“I’m always still going to need my mom,” I said, but as the words came out, I realized she probably didn’t know it.
Larisa smiled. “Of course you are, but does she know it?”
“It’s like you can read my mind sometimes.”
We walked into the dining room hand in hand, and Mom handed us each a plate before directing us to pile the food onto them. Once we had mountains of lasagna and salad on them, she told us to take our seats and got right back to talking to Larisa.
“Tanner tells me you’re an interior designer. How did that happen? Isn’t it rather expensive to become one of those? Your parents must’ve spent a fortune on your qualifications.”
I wanted to intervene, but Larisa was already answering the question, not seeming the least bit offended by it. In fact, she even laughed about it. “It can be very expensive, but I was lucky enough to be awarded certain scholarships and I’ve known from a young age that I wanted to do it, so I kept my head down and worked for it. I never took a single class I didn’t need or participated in a single activity that wouldn’t help me get closer to my goal.”
Mom surveyed her closely, then gave her an understanding smile. “Your parents didn’t have a fortune to spend on your qualifications, did they?”
“No, ma’am,” Larisa said. “My dad passed when I was young and my mom struggled to make ends meet. I’ve been working all my life to get to where I am now.”
“You can’t ask stuff like that, Mom,” I protested, but she dismissed my comment and, frankly, so did Larisa.
My mother gave me a pointed look. “Your girlfriend and I are getting along swimmingly. She doesn’t mind me asking. Why beat around the bush when I could just ask directly?”
“I prefer direct,” Larisa offered. “I don’t know why more people can’t just say what they mean, mean what they say, and ask what they want to know. Everything else just seems to lead to speculations and a waste of time.”
I covered my face with my hand. “Are you ever going to let me forget that I could’ve been more direct about my plans for the house?”
Her eyes danced in the light of the candles my mother had lit in the center of the table, and she shrugged. “I wasn’t referring to that, but it’s a good example. You could’ve been more direct.”
Mom watched the interaction with a weirdly satisfied expression settling on her face. “I don’t know if either of you have thought about this before, but from what I’m able to tell, you both had similar upbringings and you’ve both worked hard to move up in the world. Despite the obvious differences between you, you’re actually very similar. It’s no wonder you click so well.”
As I sat there listening to her, I realized she was right. We were more similar than I’d thought, and it made me fucking happy to think it. It was like we were meant to be together all along, regardless of how there had been times when we’d both wondered if we were just too different to make it work.
Larisa took my hand under the table but kept her gaze on my mother’s. “You’re absolutely right. I’ve thought about it occasionally, but it’s never hit home quite the way it has tonight that we have a lot more in common than I realized.”
“You do,” Mom said with a knowing look in her eyes.
Since I couldn’t ask her what was going on in her head in front of Larisa, I had to wait until after dinner before I could get my answer. Mom hugged Larisa goodbye after she’d thanked her for the meal. Then I walked her out to the car and promised to call her when I left.
Once Mom and I were alone, I frowned at my mother while I washed the dishes and she had a cup of tea I’d made her. “What was going on with you earlier?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, fluttering her eyelashes like she was desperately trying to make herself appear innocent.
I arched a brow at her. “You know exactly what I mean.”
“I might,” she hedged, but then she gave up on the innocent act and stuck her hand into her pocket. When she pulled it out again, there was a tattered-looking jewelry box in her palm. She set it down on the counter and explained as she lifted the lid. “You might not be ready for the commitment, but when you are, I want you to have this.”
She turned the box to present me with a simple yet beautiful diamond ring with a golden band. “I know you can afford something much nicer, but this was your grandmother’s engagement ring and I wanted you to have it as an option.”
“Wow, Mom,” I breathed, fucking touched that she’d even consider giving it to me. She’d treasured that ring for as long as I could remember. She and my grandmother had been impossibly close to the very end and I knew offering it to me wasn’t something she was doing lightly. “Have you just been carrying that around with you all night?”
She chuckled. “No, I went to fetch it while you were seeing Larisa out. I have a feeling you’re going to ask for her hand one of these days, and when you do, I wanted this ring to be the one you might slide onto her finger. If you want a fancier, flashier one, that’s okay. I just wanted you to know that you could have this one.”
I leaned in to place a kiss on her temple. “This one is perfect, Mom. It means the world to me that you’d even consider giving it to me.”
She snaked an arm around my waist to give me a quick hug. Then she pushed the ring across the counter at me. “Take it then. Just don’t forget about it. You never know when you might need it.”
Closing the lid, I covered the delicate, aging box with my hand and tucked it into my pocket. As I did, I couldn’t help the smile that took over my lips. It was still too soon, but one day in the not too distant future, that ring would be on Larisa’s finger. I was sure of it.