mind began to wander and I couldn’t help but think about all the things Justin was going to do to me when we go back to my place. It wasn’t often that I got the house to myself, and even less so with a gorgeous man by my side. I couldn’t wait to take full advantage of that.
“And, if you can find a mini skirt, then even better.”
“I haven’t had a mini shirt for years, but I’m sure I can roll this one up!”
I loved the fact that I could tease Justin, and him me. For most of the time that I was with Billy, I wasn’t really living, just tiptoeing around on eggshells, trying desperately not to say the wrong thing. I had become so accustomed to that life that I wasn’t really sure that there was anything else out there. Now I could see just how wrong I’d been. I couldn’t have ever lived my whole like that, especially not now, knowing that things could be so much better.
I don’t know what that was, but this was love. This was exactly what I wanted to happen for the rest of my life. This was the man that I wanted to marry.