“I had no idea she was coming. She usually stays at The Copley,” Aaron whispered as we followed his mom to the kitchen.
“I didn’t mean to ruin your plans, darling. I should have phoned,” she said when we caught up with her. “I guess I felt like being spontaneous.”
“It’s no problem at all. You know I’m always thrilled to see you,” he said sweetly. He was a good son.
“Sometimes I forget you’re a grown man who might have plans.” The final word emphasized for its full suggestive merit.
“Piper and I were just at Cellini for dinner.”
“It was amazing,” I added.
“How lovely.” She checked me out again and I got the feeling that I came up lacking. Not tall enough, not blonde enough, and probably--no definitely—not wealthy enough. “Where are you from, Piper?”
“I’m Australian.”
“How quaint. We went there once, didn’t we, Aaron? We really liked Sydney.”
“It’s a very pretty city,” I agreed.
She turned her back to refill her wine glass and I mouthed to Aaron, “I’m not staying.”
His grip on my arm said something different. “Yes, you are.”
He grabbed us two wine glasses and topped them up. “Let’s head in to the living room.”
We sat on the couch and he wedged me in the corner then slung his long arm around my shoulder. That was becoming his signature move. I held my wine glass with two hands, clutched it really, and tried not to feel too judged.
But, seriously… Surely Aaron’s mother didn’t think either of us was a virgin? She must have met many of his girlfriends over the years; she couldn’t honestly think they’d all been platonic.
“So, Mom, what brings you back to the States? It’s a while since you’ve visited.”
“The lawyers need me to sign some papers regarding your father so I thought I’d do it in person for a change. I haven’t seen you in ages, and I don’t seem to have any luck getting you over to the Continent.”
“Where have you been living?” I asked.
“I split my time between Spain and France.”
“How lovely,” I said. It was a non-answer really. It didn’t tell me anything about her or her life. I suppose she’d become quite practiced at that over the years.
“I’ve been working, Mom. Not much time for travel.”
“You can’t work all the time, surely,” she said. As a woman who hadn’t worked a day in her life, her point of view made perfect sense. “And it isn’t as if you have to work…”
“I enjoy my job, Mom. I like the challenge and I like the people. We’ve been over this. Boston is my home.”
She sighed. I felt kind of sorry for her. She was probably lonely. Her husband, whom she took a risk on and ‘married down’ to be with, turned out to be a scum bag, and her only son was a hard worker who wouldn’t wander the globe with her.
“Well, I bought a fabulous new villa in Majorca and I expect a visit soon.”
“Oka, Mom,” he said. “I promise I will visit soon.”
I wondered if that meant I, too, would be zipping off to Europe along with him, since we were getting married. His mother probably didn’t think so. She probably thought I was disposable, otherwise she would’ve asked me more than “Where are you from?” I was spotting a trend with Aaron’s friends and family: to them I was as good as invisible. Then again, I didn’t feel like telling her I worked a fifteen-hour day and was about to marry her son, so silence was golden in this case.
That fifteen-hour day was starting to catch up with me. I really needed to get to bed. Aaron didn’t want me to leave, but honestly, if I didn’t get some sleep soon, my whole weekend was going to be a disaster and it looked disastrous enough now that my future mother-in-law was here to stay.
“I’m going to head off and let you two catch up.”
“I thought you were staying,” he said, his eyes narrowing at me so much that I was afraid he wasn’t going to be able to see.
“Change of plans.” I stood up and shrugged. “You two need some privacy.”
“Or is it that you two needed privacy?” His mother asked with a tone in her voice I didn’t like.
“Mom.” His tone silenced her. “Piper, are you sure?”
I nodded. “I think it’s a better idea.”
“I’ll go grab your bag.” He vanished. I was glad we’d left it on the landing and not in a spare room.
I was alone with his mother. “Enjoy your visit.”
“I’m surprised to see you with Aaron. You’re not his regular type.” She sniffed at me.
I was plainly not her type either.
I wanted to say, “So, what…? I’m not blonde? Not married?” but I held back. “Well there you go; people can still surprise you. That’s got to make life interesting.”
Aaron, thank God, reappeared. “I’ve called a taxi. Let’s wait out front.”
When I turned to say good-bye, his mother had already left the room.
“I’m sorry,” he said as we headed down the front stoop.
“It’s not your fault.”
“I’m sorry she was so snooty. She’s not usually like that.”
I was pretty sure she was usually exactly like that. “Don’t sweat it.”
He leaned down and gave me a toe-tingling good night kiss. I wasn’t sure if it was in case his mother was watching or some other reason, but, sadly, I was tired and I was confused and I was finding the whole fake dating process exhausting. If dating was this hard, I couldn’t imagine how hard the marriage was going to be.