“What is a ‘good guy?’”

“Someone who will care about her and treat her right.”

“Do you feel like Darren is a ‘good guy?’”

Is that a strange question for a mother to ask? For some reason, I want to ask the same of her.

“I haven’t seen any indications to suggest that he isn’t a good guy.”

“Couldn’t you say that about most men you meet?”

“You’ve got a point. I guess it’s just an instinct I have.”

She brings her knees up. “What if you’re wrong?”

I shrug. “Then I’m wrong. We move on.”

“Are you in love with him?”

It’s a pointed question not unlike the ones Joseph was asking, but as the mother, she has a right to ask it.

“Honestly, we haven’t known each other that long,” I reply. “I’m not sure why he chose to invite me, but I’m appreciative that he did.”

“What do you mean, you’re not sure why he invited you?”

“I just picture him with a woman more like his ex-girlfriend, Kimberly. Someone a little more glamorous. I think I’m a little nerdy for his usual tastes.”

By her brief silence, I think she agrees with my assessment. “You don’t think you’re good enough for my son?”

“Not at all! I know I’m not the prettiest or wealthiest person he could be dating, but I bring a lot to the table. Not to be immodest, but maybe I’m a breath of fresh air for Darren. Someone different.”

She seems to weigh what I say. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you are different.”

Kind of hard not to take a statement like that the wrong way, but I don’t detect any antagonism in her tone.

“Darren and I haven’t known each other long enough to be too serious,” I assure her. “And if we were to become more serious, you don’t have to worry about me. I care deeply about the people in my life, my family and friends, and I’d always have their interests at heart.”

I must have spoken with more earnestness than I’d intended because she doesn’t respond right away.

“Tell me about your family,” she finally says.

I tell her about how my grandmother raised me because my father had passed away when I was just a baby.

“She lives in Europe with her boyfriend,” I answer, when she asks about my mother.

By the end of our conversation, I can’t tell if Mrs. Lee approves of me or not.

Chapter 23

DARREN

Past

“Where’s Bridget?” my mother asks when I join her on the balcony of her villa.

“In one of the cooking classes learning how to make pad thai and curry,” I reply. I sit down next to her to watch the sunset.

“I had a chat with her this afternoon.”

She waits for my reaction, but I don’t provide her one.

“She seems nice.”

Knowing that’s not all she has to say, I wait for her to continue.

She cuts to the chase. “Too nice.”