Temptation Ridge (Virgin River #6)(78)

“Yeah, but… See, she’s a little on the rigid side…”

Shelby laughed again. “Okay. Like Uncle Walt doesn’t get a little stiff? We’ll just set two more places. It could be fun. Stiff Uncle Walt and rigid… What’s your mom’s name?”

“It’s Maureen, but we’re not going to do that. We’re not getting them all together, like one big happy family. You know how I feel about stuff like that. I don’t like setting up those kind of expectations…. This isn’t… This can’t be…”

She laughed some more. “Will you please stop being so paranoid? It’s not an engagement party, it’s Thanksgiving. We bring together people who are important to us. You’re also bringing Art—and he certainly doesn’t complicate the whole family thing. My God, Luke. Lighten up.”

“It screws up my head, thinking about getting our families together. Maybe you’ve accepted me the way I am, but I’m not convinced your uncle has. And I know my mother hasn’t.”

“But that’s not an issue. That would be their problem. We’ve been over this—I know you pretty well, despite your efforts to be my greatest mystery.”

“You do, huh? Still, this whole family thing… It’s not what I had in mind.”

“I know,” she said. “What you had in mind was picking up a girl from out of town, having her in your bed at night and far away the rest of the time, with no connection to your day-to-day life. Unfortunately, we’re from the same town right now. And we have all the same friends.”

How did she know that? he wondered. He had never explained what he’d originally hoped this would be.

“But if you’ll just relax, everything will be fine,” she said. “We’re all good friends and neighbors. Let me ask you—would your mother mind coming to our house as opposed to having a nice private turkey with you, your brother and Art?”

He was quiet a moment and then said, in a pout, “No. She’d love it.”

She giggled. “Oh, I see. You’re afraid she’s going to like me….”

“Shelby, stop it. You know what my problem is with this.”

“Well, I guess your problem is with your mother, because I certainly haven’t given you any trouble. You and I—we knew what we were getting ourselves into. I have plans, you have plans, this is temporary. Isn’t that what you said? Temporary. So. It’s just a couple of families getting together for Thanksgiving.” She grinned at him. “I like Sean. He’s cute.”

“I think he’s an ugly, stupid ass**le.”

Shelby laughed at him. “There is going to be one inconvenience,” she said.

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“I’m not going to be able to spend the night with you while your mother’s here.”

He propped up on an elbow and looked at her. “You’re not?”

She shrugged. “I’m sorry. It’s a little old-fashioned, but that’s a bit too much for me. She’s your mother. I can’t stay here any more than I can bring you to my house while my Uncle Walt is down the hall. I hope you understand.”

“But Shelby, they know we’re…what we are.”

“Not quite the same thing,” she said. “I’m not doing it under the same roof with them. Maybe if we actually lived together, as in set up housekeeping, changed addresses, etcetera. But no—we’re a dating couple having sex. I’m not doing that with your mother in the same house.”

“If you can’t…”

“Sorry. I can’t. Out of respect. That’s just it. I won’t.”

“She’s staying five nights,” he said, running a hand along the hair that fell over her shoulder. “Five.”

“Well, I guess you’ll be some kind of maniac by the time she leaves. Maybe I can get Mel to prescribe something so you don’t go out of your mind.”

“That’s what you want?” he asked. “For us to be apart for five nights?”

“No, that’s how it’s going to be, Luke. We all have our ground rules. Now I want you to relax. It’s just dinner. It’ll be fun.”

“Sure,” he said.

There were two reasons he hadn’t been able to think of a way to explain why he couldn’t cross that line with his mother, either. He was stunned that Shelby hadn’t used the opportunity to pull him into a more serious relationship. And, he didn’t want to sound like a wussy mama’s boy.

But, he thought, it’s not supposed to be like this. This isn’t the way women acted. She was too cool. It was almost as though she wasn’t madly in love with him. She was deliberately passing up an opportunity to trap him.

Muriel and Walt spent a whole day driving through the mountains, looking for garage sales and antique shops. He’d never in his life done anything like this. Nor had he ever cooked for a woman or helped her restore a house.

She was folding and refolding a Garberville newspaper in her hands. “Okay, there’s a barn sale up the next road about a half mile….”

“What can you possibly need from a barn sale?”

“As I’ve explained fifty times, you just never know. I once bought an incredible hundred-and-fifty-year-old pine dry sink from a barn sale.”