Page 314 of Tell Me I'm Enough

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Simone

I feel like a nervous wreck walking up to my front door with Mason.

Sure, he’s met my parents before…but this is different. This isn’t—Hey, meet my friend Mason.This is—Hey, Mason is my…boyfriend?

Mason is my boyfriend.

I think I need to wrap my head around that first.

Mason squeezes my hand, making me look up at him as we get closer to the house.

“You’re overthinking,” he says, grinning at me.

“So,” I pout. “This is a big deal.”

“They already love me. It’ll be okay.”

“You’re so cocky,” I tell him.

Before I can even get my key in the door, it swings open.

My mom smiles at us and then looks down at our joined hands, and her smile gets bigger than I’ve ever seen it. “I knew you’d bring that boy home soon enough.”

I choke on the embarrassment. “Mom!”

“What?” she says, all innocently. “You tried to act like I was crazy when I told you he loved you.”

Mason chuckles from beside me.

“Look at him,” she says, making me look up at Mason, who is looking down at me like I’m the only person in the world. “You couldn’t see anything but love when he looked at you. Even if you didn’t see it, girl.”

I shake my head at both of them.

“Can we all just go inside?”

She moves out of the way, letting us walk in, and pats Mason on the back as he walks by.

“It’s good to see you, son.”

Mason stops, letting go of my hand to turn and give my mom a hug. She looks at me over his shoulder and smiles like she’s about to get emotional and cry.

I smile, too, feeling all the emotions.

“Alright, alright,” I tell them. “Enough with the sappiness.”

My mom waves me off and then guides Mason into the kitchen, where she’s cooking lunch.

“It smells amazing in here, Mrs. Edwards,” Mason tells my mom.

Our dog starts barking from his bed in the corner of the living room, which you can see from the kitchen. Or…trying to bark. It comes out more like an old man grumble, honestly.

“He hasn’t moved this much in years,” I say, laughing. “He only does that when someone he really likes shows him attention.”

Mason freezes, like completely freezes, when he looks at our dog.

“Hey,” I whisper, confused. “What’s wrong?”