Mira
Two months later
Tyler and I stand on the cement stoop of a single-story house in a middle-income Carson City neighborhood.
I am so nervous, I might hyperventilate.
The door creaks open and a pretty, middle-aged woman with bright red hair stands on the other side.
Tyler rests his hand on my lower back. “Hey, Mom.” He leans forward and kisses her cheek. “This is Mira.”
She lets us in, her eyes never leaving me. I feel bared, buck naked in front of this woman, when I’m wearing my warmest sweater and winter coat.
“Ah.” She nods, still eyeing me. She glances at her son. “I see.”
Tyler shifts nervously. “Mira’s my girlfriend I’ve been telling you about. We went to school together in Tahoe and recently reconnected. Remember? She’s the girl I tutored my junior and senior year.”
Madeline Morgan’s eyes shift in recognition and she nods. “Well, that explains it.” She smiles brightly and gives me a warm hug. “Welcome, Mira. Nice to finally meet you.”
I look at Tyler, and he shrugs, shaking his head, as if I shouldn’t worry about his mother’s strange comment.
“So, how did you two run into each other again?” Mrs. Morgan asks as she leads us to her backyard, where Cali and Jaeger are bundled up and drinking beers on the back patio. There’s no snowfall yet, and Mrs. Morgan still has a badminton net set up.
Tyler rubs his jaw. “Yeah, well, you see, Mira was in a bad situation. She’s been crashing in Cali’s room.”
His mom aims an intense look at him. “And where is Cali living?”
Tyler stares like a deer caught in the headlights. “With Jaeg?”
His mother’s mouth twists. “Hmm, seems my daughter has some explaining to do. I don’t like this, Tyler. This living together before you’re married. You know what that leads to?”
Shit. She’s not going to bring up sex, is she?
I glance desperately at Tyler, but he’s staring at his mom, a smirk crossing his face. “Cozy living quarters?”
His mom frowns. “Nice one, son.” She shakes her head, exasperated. “Babies. That’s what it leads to.” She points a finger at the two of us. “Keep that in mind the next time you get cozy.”
I cover my face with my hands. Most embarrassing moment ever.
Here I am, meeting Tyler’s mom for the first time, as his girlfriend, something I’ve only dreamt of, and it’s like I’m sixteen again, getting caught sleeping with my high school crush.
A choking sound erupts from my throat, and I realize I’m laughing. A bit hysterically, to be exact.
Tyler wraps his arms around my shoulders, chuckling in my ear. “She’s always like this. You’ll get used to it.”
I look up and smile. His gaze falters at the loving look I level at him, and he kisses me.
“Babies,” his mom calls from her place in front of the barbecue.
I hide my burning face in his chest.
“Hmm,” Tyler says. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you with my baby in your belly.” I look up, my eyes wide. His lips graze my ear. “When we’re ready. But we’ll be married by then.”
I squeeze him around the waist and kiss his lips clumsily, which he doesn’t seem to mind as his arms tighten around me.
“Enough PDA, Tyler,” Cali calls. “Get over here so I can slam your shuttlecock into next year.”
Jaeger rolls his eyes beside her. “Babe, you need to tone down the shit-talking.”
“What?” she says. “That’s how we do it.”
“I know, but—” He leans forward. “You know how you are with balls.”
A devilish look crosses her face. “This is a shuttlecock. But how am I with balls, Jaeger?”
He grins, tugging her chair closer to his. “Bad girl.”
Cali smiles at her boyfriend, then peers up at us. “Bring it, Tyler. I’m ready for ya.”
Tyler huffs out a pained sigh. “Give me a moment to whoop my sister’s ass. Should take me two, maybe three minutes.”
Tyler picks up a racket and Jaeger tries to give Cali pointers. I’m getting the impression that Cali super sucks and talks out of her ass. Kind of makes me like her even more. Especially when she talks shit to Tyler.
I smile and make my way to his mother. “Can I help you with anything, Mrs. Morgan?”
“Oh, sweetie, you can call me Maddie. I have a feeling we’ll be getting to know each other real well. One look at my son with you and I knew you were someone special. You might even be the reason he went from a fun-loving guy to a grump his senior year.”
I glance away. “I—I don’t know. I mean, maybe. But I didn’t mean to.”
She waves my words away. “He needed a kick in the butt. That boy can be stubborn. And look how much he appreciates you now.”
I smile, unable to hide how happy her words make me. “I care about him.” It’s a simple statement, and so incomplete when I consider my feelings for Tyler.
She grins, turning the corn on the barbecue. “Oh, I know. He wouldn’t be with you if this wasn’t something special. Never seen him look at a girl the way he looks at you.”
“Mom”—Tyler’s voice startles me, and I glance up—“quit giving away my secrets.” He approaches from a few feet away.
Behind him, Cali plops onto Jaeger’s lap with a frown on her face.
That was a quick ass-whooping.
“She knows you love her,” his mother says. “I’m not a blind woman, and neither is she.”
Tyler rolls his eyes, sending me a wink.
Maddie is right. I see it now. Tyler’s love. We were both blind.
“You know, Tyler,” his mother says, “now that those royalty checks will be rolling in, you should think about buying yourself a house. Plant some roots.”
“Already on it,” Tyler says. “I had my real estate agent contact the owner of Cali’s place. It suits me, and it’s where I wrote the book.” He leans closer. “And where I rediscovered my true love,” he whispers in my ear.
Apparently, Tyler wasn’t as lazy as everyone thought. While he was “regrouping” and living at Cali’s place, he wrote a book. The Nose Knows is a popular science book that his agent says will be gobbled up by laypeople and biologists alike. Some professors may even make it assigned reading for students. Apparently, it looks at new research on olfactory senses and attraction and is highly entertaining, which for a biology text is difficult to come by. The students who have seen the manuscript are raving about it.
Tyler returned to our hometown because he needed a place to recover from his loss and guilt over what happened in Colorado, but his intellectual talents haven’t been wasted. I should have known Tyler would make something of himself no matter where he landed.
“You’re buying the cabin?” I say.
Tyler mentioned he was considering buying a place in Tahoe, and I knew he’d spoken to a realtor. I didn’t know he was considering buying Cali’s place. Which is really her old place, now that she’s permanently residing at Jaeger’s.
He nods, his face suddenly serious. “Is that okay? Because I can—”
I beam up at him. “It’s perfect. Only”—my mouth twists as I consider the furniture—“can we get a new couch?”
Tyler tucks me close. “Are you kidding? We are buying all new furniture. That place needs to be dragged into this century.”
I laugh. “You realize that will involve shopping.”
“Yes, but this is for our place. For our life together.”
I touch his strong jaw and he leans down to kiss me.
We were meant to be together. And now we finally are.
Dear Reader,
You may be wondering about Nessa and Zach, since I’ve more than hinted at a little somethin’-somethin’ going on. Grab the next book in the Men of Lake Tahoe series, HOOKUP MASTER, and discover how Nessa finally manages to get out of the friend-zone with Zack.
Xoxo,
Jules