Kate wasn’t sure she was ready for this meeting, but as she knew life moved ahead without her permission.

And yes, it was time. Four years of dating and the parents should meet. Or so she was told.

The door buzzer forced its cracked sound into her loft, and her mom’s voice came through the intercom. “Buzz me up, darling.”

Kate’s loft was on the second and third floors of a historic brick building above the boutique she owned. Her living space ran the length and breadth of the building and overlooked an oak-lined street front bordering the lush Broad River.

When the elevator doors opened, Kate’s mom, Nicole, appeared with a cigarette balanced delicately between her fingers, like a gymnast on a balance beam.

“Mom,” Kate held her nose in disgust. “Not in here. Seriously.”

“Oh, darling,” Mom came close and kissed Kate’s cheek with the cigarette held up and out. Nicole ambled to the kitchen sink, taking one long draw before turning on the faucet to douse the embers, then tossing the offending cigarette into the trash.

She wore a pair of white linen pants and a pastel button-down—an outfit she wore almost every day with the shirt changing shades until Labor Day, when she donned khakis or pressed denim. (Never jeans, she’d said. Only boys wear jeans; girls wear denim.) Her copper hair was cut short and tossed with gel in a style Kate knew was supposed to look casual, but looked messy. “I was downstairs shopping in your store for something to wear tonight, and thought I’d come up and say hello.”

“Did you find anything?” Kate asked, already knowing the answer.

“Oh, I tried. But you have such trendy things and it’s all so expensive. I couldn’t afford it even if I liked it.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing you don’t like any of it. I know you have something in that closet of yours. It’s not like this is some fancy dinner.”

“But I want to make a good impression.” Nicole glanced at the unopened letter, tapping her finger on its edge. “Also, I wanted to check on you because I know what today is and I know it’s…hard.”

Yes, everyone fumbled to find the just-right word for what the day was and what the day meant, and hard was as good a word as any other. Kate smiled. “Thanks, Mom. Really, it’s okay this year.”

“Ah,” she said. “Love will do that.”

“Do what?”

“Make everything better.”

Kate laughed. “You’re funny. I’ve never said I’m in love.”

“Well, dear Lord, you’ve been dating him for four years and I can see it. And you’ve never asked us to meet anyone’s parents. It’s time, sweet pea. It is time to fall madly and terribly in love.”