Marianne nodded slowly, before giving her daughter another pointed look. "Are you sure he’s real? You’re not pulling a fast one on , right?"
lody hesitated for just a beat, her lips tightening as she muttered sothing under her breath before quickly nodding. "Of course I’m not lying, Mother. Co on. Do you seriously think I’d go through the trouble of making up so random na just to get you off my back?"
Marianne Thomas raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "Uh-huh. I’m not saying the na is made up. I’m asking if the boyfriend is." She gestured vaguely with her hand, trailing off mid-sentence. Her eyes had drifted past lody’s shoulder, locking onto sothing—or rather, soone—outside the coffee shop window. Her expression changed in an instant.
Because standing just outside, perfectly frad in the glass, was the woman she had been hearing so much about and yet knew nothing about. lanie.
lody blinked at the sudden silence and turned halfway in her seat to follow her mother’s gaze, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. The place was empty. She shrugged, confused. "Mom. Adam is real, okay? He’s great. He’s smart, handso, kind. Has that grounded, but sowhat dangerous vibe-and he’s amazing with kids."
That last part snapped Marianne back into focus.
Her eyes narrowed. "Hold on. How do you know he’s good with kids? Does he have a child?" A pause. Then she leaned in, lowering her voice suspiciously. "lody, are you dating a single father?"
lody rolled her eyes. "No, Mom. He doesn’t have a child." She leaned back in her seat, folding her arms as if anticipating the next wave of suspicion. "He ca to school a few tis. Rember that little reading event I told you about? He dropped by for a bit-t so of the kids, sat with them, even did those silly animal voices for the story. They loved him." Her voice softened without her aning it to. "He just... fit right in."
She sighed then, the kind that slipped out when soone had stopped pretending they weren’t impressed. Her lips tugged into a small, unguarded smile and for a mont, her eyes lost focus.
Marianne didn’t miss the change. Her expression eased as she watched her daughter, sothing warr replacing the earlier skepticism. She tilted her head and let out a quiet hum of approval.
"Well," she said, taking a slow sip of her tea, "you’ve definitely got that look."
lody blinked. "What look?"
"That look," Marianne said, nodding at her. "The ’I’m already halfway in love with this man and don’t even know it yet’ look."
lody scoffed, cheeks coloring. "I do not."
"You do. And if he’s good with kids and does animal voices, I’m willing to believe he might actually exist." She raised her brows. "But just in case-next ti, bring him along."
lody muttered into her cup. "That was the plan before you ambushed with the Spanish Inquisition."
Marianne smirked. "What are mothers for?"
lody took another sip, forcing a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Her mother’s teasing should have made her laugh, should have filled her with that usual, exasperated fondness. Instead, a flicker of guilt twisted in her chest. Because the truth-the part she hadn’t said-clung to the back of her throat like sothing sour.
Everything she’d told Marianne was true. Adam was smart. He was kind. He had co to the school, and the kids had adored him. But what she hadn’t said, what she couldn’t bring herself to admit, was that he wasn’t hers. Not in the way her mother thought. He wasn’t her boyfriend. He wasn’t even on the verge of becoming one. He was just... Adam. Soone she had beco so smitten with that she had described him to her mother as if he was already hers.
The weight of the lie—or the half-truth—pressed harder with each second of silence.
lody set down her cup with a little more force than needed and stood abruptly. "Mother," she said, brushing imaginary crumbs from her lap. "Let’s go. I want to show you the club."
Marianne looked up in surprise. "Now?"
"Yes. There’s this amazing track that goes all around the property—winding past the tennis courts, the gardens, even that little lake at the back. It’s beautiful. Co on, you’ll love it." Her voice was a touch too eager, but she didn’t care. She just needed to move, to say sothing else, anything else.
As the two won walked around the place, both were still lost in their own thoughts. lody kept up a steady stream of light, disjointed unfiletered chatter - anything to keep her mother from circling back to the subject of Adam.
"So apparently there’s a new café opening just across the street from the staff entrance—finally, right? Not that I’ll stop coming to this place, but as you can see, this is a bit further away from my ho and work, so that place is also good.. And did you know that the club’s track used to be a polo field? Soone told last week- oh, look at that bougainvillea, it’s totally taken over the trellis. I think that shade of purple is actually called ’magenta,’ but no one ever agrees on those things...I am sure you know that..."
She talked as they walked, pausing only to wave at a passing staff mber or to make a fuss over the koi pond they passed- though she wasn’t even really looking at it. Her voice rose and fell cheerfully, filling the space between them with noise, so that her mother would not have another chance to question her.
In her hurry to keep her mother distracted, lody failed to notice that the older woman was actually distracted. Because she was letting her daughter ramble on, without giving it any thought.
Marianne Thomas had already been looking for an excuse so that her daughter would take her on a tour. And As lody had unexpectedly offered exactly what Marianne wanted, she was now eagerly looking around. She had seen lanie wearing a shirt and a tennis skirt so she was probably here for that.
But Marianne was disappointed to see that lody was not to be seen in any of the tennis courts...so she could only look around as they walked around the large club.
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