Page 64 of Meant to Be

“You invited her?” Berry said, looking surprised.

“Of course I invited her. She’s mygirlfriend. I’m falling in love with her,” I blurted out, my heart racing.

“Whoa!” Peter said, moving his chair back with exaggerated surprise, then looking at the girls. “Did you hear what the world’s most eligible bachelor just said?”

“I sure did,” Genevieve said, clasping her hands and bringing them to her heart. “Do you mean that, Joe?”

Without flinching, I said yes, then looked right at Berry. “And I’m going to need you to trust me—and give her the benefit of the doubt for a change.”

Berry stared back at me for a few seconds, then asked, “How serious is this? Is she…marriagematerial?”

I took a sip of my wine and answered a different question than the one she seemed to be asking. “Well, if by ‘marriage material,’ you mean someone I can see myself marrying?…Then the answer is yes,” I said. “She absolutely is.”

—

The following morningmy mother called, playing dumb, waiting for me to tell her the news that she obviously had already heard from Berry. I played dumb right back, forcing her hand.

“Oh. And I hear you’re in love?” she finally said after some small talk. Her tone was neutral, but I knew better.

“Yep. Seems that way,” I said, bristling.

“And she works in fashion?”

“Yes,” I said. “She has incredible style. She works with Wilbur Swift. You know him, right?”

“Vaguely,” she said. “So, Joseph, would you say she is more like Phoebe or Margaret?”

I bit my tongue—andnotfiguratively—then said, “I’m not sure I understand that question, Mom. She’s not like either of them. She’s her own person.” I paused, then added, “Like we all are.”

“Yes,” my mother said. “I suppose that’s true…. Well. When can I meet her?”

“Soon,” I said.

“How soon?”

“As soon as I convince her that her life won’t suck with me in it,” I said. Then I told my mother that I really had to go.

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