I was totally screwed.
Sam moved away but not far. His hands went to her waist as hers shifted to his biceps and he asked, “Flight good?”
“It was long and it is over. Why you don’t move back to California so I don’t have to fly five hours to see you, I will never know,” she answered.
“Yeah, you say that then you hit the deck with a rum and coke and stop bitchin’,” Sam returned on a grin.
Her eyes slid to me, I held my breath then they went back to Sam and she admonished, “Language, Sammy, there are ladies in your midst.”
Sam stepped away from his Mom, still grinning and muttered, “Right, Ma this is –”
“Kia,” she breathed.
Yes.
Breathed.
What did I do with that?
Then she moved into me and gave me a tight hug.
At first, I was a little shocked. Then I was a little relieved. Then I pulled myself together and hugged her back.
“Hey, Mrs. Cooper,” I said into her ear. “I’m so pleased to meet you.”
She gave me a squeeze but didn’t take her arms from around me as she leaned back and smiled warmly in my face. “Maris, honey. Mrs. Cooper is my ex’s mother and she wasn’t all that nice.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
She kept smiling at me then her head turned to Sam and she noted, “No Burberry, thank God.”
I pressed my lips together.
Sam sighed.
Maris looked back at me. “Sam told me about you after he met you in Italy.”
Uh… wait.
Really? Italy?
Whoa.
Maris cut into my freak out by continuing to speak. “Then Luci told me about you and keeps telling me about you every time she calls. You’ve won Luci’s heart, Kia, an impossible feat.”
Thank God. Luci laid the road for me. I just had to travel it.
“Everyone keeps saying that but knowing Luci I find it hard to believe.”
She gave me a squeezy-hug-shake and another smile then released me.
“Right!” she said sharply and I jumped. “I will die if I do not have a chai which needs to be seen to prior to getting my bags. Let’s go.”
And it was then she hooked her arm through mine, leaned into me and commenced us walking with Sam trailing and her talking.
“Sam said he met a beautiful girl in Italy but until I saw the pictures, honey, I didn’t believe him. He has good taste but he finally found a true winner. You’re even better in the flesh. I love your shoes.”
She said the word “love” on another squeezy-hug-shake, this one of my arm and I had to admit, I was feeling all-over happy that Sam told his mother about me after he met me and that he included the word “beautiful”.
“Thanks,” I replied softly then I looked over at my shoulder to see Sam grinning at me.
Then his voice rumbled at me, “Told you.”
Maris looked over her shoulder too and demanded to know, “Told her what?”
“That you’d love her,” Sam answered, I gave him big eyes then quickly rearranged my face when Maris looked at me.
“Were you nervous?” she asked.
“Uh… yeah,” I answered.
She gave my arm another squeezy-hug-shake at the same time waving her other hand in front of her, looking forward and declaring, “I’m harmless.”
“I see that now,” I murmured.
“Unless you break his heart,” she went on. “Then I’ll find you, rip yours out and feed it to my dog.”
Yikes!
“I think, if that happens, Sam will likely be the heartbreaker,” I whispered and I felt her eyes on me so my eyes moved to her.
And there it was again. Just like her son, her eyes were intense, burning into me, saying something I did not get.
“I did not raise a stupid man,” she whispered back and this time she just gave my arm a squeezy-hug without the shake.
I smiled tentatively at her.
Her smile wasn’t tentative at all.
She looked forward again and cried, “Thank God! Chai!”
Then she steered us quickly to the line in the coffee place at the airport.
Right. That went well.
And I owed Luci. Big time.
I ordered an iced latte.
And when the girl handed me my plastic cup, I finally relaxed.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Never Use It Just to Breathe
“Look at all these beautiful flowers!” Maris called out.
Since Sam was bringing up her bags, he was trailing me. I was trailing Maris therefore she’d hit the first floor before both of us.
I was learning that Maris making note of something I’d done with her in mind was pure Maris. She was just like her son, talkative, friendly, warm, demonstrative, decisive and totally bossy. It was super cute how she ordered her tall, powerfully-built, definitely adult son around. It was even cuter how Sam put up with it with affectionate patience and indulgent grins.
We took the Cherokee up to Raleigh because it was more comfortable for passengers and meant her bags wouldn’t be exposed to the elements. During the ride home, twisted in my seat most of the time to gab with Maris, I had learned that Sam told his mother about me after he had breakfast with me.