Page 125 of IRL: In Real Life
That one went all the way in.
I laughed softly and shook my head. “You and your wise expressions.”
“I had to develop a skill set.”
I leaned back in my chair and let myself smile without hiding it this time.
“It’s good with him,” I admitted. “Easy. Grown. And when it isn’t easy, it still feels honest.”
Her face changed then. Not surprised. Pleased in that deep maternal way that made me feel seen and protected at once.
“Then let it be good,” she said. “Don’t start suffering imaginary tragedies before anything has even gone wrong. Let the thing be what it is while it’s being kind to you.”
I looked at her and felt something inside me settle, because that was it. I had been waiting for the catch, the shift, the place where a man stopped being himself once he got close enough to matter.
Micah kept getting closer and feeling more like himself, not less.
My phone buzzed on the table beside my coffee.
My mother’s eyes dropped to it, then lifted back to me with altogether too much amusement.
“You going to answer that, or just grin at it again?”
I picked up the phone.
Micah: You gonna be home in twenty?
Me: No. I’m just about to leave my parents’ house. I’ll be home in about thirty.
His answer came back quick.
Micah: For some reason it feels like you said you’ll be a few hours. What have you put on me, girl?
That got me smiling all over again.
I looked up and found my mother already watching my face.
“I like him,” she said.
“You don’t know him.”
“I know your face.”
I stood before she could say anything else that would have me revealing all my secrets, kissed her cheek, and grabbed my purse.
At the door she called after me, “And Talia?”
I turned.
“If it keeps going well, let it change you some.”
Her words still sat with me when I pulled onto my street, where Micah was already waiting.
His black SUV sat at the curb like it had just come from the car wash. The paint was polished to a deep shine. The rims caught the sunlight. Windows down. Sunglasses on. One arm resting along the door like he had all the time in the world.
When he saw me pull in, his mouth shifted.
Not a full smile yet.
