I parked outside my parents’ house and glanced at Brooke. She had a coat on over her dark blue off-the-shoulder dress. It had wide sleeves and a brown leather belt, and she’d put on the knee-high boots I loved so much. Her long hair draped around her shoulders and she wore the necklace I’d bought her recently—a silver chain with a little corn cob charm. For Iowa.

She smoothed down her dress. “Are you sure this is okay?”

I smiled, my eyes moving up and down, unabashedly enjoying the sight of her. “You look beautiful.”

“Maybe I should have worn the long one,” she said. “Are you sure this isn’t too short?”

“I like this one,” I said, glancing down at her legs. I wanted to fuck her later in those boots. “It’s not too short.”

“Okay.”

I leaned over and kissed her. “You’ll be fine. My parents won’t bite.”

“Get a room,” Charlie said from the backseat.

I glanced at him in the rear-view mirror and scowled. That was rich, coming from the guy who’d spent most of the almost-two-hour drive making out with his girlfriend in the back seat. Those two were like a couple of teenagers.

My parents had asked me to come home for dinner tonight. It had been a while since I’d seen them. Charlie had invited himself along—which was normal. He usually came with me when I visited my parents. My mom was a great cook, and she always made enough food to feed an army. Charlie coming along meant Olivia too—those two were only apart when forced by things like work.

And it was the first time I was bringing Brooke home to meet my parents.

Before we’d started dating, I’d invited her to come to Waverly with me and Charlie a couple of times, but it hadn’t worked out. I knew my mom had been leery of Brooke—and, to be fair, her circumstances had been a little questionable—but now I couldn’t wait to show her off to my family. My parents knew we were together, but I hadn’t officially introduced them. This felt like a big step, but a good one.

I kissed the back of Brooke’s hand. “Ready?”

“I think so.”

We all got out of the car and I took Brooke’s hand in mine.

“Wow, you grew up here?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Why, does it look different than you imagined?”

“Very. You said small town Iowa. I was picturing an old-fashioned farmhouse, not a freaking mansion.”

I glanced up at my parents’ house. It was nice, but it wasn’t a mansion. It did have a four-car garage—my dad was really into cars—and a covered porch supported by white columns. The exterior was a combination of wood and brick, and lights glowed in most of the windows.

“It’s not that big,” I said.

Brooke just squeezed my hand.

I opened the front door—didn’t bother to knock—and ushered everyone inside. Brooke paused in the entryway and glanced around.

“Hey, Mom,” I called out. I could hear noise coming from the kitchen and the scent of food filled the air, making my stomach rumble. “Something smells great.”

I helped Brooke out of her coat as my mom came down the hallway. Except when I glanced up, it wasn’t my mom.

It was Cami.

Charlie started coughing behind me. I stared at Cami, like a deer in headlights. She looked the same as I remembered—wavy blond hair, light pink cardigan, floral skirt, heels. But what was she doing here?

“Hi, Sebastian,” she said, her voice hesitant as her eyes swept over the four of us.

Brooke looked up at me, then at Cami. Instinctively, I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close.

“Hi.” My brow furrowed and I was relieved to see my mom come down the hall. She better have a good explanation for this.

“Good, you’re here,” Mom said, but her smile faded when her eyes landed on Brooke. “Oh. I didn’t realize you were bringing… guests.”

“I texted you, Mom,” I said. “Did you forget to check your texts again?”

“I guess so,” she said.

The awkwardness level was off the charts. Cami’s cheeks flushed and she seemed to be trying very hard not to look at Brooke. Charlie finally stopped coughing and Olivia patted him on the back, quietly asking him if he was all right. I kept my arm around Brooke, my hand on her bare shoulder.

I’d never felt this way in my parents’ house before. Defensive and territorial, my instincts on alert. This place had always been home, but tonight it felt like walking into a trap.

I decided to ignore the fact that my ex-girlfriend was inexplicably here, at least for the moment. “Mom, this is Brooke. You met her once before, but that was quite a while ago. And this is Olivia Harper.”

My mom blinked when I said Harper, but quickly recovered her manners. “It’s lovely to meet both of you. Hi, Charlie.”

“Hi, Mrs. McKinney,” Charlie said. “Uh, hi, Cami.”

Cami gave him a weak smile.

“Well, isn’t this lovely?” Mom said. “I’ll set some extra places at the table. There’s more than enough for everyone.”

My mom went back to the kitchen, Cami close on her heels. Charlie met my eyes, giving me a what the fuck look. I just shrugged. I didn’t know what was going on. I held Brooke back while he and Olivia went into the kitchen.

“I’m so sorry about this,” I said, keeping my voice low. “Cami is… well, she’s my ex-girlfriend.”

“Yeah, I gathered that,” she said.

“I have no idea why she’s here,” I said. “My mom is friends with her mom, but I thought she lived in Chicago or something. I haven’t seen her in years.”

“She’s from… before?” Brooke asked.

I nodded. “High school. Early college. I’ll get my mom alone and ask her what the hell is going on when I can. But if you’d rather go…”

Brooke put her hand on my chest. “No, we don’t have to leave. It’s fine.” She glanced toward the kitchen. “I just hope Olivia doesn’t make it worse. She’s really good at that.”

“Yeah, this is going to be interesting.” I touched her chin, tilting her face up, and planted a soft kiss on her lips. From the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Cami watching us from the other room, but when I looked up, she wasn’t there.

I led Brooke into the kitchen where everyone else was standing around. My dad came out of his den and looked even more surprised to see Brooke and Olivia than my mom had. He gave Mom a sidelong glance—there was a distinct I told you so in his expression—and politely greeted both of them.

God, this was going to be the weirdest dinner ever.

Mom asked Cami to help her pour wine, and it didn’t escape my notice that Cami seemed to know where everything was. Brooke and I both declined a drink.

“Oh my god, Seb, look at you,” Olivia said. She stood in the hall just outside the kitchen in front of all my old wrestling pictures. “You look so different without your beard.”

“Yeah.” I wished my parents would take all that shit down. “Those pictures might as well be a different guy.”

“They’re still you,” my mom said with a smile. “You’re still the same.”

Hearing her say that didn’t sit well with me, but I wasn’t sure why. Brooke slipped her hand into mine and squeezed. I glanced down, and she met my eyes with a comforting smile. It was like she understood what was going on inside me, even when I didn’t.

“I barely recognize you with that baby face,” Olivia said. She turned to Charlie. “Did you look this young when you were a wrestler?”

Charlie usually kept a few days growth of stubble, rather than a thick beard like mine. But we’d always had to shave when we were wrestling. He rubbed his jaw. “Yeah, except I’m way better looking.”

“You wish,” I said.

Cami helped my mom get the food on the table. We all sat down and passed things around, dishing up our plates. The tension in the room was so thick I was surprised any of us could breathe.

My mom’s expression was calm, but the worry lines in her forehead deepened every time she looked at me. My dad was either oblivious, or choosing to ignore the awkwardness. Charlie met my eyes with an amused grin. He was clearly enjoying my discomfort. I kind of wanted to punch him in the face.

Brooke stayed quiet. I put a reassuring hand on her leg.

“This is really good, Mrs. McKinney,” Olivia said. “Thank you.”

Mom smiled. “You’re very welcome.”

My dad cleared his throat. “Sebastian, how’s the new semester going?”

“It’s good,” I said. “I’m taking a full load.”

“That must be about it, then,” he said. “Almost finished with that business degree?”

“Not quite,” I said. I’d been back in school for the last two years. With the credits from my first year and a half at U of I, I should have been almost finished. But I’d thrown in some extra math classes that weren’t required for my major. And I wasn’t so sure about that business degree anymore. But I hadn’t discussed that with anyone yet—especially not my parents.

“Well, hurry it up, son,” Dad said. “I need you at the dealerships. As soon as you’re finished with school, that assistant manager position is yours.”

“Family business,” Olivia said. “Nice. Are you and Brooke planning to move out here, Seb?”

The tension heightened, but either Olivia didn’t notice, or she’d said you and Brooke on purpose. Charlie choked back a snicker while Olivia looked at me with an innocent smile. Definitely on purpose.

“I’m not sure,” I said. “We haven’t really talked about it.”

“Of course he is,” Dad said, apparently ignoring the and Brooke part of her comment. “That was always the plan. Waverly is home.”

I just shrugged. I didn’t want to talk about this.

“Well, Cami, how are you adjusting to life back in town?” Mom asked, giving Cami a pleasant smile.

“I’m really happy to be back,” Cami said. “There were things I loved about Chicago, but I realized life in the big city isn’t for me.”

“No, you’re a Waverly girl at heart,” Mom said. “You’re right where you ought to be.”

Cami nodded and her eyes flicked to me. “I think as we grow up, we learn more about what we want in life, and it isn’t always what we once thought.”

“So very true,” Mom said. “It’s perfectly normal to experiment a little when you’re young. Maybe go off to college, or live somewhere new. Make new friends. But home always brings you back if you let it—back to the people you’re meant to be with.”

For fuck’s sake, this was ridiculous. My mom couldn’t have invited Cami in an attempt to get the two of us back together. But the way she kept looking at Cami, then at me—and ignoring Brooke—made it really fucking obvious that was exactly what she was doing.

I squeezed Brooke’s thigh under the table, then grabbed the half-empty bread basket and stood. “I think we need more bread. Mom, can you come help me with that?”

She opened her mouth like she was going to say the basket wasn’t empty, but I leveled her with a hard stare. Plastering on another smile, she put her napkin aside and stood.

I stalked into the kitchen and tossed the basket on the counter, then led her into Dad’s den. I didn’t want everyone at the table to hear this.

“What is going on?” I asked, keeping my voice low. “Why is she here?”

“Cami?” Mom asked. “She moved back to Waverly recently. I thought it would be nice for all of us to reconnect.”

“Did you forget what she did?” I asked. “I know you’re friends with her mom and you never wanted to say anything bad about her. But she left me when I really needed her. That doesn’t bother you?”

“That was a difficult time for everyone,” she said. “And people grow up and mature. They change.”

“So I’m supposed to overlook the fact that she bailed on me because she couldn’t handle it when things got hard?” I asked.

“She was young,” Mom said.

“I can’t believe you’re making excuses for her,” I said. “You, of all people. I was dying, Mom. If she was the person I was meant to be with, she would have stayed.”

Mom took a deep breath. “I know, honey. I was angry at Cami for a long time, too. It put a lot of strain on my friendship with her mother. But she came to me recently and we had a very long talk. She deeply regrets what she did, and she wants the chance to apologize to you.”

“I’m not angry at Cami,” I said. “And it’s nice that she wants to apologize. That’s fine, I don’t hold a grudge against her. I moved on. But if you think you’re going to orchestrate some kind of reunion that’s going to lead to me dating her again, you need to get that out of your head right now.”

“Well—”

“Mom,” I said, cutting her off. “My girlfriend is sitting at the table across from her. I didn’t bring Brooke to dinner because I wanted a pretty date. Have I brought a single girl home since I got better? No, not one. Because I was never serious about anyone. I’m serious about Brooke. I’m in love with that woman and you better get used to it, because if I have my way, she’s going to be around for a very long time.”

“Honey,” she said in a soothing tone that was really getting on my nerves, “I can understand why you’re interested in Brooke. She probably seems very exciting. But she’s not the kind of girl you settle down with.”

I gaped at her, speechless. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Did you really just say that to me?”

“Sebastian, you’ve been through a lot,” she said. “But your illness is behind us now. Things are back to normal. You can finish school and move back here to work with your father. I’m sure Brooke is a very nice girl, but I don’t see how she fits in with your plans.”

I’d never been so angry at my mother. My back tightened and I balled my hands into fists. I needed to get out of here before I said something I’d regret. “Mom, I love you, but I’m leaving.”

“Sebastian…”

She tried to say more, but I was already walking back to the dining room. Everyone looked up from the table, staring at me in alarm. Except Charlie. He still wore that smart-ass smirk of his.

“Let’s go.”

Charlie’s face sobered and he nodded, touching Olivia’s elbow as he stood. Brooke bit her lip, her eyebrows drawing together with concern, but she got up and followed me toward the front door.

“Sebastian, where are you going?” Dad called from the table.

I didn’t answer. There was no way I was letting them disrespect my woman like that. I should have turned around and walked out the second I saw Cami. That was my mistake, and I’d apologize to Brooke for it when I was calm. For now, I just needed to get us the fuck out of here.

We piled into my car and I pulled out onto the street. I gripped the steering wheel and ground my teeth, anger flowing like liquid silver in my veins.

“Sorry,” I said.

Charlie acknowledged me with a silent nod. I didn’t have to say anything else. He understood me.

Brooke reached out and touched my leg. I took her hand and brought it to my lips. Placed a hard kiss on the back of it. I twined my fingers with hers and squeezed, trusting that she understood. I wasn’t angry with her. I just needed time to calm down.

If my parents thought Brooke was some kind of experiment—a phase I’d outgrow—they had another thing coming.