Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
I have to take a breather after that patented Parker ramble, but I’m ready to go again the moment she brings up something I forgot to touch on.
Instead, she smiles a faint, watery smile.
“What?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “It’s just funny. You and Hayden used some of the same arguments. His were more authoritative, of course.”
“Of course,” I say, smiling mildly.
“But he also assured me that while the optics may not be great, this is a very manageable situation.”
“It really is.”
“And that it’s better if Landon likes you because at least then I don’t have to worry about him being mean to you,” she adds, trying to get on board.
“An excellent point. You don’t have to stress about going out to dinner with your husband because some psycho might be trying to hurt me at home. He’s just cuddling me on the couch while we watch house flips. Totally an improvement over our previous situation.”
Mom cringes. “In some ways, yes. In others…” She looks at me. “I know you want to convince me this can be a totally normal situation, but under normal circumstances, I would never allow my teenage daughter to live with her boyfriend.”
I nod, ceding her point. “That’s one of the weirder aspects.”
“Living together totally changes the dynamics of a romantic relationship, honey. And this one is new. I don’t even know how new. How long has this been going on?”
“Not long,” I murmur, mentally counting back the days. “But it isn’t totally new. I know it’s weird to think about, but Landon has had his eye on me for a while. It’s why I never went on any dates before. Any guy who asked, he scared them off.”
“How comforting,” she says dryly.
“You were never going to get to pick out my first boyfriend,” I point out gently. “I get that you would have probably preferred a nice guy who doesn’t live in the same house as me…”
“I dream big, what can I tell you?” she says dryly.
I crack a smile. “But I think it was supposed to be Landon. I knew in middle school, it just took him a little longer to figure things out.”
“Yes, well.” She brushes a piece of invisible lint off her skirt. “Boys are stupid.”
I laugh, and she looks up at me with a reluctant smile.
“If we’re going to even attempt this, there will have to be rules,” she states.
I nod, though I feel a bit reluctant. It has been nice living in the wild west era of our relationship, no rules, no labels, no complications aside from our personalities.
“I don’t even know how to go about setting them because this is such an unusual situation,” she adds.
“I’m not sure, either,” I admit. “I don’t think we need a ton of rules. You know me. You know I’m responsible. You know I’m not a reckless person.”
“I do, but everything I know about Landon is exactly the opposite of that. I don’t even understand what you could possibly have in common.”
“Not much,” I say honestly. “This is definitely one of those opposites attract situations, but I think it works. We balance each other out. You and Hayden are nothing alike, either,” I point out.
“That’s true,” she allows. “But we do share values. When it comes to the important things, we pretty much see eye-to-eye. And even when we don’t, we respect each other enough to compromise.”
“Trust me, Landon respects me. He does compromise. I know you don’t see it, but he has already.”
“And you’re so young, honey,” she says, shaking her head. “You’ve never even been in a relationship before, let alone one this serious. Living together… it forces the serious aspect of the relationship to develop at a much more accelerated pace.”
I can’t tell if this is what she’s worried about, but in the interest of honesty and sparing her that uncertainty, I decide to be completely truthful. “In the interest of transparency, I know this is awkward, but… um, we have already slept together.”
Knowing dread passes across her anxious face. “That’s exactly what I was worried about. You’ve been seeing him for days. Under no ordinary circumstances would you ever sleep with a boy you have only been seeing for days.”
“And if he were anyone else, I still wouldn’t have,” I say gently. “You know me, Mom. I can’t be pressured into doing things.”
I mean, I was literally forced into doing this particular thing, but this is not a time for complete honesty. Looping her in that it happened is one thing, but she absolutely does not need to know the gory details of my sex life.
“I’m with him because I want to be,” I tell her, since at least that’s true. “Maybe things will develop a little faster because we live together, but honestly… who cares?” I shrug, shaking my head to appeal to her less sensible side. “As long as we’re happy and healthy, how important is a timeline, really? It doesn’t change anything in the long run if we get to where we’re going a little faster than we would have if we lived apart.”