Tessa takes the armchair and I stand next to her, my arms behind my back out of habit.
“Mom…”
“Trent Tanner is the mystery man you’ve been seeing,” Caitlin says, waving a hand.
Tessa glances at me and I almost shrug. I don’t know what to tell her. Her mother is a shrewd woman.
“Well,” she goes on. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
When Tessa just stares at her mother, I step forward with a nod.
“Yes, ma’am,” I say. “Your daughter and I are in a relationship. I’m crazy about her and she means the world to me.”
My voice becomes choked with emotion, something which seems to surprise them as much as it surprises me.
“I know this will seem crazy to you,” I say. “But it all started two days ago. I walked into the diner and I saw her standing there, looking beautiful and captivating, and I just knew I had to be with her. I don’t want a fling. I want to be with her, dedicate myself to her, and that’s what I plan to do.”
“Two days ago?” she gasps, looking between us like we’ve gone crazy.
“I know,” Tessa says. “It seems so fast. But I feel the same, Mom. I want to be with him. We’re together, really together. This isn’t some fling. I wanted you to know because you deserve to know. I love you and I don’t want to lie to you.”
She keeps staring, like any second we’re going to deliver the punchline to some joke.
“Does the age gap not bother you?” she asks matter of fact. “With all due respect, Trent, you’re my age. Tessa just turned twenty-one a few months ago.”
“It doesn’t bother me,” I snarl passionately, unable to stop a flicker of rage from entering my words.
The rage isn’t directed at Tessa’s mother – no man should get angry at his woman’s mother – but at the idea that something as stupid as age could stand in the way of what we have.
“Tessa is the perfect match for me. She’s silly and funny and talented and intelligent and caring and beautiful. But it’s more than that. It’s a feeling, a fucking fate-fueled feeling, and I know how crazy that sounds and I apologize for cursing. But it’s the truth. I didn’t even believe in fate until yesterday.”
“Neither did I,” Tessa murmurs, her voice cracking with tears.
I can’t fight it anymore. I reach over and touch her shoulder.
She darts her hand up and grabs onto me, telling me I made the right choice.
Her mother stares at us for a moment longer, and then she lets out a laugh. At first, I think she’s making fun of us, but then I see the joy-filled smile that spreads across her cheeks and the tears that glisten in her eyes. She laughs and laughs and I glance down at Tessa, judging her expression.
She’s smiling.
“It’s crazy, alright,” Caitlin says once she’s recovered. “It’s the craziest freaking thing I ever heard. But look at the two of you. I’ve never seen two people, well, crazier about each other in all my life. I know Tessa better than anyone, Trent, and I’ve never seen her like this before. I’ve never seen her so… so free.”
“Free?” Tessa mutters.
“All those nerves, all that self-consciousness, all that anxiety—it went away the second Trent put his hand on your shoulder. If you’re both happy, I don’t care how unconventional this is. I don’t care about the age gap.
“I wish you the best. Because all that matters to me is your happiness, Teepee, and there’s no way I can deny that. I can’t even try to deny it.”
Tessa rushes over to her mother, wrapping her arms around her. I clear my throat as budding emotions try to escape me, gripping my hands behind my back to stop myself from punching the air.
Caitlin hugs her daughter and peers at me over the top of her head, giving me a silent message with her eyes.
Take care of her, she tells me.
I always will, I roar back silently.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Tessa
I drive to Trent’s early, relieved that he got my car fixed. It’s running smoothly now, no longer making those cranking and jerking noises I had become so accustomed to.
The past three days with Trent have been like a dream – kissing, making love, fucking and holding each other, and talking about how bright our future will be – but now it’s time to wake up.
Angie is getting home soon and we have to tell her.
It could shatter everything we’ve built.
Shock rioted through me when mom burst out into laughter.
I thought she was laughing at us for a moment, but then I saw the kindness in her eyes, the support glimmering there, and I knew she wanted the best for us.
I pull up outside Trent’s house—outside Angie’s house.
The sun shines brightly over their well-tended lawn.
Trent sits on the porch with one leg laid across the other, his cellphone held to his ear. He doesn’t see me and for long moments I watch him, studying the way his lips shape into a smile, or as close to a smile as Trent Tanner can get.
He’s talking to Angie. I just know it.
I climb from the car and he stands when he sees me approaching, laying his cellphone on the table. He’s wearing a sports T-shirt and jogging bottoms that hug closely to his body, highlighting the gargantuan muscles that drive me wild, that will never stop driving me wild.
We stop bare inches from each other on his lawn, close enough for me to scent the sweat from his workout. It reminds me of the way he smelled when we devoured each other in the cabin, and then after in his bedroom back here.
It was better than I ever could’ve dreamed it would be, the way we collapsed into each other and consumed each other like nobody else existed, like the rest of the world was just a lie.
“I’ve missed you, Snapshot,” he growls.
“I’ve missed you too,” I murmur. “Which is crazy, right?
