Page 69 of The Road to Ruined

"Oh, what do you do?" my mom asks.

"I'm a surgeon," he tells her.

"Oh, here in Orange County?" she asks. "I know a lot of doctors."

"No, up in Ventura," he says.

"So, that's where you've been," my mom says. And suddenly, she's all smiles about my disappearance.

"Yep."

"Well, come on in; everyone is in the back."

"I'll get your bag for you," Sebastian says. "I had to sew up her hand the other day."

"Oh, my goodness!" my mom says. "Well, thank god you were there. Teagan's always been more of an indoor girl; I don't know how you got her to go hiking when I can barely get her out in the sun."

"That's not…entirely true," I say.

"Let me see your hand," my mom says as we step inside.

I turn over my right hand, which he'd stitched up about a week ago. "They're mostly dissolved by now," I tell her. "It's not that big of a deal."

"I'll take this upstairs for you. Um, which one is your room?" Sebastian asks, feigning ignorance.

I turn back to him and roll my eyes, and he just smiles back. "It's the third door," I say.

"Great," he says before lifting the suitcase and starting up the stairs.

My mom pulls me into the kitchen. "Teagan, he's so handsome."

"Yeah, he's all right."

"And rich. That car…"

"Yeah, the car's nice."

"This is the guy you knew from before? The one who sent you the flowers?"

"Apparently."

"And does he know—"

"He knows everything. He knows I'm an insane person, yes."

"How old is he?"

"Umm…"

"You don't know?"

"Twenty-eight?" I offer.

"Twenty-nine," Sebastian says, walking back into the main room.

"Okay, well…come out back, I'll introduce you to everyone."

He takes my hand and follows my mom out the sliding glass doors to the backyard.

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