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She laughed weakly. “No problem.”
He let her sleep the rest of the way, and thankfully, she jostled awake once he pulled up to the house. Cameron and Diane took Holly’s things with them, waved, then peeled off down the street.
“Oh, my goodness,” she said, looking in the mirror. “I can’t believe I fell asleep. Aimee told me to wear makeup, so I don’t scare your mom, and—”
“My mom is not going to be scared off by a little bitty scar.” She turned her head and gave him a good view of the large scar trailing down her face and into her shirt. “Okay, so it’s not little bitty, but I promise, she wouldn’t judge you based off of that. At least I don’t think she would.”
“If you say so. But do I look okay? I slept on my bad side and all the makeup rubbed off.”
The scar was there, but it had become such a part of her look, nothing looked out of place or wrong. “You’re beautiful, honey. I swear. I only date top-notch—”
“Stop right there. I don’t want to hear about you dating women before me. I’m sure that helped shape who you are, but I don’t care to hear any stories.”
He took both her hands. “I need you to know, I like you a lot. You mean the world to me. If meeting my parents is a bust, I will still like you and want to be with you. You don’t need to worry. I’m not going anywhere.” Well, at least not emotionally.
He pressed his lips to hers and held her close for a long minute.
“Well, there you are. We heard someone pull up, but then no one came in.”
He pulled away and smiled. “Hey, Mom. Meet my girlfriend, Holly.”
“Nice to meet you. My name is Rhonda, and my husband’s name is Herbert. He’ll be at work a little longer, but I’ve already got an early dinner on the table.”
Holly turned to the side to get her bag, and his mom gasped.
“Oh, my word. Eric said you had... Well, this is—I’m sorry. How rude of me. It’s just, seeing your scar in person is much more shocking.”
Eric gave his mom a look, but the damage was done. He didn’t need to ask to know Holly was crestfallen.
20
Holly
Well, that had been unexpected. Most people were surprised to see her scars when they only had a glance at the good side of her face, but Holly had hoped it wouldn’t startle anyone—especially not Eric’s mom.
“I’m sorry,” his mom said just as quickly. “That was not polite of me. Let’s get inside, out of the sun.”
Holly nodded and took Eric’s hand when he offered it. “Sorry about that,” he muttered after he went inside. “Her family has no filter, and sometimes it rubs off on her.”
“It’s fine. Nothing I haven’t been through before.” Holly shrugged it off as if it were no big deal, but it wasn’t okay. First impressions were important, and Holly could see it in his mom’s eyes—Holly wasn’t good enough for her son.
Before she stepped inside the house, Holly got a good glance at the exterior. The house had gray siding and bright-white trim around the house with a tall lighthouse-looking tower on the left side of the roof. Was Eric Rapunzel? Did Holly need to save him from his mother? She laughed at the thought, and he shot her a grateful smile. If he only knew what I was thinking about. She smiled wider.
“Can I get you something to drink?” Rhonda asked when they came into the kitchen. Holly was still holding his hand, which his mom checked out several times. Finally, Holly let his hand go, exhausted by the extra attention. Like Eric had said, his mom didn’t have to like her for their relationship to work.
“I’m fine, thank you,” she said, rubbing her stomach. Even though there wasn’t much left in it, filling it again didn’t seem appealing.
“Oh, come on now. You must be hungry. Between here and Cedar City, there’s hardly anywhere decent to stop. How about lemonade?”
Holly shot Eric a look, but he was staring into the dining room where plastic sheets covered the table and chairs and drop cloths had been laid on the floor.
“I’m really okay,” she replied. “Thank you.”
His mom poured Holly a glass anyway and set it down in front of her with a loud clink. “For when you feel like it, then.”
Eric turned and took the glass. “Her stomach is feeling uneasy, Mom. She probably doesn’t feel like anything. I bought her a bad taco at a gas station.”
His mom’s face softened into understanding, but the next words out of her mouth were “Why would you go to a gas station? You have plenty of money to go to a decent place.”
