Always

Chapter 71

"I'm never looking your mother in the eye ever, ever again," I said with conviction, shaking my head in attempt to clear the embarrassment that still lingered heavily. Harry's hand squeezed my thigh comfortingly as he grimaced at me across the console.

We were on our way home from the wedding after finally having convinced Anne we could be trusted to drive home by ourselves. She had almost made me drive home with Gemma while she rode with Harry, trying to drive home her point but Harry had, thankfully, talked her out of it.

"That was so humiliating," I groaned, leaning forward in my seat and pressing my face into my hand. Now that I was finally able to openly discuss it with him, I felt a little better. We had spent the remainder of the night being followed closely by Anne, her eyes constantly prying and observing as we moved through the wedding. As soon as Harry would find herself near me, she would swoop in and whisk him away, handing him off to what seemed to be an infinite number of old, crusty ladies with wandering hands.

To be fair, Harry had probably had a much worse evening than I; Anne made sure to find me dance partners as well, although while they were old and spindly, they were all well-mannered enough to be gentleman about it. Poor Harry had been the subject of several older ladies advances and attempts to set him up with their granddaughters, to which he had to politely refuse, but to no avail. They were ruthless.

"I'm so sorry, babe," he said, squeezing my leg again. "I can't believe she did that."

"It's okay, Harry," I said, sighing. "At least it's over. And hey... at least she knows?" I finished, the end of the sentence rising in a question in my uncertainty.

"Plus, I think you've more than paid the price for it," I said, giggling.

"Yeah, who knew there could be so many old, single women a wedding?" he said, shuddering in his seat.

"You aren't related to the one who kept pinching your ass, are you?" I said, stifling a laugh behind my hand as I watched him squirm.

"No, thank god. My mom would have had to deal with it 'cause there's no way I could have stayed if I had been," he said, face scrunching up in distaste as he remembered the wizened old lady's roaming fingers.

"You poor thing," I sympathized, rubbing his forearm with my palm as I forced myself not to laugh. It really can't have been fun for him, but I couldn't say I blamed the old ladies- he really was adorable. If I had been an old lady at the wedding, I definitely would have wanted a dance with him.

I giggled to myself quietly, picturing Harry from an elderly woman's point of view. Tall, handsome, those eyes that made you feel like you were the most important person in the world, and in a suit? Couldn't get much better in terms of a potential date. I was definitely a lucky girl to be the one to take him home at the end of the night, so to speak. There was no way I'd be able to "fall asleep" at his house again after what Anne had figured out- she would surely be kicking me out as soon as we arrived back home, wanting me as far away from her son and his bed as possible.

"You're mom's never gonna leave us alone, now, is she?" I asked in defeat, turning my gaze to observe his profile. He frowned out the windshield.

"Probably not. But that doesn't change the fact that she's gone a lot, or your house is open, or, you know, she can just shove off," he said cheekily, grinning conspiratorially at me. My mouth fell open in amusement as I shoved his shoulder lightly

"Look who's a badass all of a sudden," I laughed.

"Just saying," he chuckled. "She knows now and she didn't actually try to stop us or anything so... I dunno. Let's just not worry about it," he said lightly. I hummed my assent as the beams of his headlights swooped across my house as he pulled into my driveway. My shoulders slumped a bit at the thought of leaving him, but I knew it was late and that it would only be more awkward if I tried to go over to Harry's after the interaction with his mother.