Page 61 of Meant to Be

“Well, they’re up!Wayup!” Curtis said. “I’ll never forget the way he looked at you on the beach that day. How serious is this, anyway?”

I hesitated, then told him the truth. “I don’t know. I mean, he called me his girlfriend last night—but…I can’t imagine that it’ll last for much longer.”

“Yes, it will!” Curtis said. “And remember—I call dibs on your wedding makeup.”

I shook my head and said, “See? That’s the reason I didn’t tell you—”

“She has a point,” Elna said.

“I’m serious, Curtis. No more wedding talk! That’s not going to happen.”

“Okay. Well, how about justregulareveryday makeup?” he said, tapping his finger on the middle photo. “If you’re going to be in the tabloids, we’re really going to have to up your game.”

“Jeez, Curtis! I didn’t know I was going to bephotographed! This guy totally ambushed me.”

“Clearly,” he said, cracking himself—and Elna—up.

“Stop it, guys,” I said as our phone started to ring.

Elna answered it, made a few seconds of small talk, then handed it to me, mouthing,It’s your mother.

“Oh, God,” I whispered. “Does she know?”

Elna put her hand over the receiver and said, “Well, it was sortof hard to understand her through all the hyperventilating, but yeah…I’m pretty sure she knows.”

Bracing myself, I took the phone and said hello as my mom began firing off giddy questions:Is it true? Did you spend the night with Joe Kingsley? What’s going on? Chip said you’re on Page Six!

I confirmed that the statements were true, feeling certain that Chip had found a way to disparage me to my mom.

Sure enough, the next words out of her mouth were “Chip said it was a one-night stand?”

I bit my lip, now feeling hurt and defensive in addition to everything else. Of course my mom believed Chip’s negative spin. In the end, she would always choose him over me. Always. But pride still made me come back at her. “No, Mom. It wasn’t a one-night stand. We’re seeing each other,” I said, walking a fine line between defending myself and dangerously overblowing my relationship with Joe.

“Oh, wow. That’s incredible!” she said. “Have you met Dottie?”

“No.”

“Are you going to?”

“I don’t know, Mom. I doubt it. We’ll probably break up soon—”

“Can I please meet him before you do?” she said, clearly having no faith in my staying power.

“I don’t know, Mom,” I said again, just wanting to get off the phone.

“C’mon, Cate! Youknowhow much I love the Kingsleys.”

“I know, Mom. But he’s a real person,” I said, trying to put into words what I had grappled with over the past couple of months.

“I know he’s a real person,” she said. “What does that even mean?”

“It means he’s not who you think he is…. He’s just a regular guy.”

“Well, according toPeoplemagazine, he’s also the Sexiest Man Alive.”

I sighed and said, “Mom.Please.”

“Okay. But do you think I could get my picture taken with him? At some point?”

“We’ll see,” I said, thinking that at the rate she was going, there was no way I’d let her get anywhere near him.

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