Page 274 of His Virgin Romance Series

“I just wanted to practice a little before class,” I told her. “But I guess I overslept. Good thing too, otherwise I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of meeting Cliff here.”

He was sitting at the kitchen table, tearing into that cupcake completely oblivious to the fact that he was still half naked. In fact, he seemed perfectly at ease.

“Margot,” Cliff said. “You didn’t tell me you had another kid.”

Mom widened her eyes at me. “Oh… didn’t I?”

“And he’s twenty-nine,” Cliff continued. “I mean… fuck… that’s like… six years younger than me.”

Mom glared at me, and I sent her my most winning smile in return. “I was a teenager when I had Seth, okay?” she said, somewhat defensively.

“But you were not a teenager when you had Gabby… like you told me?” Cliff asked, with a coy smile playing on his face. “I guess that means you’re not really thirty-eight.”

I burst out laughing, and Mom sighed in frustration. “You know what? I think you should head into work now,” she told Cliff.

He laughed and polished off the last bite of cupcake. “Should I guess your real age?”

“Get out,” Mom said, blushing a little.

He went over to her, grabbed her suddenly, and kissed her before I could turn away. “That’s okay,” he told her. “I’ve always had a thing for older women anyway. See ya, Zo.”

Then he headed towards Mom’s room to get changed, and I shook my head at her. “You know what? I kind of like him.”

Mom rolled her eyes and sat down. “This is the thanks I get for letting you sleep on my couch.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone?”

“Because you and your brother are never very excited when I announce I’ve met someone new.”

It was true, but I felt bad that Mom didn’t feel comfortable enough to tell me when she had a new man in her life. “I can’t believe you told him you were thirty-eight.”

“Can’t I pull off thirty-eight?” she asked me.

“Oh no, you totally could.” I nodded, and I wasn’t lying either. Mom had always been an attractive woman. She had light blond hair, pale blue eyes, and great skin. “But that’s not the point.”

“I like pretending to be someone different, okay?” Mom said. “I like turning back the clock every now and again. I did the responsible mom thing for long enough, and I lost my twenties and most of my thirties to it. So I’m doing a few re-writes here and there.”

“He would have found out eventually…”

Mom shrugged. “We met, and we liked each other. When my age came up, I lied, and after that… well, I couldn’t correct myself weeks into it when I realized he was sticking around.”

I laughed. “Okay, fair enough,” I said. “Should I be flattered that you told him about me but not Seth?”

Mom shook her head at me. “I told him about you because you called two days ago and asked to stay on my couch. I had to tell him…”

“Damn it; I was hoping to rub that in Seth’s face,” I said, snapping my fingers. “And you were hoping that we would just miss each other while I was here?”

“Well… I knew you’d meet him eventually… I just hadn’t thought that far.”

I shook my head at her. Sometimes it was hard to believe that she was the same woman who raised me. She looked happy, and I tried to tell myself that that was the only thing that mattered. I just hoped that Cliff would turn out to be a good guy and not some bum.

“Okay, I have another question.”

“Yes, I am having sex with him.”

“What? Ew, no,” I said, wrinkling my face up. “That was not my question.”

“Oh, okay… then what is it?”

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