Lee definitely wanted to blame her. After the other night, he was inclined to think Jessica was shallow and selfish. She was the kind of ambitious wannabe starlet that gave Hollywood a bad name.
But Lee was also willing to admit that he didn’t really know Jessica all that well. Drew knew her better and had known her longer. She might actually be a lovely person under a lot of stress from a challenging career and a relationship that was falling apart.
Either way, Lee was glad Drew would be joining them later for Dan’s birthday.
Waiting for him to get there was a lesson in patience, though.
“I am happy that things are going so well for you,” Mum said, nearly out of the blue, several hours later, as they were decorating a cake for Dan together. “With this agent and your famous boyfriend.”
Her mouth was a little too tight and she avoided looking at him, which was a dead giveaway that she had much more to say.
“Things are going well,” Lee agreed with a smile, trusting that would prompt her to say what she was really thinking.
It only took a few seconds for his mum to put down the flowers from the garden she’d been using to decorate the cake and to stare straight at him. “Your goal has always been to be a writer.”
“Yes, it has been,” he agreed, following her lead and putting down the piping bag he’d been using.
“I don’t want you to lose sight of that,” she went on. “Dan wouldn’t have wanted you to lose sight of that. He always saw your potential, knew how much you love storytelling. You know he wouldn’t approve of you veering off course or doing anything that might take you away from your true calling.”
Lee sighed as the pieces came together and he figured out what his mum was talking about. “I’m not going to become one of those celebrity entourage people who give up everything in their life just to follow a man around, living the high life.”
“No, I don’t expect you would do that,” Mum said, looking just a touch guilty. “But what if that’s what he wants from you? What will you do if he asks you to give up your life for his?”
“Mum, he’s not going to do that,” Lee laughed.
“What if he wants you to move to America with him?” she went on. “I doubt he’s going to be here in the UK forever.”
She had a point. A good point. One he hadn’t thought about yet and didn’t really want to think about now. Nothing about their relationship was intended to be real, but now that it was heading that way, the whole thing brought some real questions with it. Like how to have a relationship with someone who lived eight time-zones away.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he told his mum. “The whole thing is still very new.”
“That’s the other problem,” Mum went on, picking up steam. “All this public attention you could get from being with someone famous. It can’t all be good. In some of those pictures Margery showed me, you looked like the two of you were being hunted.”
“Everything will be fine, Mum,” Lee reassured her. “If anything, being with Drew has increased my book sales. I’m pretty sure that’s what got me a big agent.”
“Precisely,” Mum said. “And what happens if the two of you should have a falling out? What happens to all these gains you’ve made?”
Lee hated the swooping feeling in his gut those words brought with them. He hadn’t stopped to think about it, but she had a point. There were no guarantees between him and Drew, even if he felt the potential between the two of them in every fiber of his being. He and Drew just clicked, like they were designed for each other. But was that reality talking or the infatuation of a new love affair?
There was no way to answer the question, and before he could try, there was a knock at the door.
“I’ll get it,” he said, pushing back from the kitchen table and heading down the hall to answer the front door.
The sight of Drew on his mum’s front step, looking tired but gorgeous, and just a bit anxious, had Lee’s heart turning cartwheels.
“Hi,” Drew said, breaking into a broad smile. “I found the place. It’s really beautiful.”
“Hey” Lee greeted him with a hug that drew him into the house. He wanted to kiss Drew more than anything, but his mum stepped out of the kitchen to give Drew a once-over. “This is my mum, Sharon,” he introduced her. “Mum, this is Drew.”
“Oh, my,” Mum said, her eyes going wide as she took him in. “You’re taller than you look in your pictures.”
Drew let out a breath as he broke into a smile. “I get that all the time,” he said, stepping toward her and holding out a hand. Instead of a handshake, he asked, “Is it alright if I hug you? I’m a hugger, but if you aren’t, that’s okay.”
“I…I wouldn’t say no to a hug,” Mum said a little breathlessly, then opened her arms.
Lee couldn’t wipe the smile from his face after that. Nothing had prepared him for the sight of his mum and his fake-but-real boyfriend embracing.
“Ooh! You’re strong, aren’t you,” Mum said, giving Drew’s arms a squeeze as she stepped back. “I can see why my Lee likes you so much.”