Page 102 of The Billionaire's Teacher

She stepped back. “Needs some work, but we’ll get there. I appreciate that you love your friends. They’re lucky to have you.”

“Thanks.” Tristan lifted his fingers in a casual wave. “Later.”

I watched him walk off and frowned, then turned back to Sunshine. “You’re awfully forgiving.”

“No reason not to be.” She shrugged. “I’m not sure how I’d feel in his position. When you look at us from an outside perspective, it’s easy to jump to the same conclusion.”

I stood and slid my arm around her waist. “He’s wrong. I know it. You know it. So it doesn’t matter. Let’s go find you a ring.”

“I’d like that. A lot.”

When we got to the car, the truck had managed to leave the spot next to us without scratching the paint. I was grateful for that. I was even more grateful that the car that had taken its place was considerably smaller. I opened Sunshine’s door for her.

She smiled up at me. “We should probably call your parents, too.”

I froze.

Sunshine got in the car. On automatic, I closed the door and went around to get behind the wheel. She was right, of course. And Mom would be thrilled. The General would be The General. But Dad?

“What’s wrong?” She held her gaze steady.

“Can we skip my dad? He and I are kind of not speaking right now.” Had I told her about him hitting me up for money? I couldn’t remember.

“Okay. It’s the same with my family. I’ll send an email. Eventually. They won’t care.”

I heard the hurt in her voice and wanted to do something—anything—to make it better. “You know what? Let’s call Mom now. Because she’s going to explode with joy.”

I didn’t wait for her to answer, just started the car and waited the couple seconds for my phone to hook up to the Bluetooth before calling Mom.

“Hi, sweetie. This is a nice surprise. You’re finished with church?”

I shot a side-eye look at Sunshine, but if she picked up that it meant Mom had no clue about how long church lasted, she didn’t show it. “And lunch, too. I have Sunshine here, I thought you might like to meet her.”

“Oh! She came up to visit. How wonderful. Hi, dear. It’s lovely to meet you. I wish we could do it in person. Soon, I hope.”

“Hi Mrs. Allen.”

Mom chuckled. “It’s Pendergrass. Wes’s father is the Allen. Hold on and let me get The General.”

Sunshine’s eyebrows lifted.

“I told you everyone calls him that.”

Sunshine nodded.

“Hello? Wes? And Sunshine, I hear? Good to meet you.”

“Thank you, sir. It’s nice to get to say hello.” Sunshine looked at me with a plea for help.

“Actually, the reason we called—is Mom there, still?”

“I’m here, honey.”

“Great.” I cleared my throat. Maybe the best way to go about it was to just spit it out. “We’re engaged.”

“You are? That’s wonderful. Congratulations!” Joy pumped off each of Mom’s words. “Now I really want to meet you in person. Is there any way you could make the trip while Sunshine’s in town? At least, I’m assuming she’ll have to go back and wrap things up.”

I bit my lip. “Maybe? We’ll talk about it and see if we can make it happen. I’ve been away from the shop a lot this summer, though, and classes are starting up.”

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