Chapter 21

“Mom, Dad, this is my boyfriend, Darren Nichols. Darren, these are my parents, Natalie and Raymond Cross.”

My parents could barely speak as they shook Darren’s hand, but they managed to mumble their way through a half-assed greeting.

“You should have told us you had company,” my mother said, inching towards the door.

“Darren’s not company,” I told her. “He lives here.”

“Here? With you?” my father asked.

“Yes.”

On that note, my mother said they needed to get going to meet with their friends. Both she and my father said their goodbyes to Darren and claimed it was nice meeting him before bolting for the door.

“I’ll walk you out,” I said, grabbing my keys from the table. I’d totally forgotten I was barefoot until I reached the elevator bank.

“What is thatabout?” my father asked.

“I think you know what that’s about,” I told him.

“You could have said something, Mark,” my mother said as we stepped into the elevator car. Thank God there was no one else riding with us.