“That sounds fine. Where should we meet you?”
“Oh, we’ll have a car pick you up at your hotel. Where are you staying?”
“That’s not necessary, really, we don’t want to put you out.”
Gorgeous Mr. Hunter stepped in. “Nancy, I’m afraid you’ll hurt my wife’s feelings if you say no.” He leaned in just a little bit with a hint of a smile, raised his eyebrow and lowered his voice. “But she doesn’t take no for an answer.”
My mom was like a teenager in that moment, giggling and blushing at his words. I could see where Jonathan got his charm, he was the mirror image of his dad. It’s a good thing Jay was there to bring my mom back down to earth.
“Joshua, that is very kind of you and Sarah to offer, thank you. I will answer for my wife, which rarely happens, believe me, and say yes!” Jay and Mr. Hunter began chuckling together like two old friends.
Jonathan’s mom shook her head and smiled as she rolled her eyes at her husband. “Okay you two, that’s enough. Honey, we’ve taken enough of everyone’s time. I’m sure that Skylar and her parents have things to do before we pick them up, which will be where again?”
“Oh, yes, sorry! We are staying at the Fairview.”
It was the least expensive hotel without being a motel and I could tell that my mom was a little bit embarrassed that they weren’t staying at a fancier hotel. Jonathan’s mom didn’t even flinch and I could tell that put my mom at ease.
“Okay, then we will pick you up at around 7:00 and then swing by and get the kids at the dorm. That should be plenty of time since the restaurant is close by. I hope you don’t mind a steakhouse.”
My mom and Jay loved going to Outback on special occasions so they both instantly grinned at each other. “Sounds perfect. Thank you again.”
“Not at all, well we will see you in a few hours. Enjoy your afternoon.”
“You too.”
Jonathan gave me a little wave as he walked off with his parents. I couldn’t believe what had just happened, it was like I watched it happen to someone else. I just met Jonathan’s parents and we were going to dinner with them! I turned to my mom and I guess I didn’t realize I had such a big smile on my face because she just stood there smiling at me.
“What?” I looked from her to Jay and then back to her. “Why do you have that big smile on your face, mom?”
“I could ask you the same thing, honey. Jonathan seems like a nice boy and his parents are so nice.” She was still grinning ear to ear.
“What, mom?” I was starting to feel embarrassed because I knew that my mom knew.
“Well, honey you could do a lot worse than Jonathan Hunter. He’s smart, polite and very, very handsome. He takes after his father.” She got a dreamy look in her eye as she talked about Jonathan’s dad and Jay caught on.
“What am I, chopped liver?”
My mom quickly hugged Jay’s arm and kissed his cheek. “Of course not, love of my life. I just can appreciate a good-looking man, that’s all. But no one compares to you honey.”
“Okay, you’re getting too mushy! For the record, Jonathan and I are barely friends, I don’t even know him very well.” I tried to sound nonchalant but it didn’t work, and besides, my mom knew me way too well.
“Honey, from the way he looked at you, I can tell that he wants to know everything about you.” She gave me a small smile and mindlessly rubbed my arm before turning her attention to what was in our cart.
“You let me know if he gets fresh with you Sky, and I’ll nip that in the bud real quick!” Jay had a serious look on his face and I was totally embarrassed that we were even talking about this. I appreciated that he wanted to protect me but, if Jonathan did get “fresh” with me, as my old-fashioned step-dad said, um, stopping him would be the last thing that I wanted!
“You guys, can we drop this please!” I really wanted to change the subject because I didn’t even know what was going on with me and Jonathan, and I was still trying to process the fact that we were going to be having dinner with him and his parents. My life felt like a dream and a mini panic set in when I realized I had no idea what I was going to wear. It must have been written all over my face because mom and Jay looked at me with worry in their eyes.
“What’s wrong honey? Are you feeling okay?”
I furrowed my brows and threw my hands up in the air in frustration. “I don’t know what to wear!”
They both chuckled at me. “Oh! You had us worried there for a second!”
“Mom! This is serious!” I let all efforts of trying to keep my cool fly out the window because I didn’t have to pretend with them.
“Honey, Skylar, you have plenty of nice clothes and I am positive that you have something in your closet that you can wear. Why don’t we go back to your room with you and we’ll help you find something, okay?”
Her voice always soothed me and I smiled at both of them. “Okay.”
We paid for our stuff and headed back to the dorms. When we got back to my room, Katie wasn’t there and Jay sat in the chair and read the paper while my mom and I devoured my closet. We were digging for several minutes without finding anything that I liked and I was starting to panic again when my mom pulled out a dress that had fallen to the floor. She vigorously shook it off and held it up.
“What about this one?”
I had forgotten about that dress. It was so pretty. It was the dress I was going to wear to my graduation, the one I wanted to show Bethany, and the one I thought Seth would love. I didn’t end up wearing it because I thought it was tainted and I couldn’t return it because it was a final sale. When I bought that dress I had Seth in mind because I knew he would love it on me, but after he cheated on me I felt that he didn’t deserve to ever see me in the dress I had bought for him. So I decided to put it away and save it for a special occasion that had nothing to do with high school. I wanted to create new memories for that dress so that it didn’t always remind me of what had happened the day I bought it. It would be perfect for dinner with Jonathan’s family.