“Oh!” she said, putting the book down and waving.
“Don’t feel like you have to stay and mingle,” I said.
He was already getting out of the car. “I can at least get out and say hello.”
“How was it? Did you have fun? Look at the two of you!” My mother sounded like she was about to burst with excitement.
“Well, it was a rather poor showing on my part,” Parker said. “It certainly wasn’t my best race.”
“That’s okay!” my mother exclaimed. “Why, I’m so impressed that you’re even out there to begin with! Now, how many miles was it?”
“Thirty-two.”
“Now, that is just super human!” She widened her eyes and looked at me. “Could you imagine that, Chloe? Riding a bike for 32 miles? And not just 32 miles, but 32 miles over rough terrain, am I right? It’s not on pavement, now, is it?”
“You’re exactly right,” Parker said, and my mother beamed. I smiled wanly.
“Anyway, Mom, Parker was just saying how tired he is, so he’s going to head home,” I said.
“Oh, really? Would you like to come in first? Have some lemonade?”
“Mom, we’ve been driving for a while and he’s had a long day.” Ew, she was like, totally enamored with him.
“Next time,” Parker said. “Chloe’s right; I just want to get home and take a shower and maybe a nap.”
“Okay, then. I’ll just give you two a minute. Nice to see you Parker, looking forward to seeing you again!”
She hurried off, not back to her chair though, but inside, leaving the two of us standing there.
“Errr, sorry about all that,” I said.
“What, your mom?” He shrugged. “She seems nice. Anyway. Thanks for keeping me company today, I had a good time.”
He started to turn for the car door, but then hesitated. He came over to me and we both just stood there.
“Well,” I said. “Thanks for—”
He leaned down and kissed me, just a peck, not like a real kiss, but I turned my head at the last second and he ended up kissing the side of my face, but not my cheek, but lower, almost my jaw.
I felt my face starting to get hot, but he seemed completely unbothered. “I’ll see ya around,” he said. And then he got in his car and drove away.
*****
The last thing I wanted was to be interrogated by my mother about what our day had been like, so I texted Tara back and said I could meet up with her. She said she was melting in this heat and wanted an iced latte, so we agreed to meet down at the local coffee shop, Staccato.
We sat at one of the outside tables, under the umbrella, sipping our iced lattes.
“Spill,” Tara said. “All the details. Tell me.”
I grimaced. “It’s not as awesome as you think. I think I really messed up.”
She looked at me curiously. “Uh-oh. What happened?”
“What happened is we ended up seeing Graham. At the bike race. I had no idea that I’d run into him there. I mean, what are the chances?”
“What was he doing at the bike race?”
“He was in it! He was doing the race. I had no idea.”