Page 86 of The Rules

Before he could even open the spreadsheet he’d been working on, his phone rang. He reached for it, knowing it was one of two Pierce women calling for their weekend check-in.

“Hello, Katherine,” he said, seeing his sister’s name.

“Hey, Dill Pickle.”

He pushed his work aside and leaned back on the couch. “You are absolute shit at nicknames. You know this, right?”

“Yeah, they always were your thing, but you still couldn’t come up with one for me.”

He shrugged. “It’s not my fault Mom gave you the most boring name in the world.”

“Excuses.”

“What’s up?”

“I have good news. Kevin and I are going to drive down for Mom’s birthday dinner.”

He sat up straight, his throat going dry. “I thought Kev was out of town.”

“His trip got canceled and I’ve missed the last two years. His parents are going to watch the kids, so we can make it.”

“Oh.” The back of his neck started to sweat. This wasn’t good.

“You sound disappointed.”

To see his sister? No. But he’d invited Dani to that dinner and it was about to become an entirely different thing. In the seventeen years since he’d left home, he’dneverintroduced Katie to a woman he was seeing. Showing up with a date to dinner would make his mother’s day but he could easily play it off. She’d deluded herself into thinking he wasn’t settling down because he was still sowing wild oats at thirty-five. Not because he was terrified of becoming one or both of his parents. But Katie would see right through him. His palms were already damp just thinking about the interrogation, the analysis, what Katie would think this means.

He wasn’t about to try to explain it to Katie before he knew himself. What he was trying to do with Dani was too new for that. And he really was trying. He wanted to be the person he was with Dani, but when it came down to it, he wasn’t ready to own that out loud. Not to his sister who knew all too well how far he was reaching with a woman like Dani, and how likely he was to fail. It wasn’t happening.

“I’m not disappointed,” he said. “Not at all. But, ah, you sure? I know Fridays are tough. You’ll have to rush. I won’t be offended if you want to set up a separate time with her.”

“No, silly. I want to see you too. I need to make sure you’re not turning all grey and wrinkled before you finally find a woman.”

And there it was. “Yeah, well, you know I love to disappoint both you and Mom at the same time.”

“Whatever. Besides, Kevin’s mom is coming to our house to watch the kids and she retired in May. She doesn’t mind what time we get back.”

How convenient.

“Okay. Cool,” he said. “I guess I’ll see you then.”

“Yeah… cool. I can tell you’re excited.”

“You know I love you, Katie Caboodle. I’ll see you then.”

Dylan tossed his phone onto the sofa and ran a hand over his face. He couldn’t show up with Dani if Katie was going to be there. He just couldn’t. He’d make it up to Dani. He’d take her somewhere even better another night, anywhere she wanted. But he had to get out of this.

“Oh no. That’s terrible,” Dani said into the Bluetooth speaker in her Mazda. She was on her way to pizza and ginger-ale with Cat when Dylan had called with the news that his mother had come down with conjunctivitis.

“Yeah,” Dylan said. “Doctor said she’d be contagious for at least a week, so dinner is off.”

Dani pouted, surprised at how disappointed she was. She shouldn’t be. It was a meal with Dylan’s mom. It was bound to be awkward, despite Dylan’s insistence that it was no big deal. But for some reason, she’d been looking forward to the awkward. Awkward meant real and if Dylan was uncomfortable in the least, she would be able to tell, and then she’d know it was hard and he did it anyway. That was a meaningful choice. Healthy or not, she had planned to analyze the hell out of the entire interaction.

“Are you going to reschedule?”

“Um, maybe,” he said. “She’s got a pretty busy schedule.”

“Oh.”

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