Still feels like it was too long ago
Come out with me
I’ll buy you food. And flowers.
Me:
You don’t have to bribe me to get me to spend time with you.
Just asknicely.
Hockey Boy:
Refer to my first message.
Me:
Not nice enough.
Hockey Boy:
Alia, baby, the best Tater Tot in the whole universe, please give me the abject pleasure of your company as I venture into the night to battle my loneliness that will only be cured by your sterling presence within the safe confines of my reliable steed
Me:
A tad too Shakespearean, but it’ll do.
I’ll be ready in 15.
Hockey Boy:
I’m already downstairs
Me:
What?!
Hockey Boy:
Like Isaid… I missed you.
***
Wrapped in the arms of a tall woman with sandy blonde hair, her hug as warm as her smile when her son introduced us, I am struck by how similar they are.
“I’ve heard so much about you,” Maeve Finnigan announces as she pulls away, beaming at me like I’m a long-lost friend. “Aren’t you just gorgeous?” she fawns, much to my amusement and Cal’s embarrassment. She glances beside us where her husband, Cameron, looks up from Irsia’s camera.
“Honey, you should see these photos. Irsia, these are incredible.”
Irsia smiles softly, comfortable around the Finnigan family since she’s met them before.
“Yes, Mom. Go see the pictures.” Cal gestures for her to hurry up, making his mother purse her lips. Her gaze shuffles between her son and me.
“It’s lovely to meet you, sweetheart,” she says with a pat to my shoulder. “I hope I get to see you again soon.”
“You too, Mrs. Finnigan,” I reply shyly.
She waves an impatient hand in the air. “Come now, none of that. Call me Maeve, and he’s Cam,” she says, gesturing to her husband, who’s watching us with an indulgent smile.