Joel visibly swallows as he turns to me with questioning eyes.
I step forward frantically, still spiraling.
“Mom—this isn’t—” I wave my hands wildly between me and Joel.“It’s not?—”
She waves me off.“Oh, sweetheart.”
She clutches her chest like I’ve just given her the best news of her life.
“Oh, sweetheart,” she says again, shaking her head with so much emotion I think she might actually cry.“I hoped.I really, really hoped.”
Oh my God.
Oh myactualGod.
This can’t be happening.
Joel shifts beside me, clears his throat, visibly trying to figure out what the hell to say.But there’s nothing to say and opting for—“I was just snogging your daughter”—probably not the best choice.
“Mrs.Ch—Liz,” he corrects himself quickly, “I—um?—”
Mom doesn’t let him finish.
“Oh, honey,” she says, walking over to me so she can grab both of my hands like we’re in a freaking Hallmark movie.“I knew this would happen eventually.I just—I didn’t know when.But after that day in your kitchen…”
I am still in shock, still vibrating from the kiss that just changed my entire molecular structure, and my mother is acting like I just got engaged.
I pull my hands back.Quick.Abrupt.Panicked.“Mom.Stop.”
Joel looks like he wants to say something, but he’s clearly still recovering from being caught in this Twilight Zone episode.
“I’m serious,” she insists, grabbing my face like she used to when I was a kid.“This—this is what I wanted for you both.”She smiles at Joel like he’s my knight in shining armor.
I stare at her, horrified.“What?”
She cups my cheeks, beaming.“You two.Oh, Anna, I always knew.”
I wrench away, face blazing, wheel in my head spinning out of control.“You always knew what?”
She nods like she absolutely did.“Since you were kids.Appa, too.We knew if you two could just get over whatever issues you had, you’d find a way back to each other.”
I look at Joel.
Joel looks at me.
We both visibly malfunction.
Mom sighs, patting my cheek.“Oh, honey.You don’t see it, do you?”
See what?The absolute disaster that is my life right now?The fact that my entire world just shifted off its axis, and I have no idea what to do with it?
And then, because the universe is on a mission to fully destroy me?—
“Anna?Where—oh, what the hell is this?”
I turn slowly, like I’m being punked.
And there he is.