The Perfect First (Fulton U, #1)(44)

“Seph.” Her voice came out as a cross between a squeak and an exhalation of relief.

“Reece brought you all the way out here to fish?”

“He—I’ve always wanted to fish, so he was nice enough to take me.”

“You hate fishing.” The laughter in Mom’s voice matched the deep frown on my face. “Wait until your dad hears about this.”

“I’ve fished before.”

Seph looked at me, and she figured out my angle.

“Don’t think you’re running away without coming to the house for dinner, and you need to clean those hooks before your dad sees them.”

Dammit, clean getaway hampered by Mom. This should be fun.



SEPH

We pulled up to Reece’s parents’ house, and there were three cars in the driveway of the two-story red brick home. There were blue slatted shutters on either side of the windows facing the street, and a bright red door that made it look like something off of a Hallmark card.

There were colorful Christmas lights strung up along the gutters and all over the roof even though it wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet. Inflatable cartoon characters in Santa hats waved back and forth in the gentle winter breeze.

Reece shut off the car. His hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Be prepared. My mom is going to bombard you with questions. You don’t have to answer them. My sister will probably want you to teach her how to braid her hair like yours.”

“And your dad?” My stomach knotted. If he was anything like mine, it would probably be best if I just waited in the car.

“He’ll like you since you know nothing about football.”

His mom came to the front door and waved at us.

He let go of the steering wheel and climbed out of the car. I grabbed my bag off the floor and he jogged around the front of the vehicle, opening the door for me. “If she asks if you’re my girlfriend, just tell her—” He glanced over his shoulder. Turning back to me, he licked his lips, his breath coming out in small puffs. “Just tell her things are new and we’re not putting a label on it.” He stared up at the house.

“Sorry I made you bring me out here.”

“I invited you, remember? We’ll eat some food, my sister will make fun of me, Mom and Dad will try to hide their mini make-out sessions from everyone, and they will fail. That’s the basic rundown of how things will go. Be prepared.”

I nodded. Somehow this was scarier than all the other firsts: first family dinner. I’d been to math department mixers, even some small dinners at the professors’ houses, and I’d of course had dinner with my own parents, but that might as well have been with strangers for how much talking was done. Usually, it was my dad talking at me and telling me what I’d messed up that day.

This was something wholly different.

“Let’s go.” Reece held out his arm with the fishing rods in it and let me go first. His other hand settled on the small of my back, and the warm feelings that shot through my body seemed to deposit themselves right there in my cheeks. Our kiss on the dance floor had been better than I could have imagined.

It wasn’t my first. My first kiss was actually something I’d already done. No need to include that on my list. It had been at a museum overnight with other teens. I’d begged Mom to take me and she’d persuaded my dad to let us go.

Pretending I was going to check out the T-Rex skeleton, I’d snuck off with a boy who’d smiled at me every time I looked at him throughout the visit. I’d gone back to my sleeping bag wiping his slobber off my face.

Maybe I shouldn’t have counted that one.

“Seph, I’m so happy to meet you.” His mom wrapped her arms around me like we were friends reuniting. She rocked me back and forth before letting go and stepping back so we could enter the house.

The warmth inside wasn’t just from the heat. There were pictures lining the walls, and each child had a frame with eleven little oval cutouts surrounding one larger one. The small ovals were filled with their pictures at different ages, and the largest oval was from their high school graduation. Pictures covered every available space on the walls, laughter and happiness filling every corner.

“Take those to the utility room,” his mom said without even looking at him. She held my hands in hers. They were warm and soft and reminded me of my mom, but her gestures weren’t stifled and held back.

“You’re the first girl I’ve been able to convince Reece to bring home.”

“I don’t think he’s a bring girls home to Mom kind of guy.” I cringed. This was his mom—what was I saying? “I mean…” My mouth opened and closed, trying and failing to grasp at the words, any words to shove what I’d said back into my mouth.

“Oh yes, my son the ladies’ man. They can be like that until they find the right person.” She looked at me like I was that person.

“Honey, why is Reece in the garage with my rods?”

The deep baritone from behind me made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. He was going to be pissed. I braced myself.

He walked around me and put his hand around to the back of Reece’s mom’s neck. I cringed, my neck aching. Instead of tightening his grip, though, he gently brought her close and pressed his lips against the side of her head.

“You know Reece, always getting into trouble.” She smiled at him like there wasn’t anyone else in the world.