“Mom. I love you. I appreciate you. But don’t worry about me. I’m fine.” She suddenly wanted a glass of wine, but she resisted the urge to flag down the waiter.
Bracing herself for another round of questioning or more advice, Tuesday shoved her pasta around on her place.
But her mother just stared at her for a long moment then said, “I know you’re fine. You always are. But I want more than just ‘fine’ for you.”
Suddenly, those words knocked the fight out of her. Tuesday’s shoulders slumped and she was horrified to realize that tears were in her eyes. “It’s too soon to be more than fine. And yet, here I am totally laughing and enjoying myself with Diesel. That’s not right.”
Her mother reached across the table and patted her hand, her dark eyes filled with love. “Of course it’s right. Do you honestly think your father would have wanted you to be miserable indefinitely? You know he wanted you happy. And you know he respected Diesel quite a bit. He would be thrilled.”
She would not cry. She would not cry. So she just nodded so violently her teeth clanked into each other.
“Now let’s order some tiramisu and gloat over the fact that we don’t have to fight the battle of the bulge.”
Tuesday gave a laugh, followed by a deep breath. She could do this.
All of it.
DIESEL had thought he would feel awkward picking up Tuesday now that he knew the truth about his feelings for her. I mean, come on, he had just admitted to himself he was in love. The big L. That didn’t happen very often. It was a big freaking deal.
He should be nervous. But the truth was, the minute she got in his car and smiled at him, wearing a short summer dress that showed off her long legs, he was immediately at ease. Well, not all of him. A certain part was instantly at attention.
Especially when without hesitation she just leaned over and gave him a sweet, delicious kiss, filled with both passion and tenderness. It wasn’t how she usually greeted him. So far, his initial moments with Tuesday usually involved sarcasm and/or demands. But he had to say, he liked this a whole hell of a lot.
“Now that’s a hello,” he told her when she finally pulled back.
She just gave him a soft smile. “What’s up?”
“My dick.”
“I was trying to ignore that. Because if I pay attention to it, we’ll never make it to the movies.”
“Would that be such a bad thing?” That’s what Netflix was for.
“No, I suppose not.”
She didn’t say it with any flirtation. In fact, she seemed a little distracted, so Diesel let it drop. He backed his car up out of her driveway. “I can hold out until after the movie. So how was dinner with your mom?”
“It was okay. I confronted her about her lunch date with Tom Reynolds and she told me he’s recently remarried after having lost his first wife. They were just sharing grief stories.”
He would have thought she’d sound more relieved than she did. “Well, that’s good, right? Your mom isn’t dating.”
“Yeah, but I’m still a shitty daughter. I should have been happy if she was happy.”
She was way too hard on herself. “I don’t think anyone would be cool with their parent jumping right back into dating a month later. You can’t beat yourself up for having totally natural feelings.”
“Yes, I guess.” But she didn’t sound convinced. “What are we seeing?”
“They show classics at the drive-in. I thought we could see The Exorcist if you’re cool with it.” She didn’t strike him as the kind of woman to be afraid of a horror movie. He could pretty much guarantee she’d already seen it.
“That sounds romantic.” She rolled her eyes at him. “But actually, that’s fine with me. I love that movie.”
Of course she did. It was amazing to him how well he felt like he knew Tuesday already after just a few weeks. “You never said you wanted romantic. You just said you wanted to see a movie.”
“Isn’t it obvious that all women want romantic? Even when they say they don’t?”
Was that a trick question? “I plead the fifth on the grounds that I might incriminate myself.”
She laughed. “Oh come on, I didn’t ask you if my ass looks fat. It was just the kind of question you’re supposed to agree with.”
“In that case, yes. I agree. And for the record, nothing could make your ass look fat. Your ass is perfect.”
“Why thank you.”
Then Diesel thought through what she’d been saying. So if all women wanted romantic even when they didn’t say it, what did that mean? “Wait. So you don’t want to see The Exorcist?”
She groaned, pulling her necklace out of her cle**age, where it had dipped. “No, I said it was cool. And it is. Don’t overthink it.”
It was a bit of a problem he had with her. Was it because he really wanted to make sure she was happy? Or was it because he was whipped? Either way, his friends were right—he needed to quit being such a wuss. She was the kind of woman who just said straight out whatever she was thinking, so there was no reason for him to sit there and try to interpret her words. They were exactly what they were.
Which meant he could relax. Just enjoy.
When they pulled into the drive-in, Tuesday read the marquee and gave a happy exclamation. “Okay, I changed my mind. They’re playing Lady and the Tramp, too. We so have to see that. We can catch The Exorcist next week.”
He liked that she was just assuming they would be spending the next weekend together as well. But he wasn’t thrilled about the idea of sitting through a cartoon.
“You don’t mind, do you?” She gave him a pleading look. “It’s just so sweet when they share that piece of pasta and wind up kissing. I haven’t seen it since I was a kid.”
Whipped. He totally was. He could not resist those eyes of hers. “Sure, of course.”
Forty-five minutes later, he was regretting his quick concession. He was so bored he was struggling to stay awake and the girl dog’s voice was the only thing preventing it. Every time she spoke it was like razors to his eardrums. He’d eaten an entire box of candy trying to give himself something to do other than groan in agony. Tuesday had been remarkably silent the entire time, which he took to mean was her being absorbed in childhood memories and joy.
Until she suddenly said, “This movie blows. Why did I like this as a kid?”
He had no answers for that.