Page 43 of Considering Us

“No clue, but maybe some of the old timers know. I’ll have to ask around.”

“My guess is that’s how she met Connelly. I had a meeting with him there before the unveiling of the sculpture. I get the impression he goes there a lot. But it’s a strange pairing, especially since he’s obviously had something going for years with Julianna Preston.”

“And she’s a lot different from Marnie?”

I laughed, imagining Marnie going to one of the elite fundraisers or charity balls Julianna and Bentley frequented. “Night and day. Julianna barely eats. By the end of my timethere, she only wanted vegetable broth. Marnie eats a ham and cheese sandwich that she dips in a cup of mayonnaise for an afternoon snack. A snack, mind you. In between her lunch and dinner.”

Heath shuddered. “I can’t stand mayo.”

“Ehh, I see it as a necessary ingredient in certain recipes, but I could never eat it straight up the way she does. But noted. I won’t make you anything mayo-centric.”

“Awesome,” he said, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek, which made me smile. Heath was so sweet, and I really did enjoy hanging out with him. As I had tried to explain to Tam on the phone the night before, I had started to realize some of my issues with relationships.

“I don’t trust myself when it comes to men,” I had explained to her. “I tend to make terrible decisions.”

“Things change, times change, circumstances change,” she said. “So many people believe in you, Dev. You need to believe in yourself.”

Which is why I proceeded with my promise to introduce Heath to my parents, despite my deep reservations about Tam’s plan for me.

“You’re bringing who? Are you engaged, Devon?” my mom had asked on the phone the night before.

“No, Mom, I just started dating him not too long ago and thought you should meet him. I’ll bring you dinner.”

“Nothing fancy,” she said.Of course she did.

Heath seemed to be trying to put all the information together. “So, you think Julianna somehow found out about Marnie and Connelly, and that’s why she drove up to campus and made a scene?”

“That’s the most I can determine,” I conceded. “Adrienne knew nothing and was as shocked as I was. Ward still hasn’t talked to her, even though it seems to be well-established nowthat he’s her father and is paying for her to be there. Or at least got her admitted despite her track record at other schools. I feel bad for her. She has a tough situation despite all her money.”

“It sounds like she enjoys hanging out with you,” he said. “Whoa, that house is killer.”

“I think she likes learning how to cook. She is seriously considering a culinary college program, like Johnson and Wales. Which will not go over well with her parents.”

“Some of us didn’t even go to college,” he said, patting my knee.

“And that’s totally fine,” I said. “Okay, I know you see some amazing houses. I will warn you that the house we are going to does not look like any of them. It’s tiny.”

“All good, Devon. I’m just happy to spend the day with you.”

We pulled up to the corner lot where I grew up. The little yellow house hadn’t changed since I had been there last, which was close to a year ago, with the exception of a bit more peeling paint. My dad’s gardens were trimmed back for the winter, and part of me wished I was bringing Heath there in the summer when they were brimming with flowers and tomatoes and green beans and butterflies. Instead, the sky was cold and gray, with snow in the forecast within the next week.

My dad ventured out of the house onto the front step with his cane, waving with his free hand. “He’s a good man,” I told Heath. “I wish he had more of a life. But he loves his history documentaries. And his garden in the summer. Best tomatoes ever. I should’ve come up here and grabbed some to make sauce, but this summer was chaotic.” I was rambling and avoiding what was ahead.

“It’s okay, Devon,” he said. “Don’t be nervous. They’re your parents.”

“It’s just a whole dynamic,” I explained and sighed. “You’ll see.” I grabbed the cooler from the backseat. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Hi, Dad,” I said, giving him a gentle hug. “This is Heath. Heath Davis.”

My dad extended his hand to shake. “Billy Paige. I hear you’re a paramedic. I’ve certainly had my share of ambulance rides. You are good people.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Heath, doing all the right things. This was the easy part; my dad was mild-mannered and agreeable. Nothing like the tropical storm that was waiting for us inside.

“Shall we?” asked my dad as we ventured into the house, which was really just a room with a small living area that blended right into the kitchen, with two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. I wondered if my bedroom had changed at all. My mother was always threatening to do something different with it, and I continued to tell her to go ahead and do whatever. She never actually followed through with any of it.

“Hi, Mom,” I said, unloading the cooler almost immediately. It was always good to have a task, something to do to keep me occupied and not standing there idle. The downtime was when we tended to argue about the stupidest things.

“What’s in there?” she asked, not saying hello or introducing herself to Heath.

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