“Hey, Mom,” he said, and pulled her into a hug.
She gave him a very tight hug in return and then took a step back.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” she asked, with that look on her face that he knew meant she was trying not to smile at him. “Dinner with my son, on a Monday night, when it’s not a holiday?”
He followed her into the house. This might not be the house he grew up in, but it smelled like home.
“Something smells incredible in here,” he said, bypassing her question for the moment. “Don’t tell me you made short ribs?”
She took the lid off the big pot on the stove and gave it a stir.
“Well, I know they’re your favorite, and even though it’s the end of April, there’s still a chill in the air in the evenings, so I thought we’d all like something cozy tonight. And you gave me enough warning that you’d be up here so I could start this early and have it simmering all afternoon.”
Luke lifted his hand to Pete, who was standing by the refrigerator. His mom and Pete had met because of him—he’d worked for Pete one summer in high school, and then a year or so later, his mom and Pete had started dating.
“Hi, Pete,” Luke said. “Good to see you.”
It was true, even though he’d had a full year there—at least—when he’d been furious at Pete for dating his mom. And furious at his mom for dating Pete, though he’d been more mad at Pete. At that point, it had been only a few years since his parents had gotten divorced and his dad had moved away. His parents were much better as friends than as a married couple, but he still hadn’t liked the idea of either of them with anyone else. But he’d moved past that eventually. It had helped—once he’d gotten over himself—to see how happy his mom was around Pete.
“Hey, Luke,” Pete said. He opened the refrigerator and pulled two beers out. “Want a beer?”
Luke grinned at him.
“Sure, thanks.” Though a beer made him think about the bar last night, which made him think about Margot, which made him think about things he did not need to be thinking about right now.
“Need any help, Mom?”
“No, no, it’s almost ready,” she said as she drained a pot of potatoes.
Within minutes, she’d mashed the potatoes, tossed the salad and ordered Luke to put it on the table, and dished up bowls of short ribs on top of creamy mashed potatoes for all three of them. Luke’s stomach rumbled as he carried the food to the table.
“So?” she said as soon as they all sat down. “Are you going to tell us what you’re doing in Napa on a Monday night? Is there a conference or something?”
Luke picked up his fork. And then he lost his head.
“I’m on sabbatical, so I moved back up here for a little while.”
Why had he said that? He wasn’t on sabbatical!
His mom raised her eyebrows.
“Sabbatical?”
Now he just had to go with it.
“Yeah, we can take sabbaticals after five years, and I’m overdue for one.” What was he even saying? “And I came up last week to help Avery move, and well, one thing led to another, and—”
A wide smile spread across his mom’s face.
“Oh, really? You and Avery? Oh, I’m so glad.”
She beamed at him.
Shit. His mom thought he meant he’d gotten back together with Avery?
“Oh, that’s not what I—”
“I should have known you two were back together when I saw that smile on your face. What a great reason for you to be back in town.”
Oh no, she looked so happy. He and Avery had dated for like five minutes when they were teenagers, and then had been best friends ever since, but his mom had hoped for years that they’d get back together, even though he’d told her a million times they were just friends. He had to correct her.
“Mom, it’s not—”
“I know, I know, I won’t get my hopes up that it’s forever,” she said. “But I have a good feeling about this. And the timing is perfect, with your sabbatical! And I get to have my son back in town for a while? I didn’t know they gave you sabbaticals there. What a great company that is. Do you want some water?”
She got up and bustled into the kitchen for water, before he could respond. Luke stared down at his food. He couldn’t let her keep thinking that he was dating Avery. He had to tell her the truth, about that, and his job.
But. What if he didn’t?
Just for the next week or so, while he got settled in, and figured everything out, and decided how he would tell her what had really happened at work, and started to make a plan for what he would do next. Then he could say, Oh, the Avery thing was all a misunderstanding, he didn’t realize she thought that, and then present her with his great new plan for his life.