RILEY

“Baby, how are you?” Mom presses a kiss to my cheek. “Oh, you look so thin. Have you been eating? You shouldn’t skip meals no matter how busy you are.”

“I’m eating fine, mom,” I mumble, falling back into my twelve-year-old self as she coos over me.

Dad swings his suitcase into the back of Nat’s truck—I borrowed his vehicle to pick up my parents as I knew my SUV wouldn’t have enough space to hold all of mom’s suitcases.

And I was right.

Dad is already starting to sweat.

“It’s good to see you, Riley.” Dad pulls me in for a hug.

I squeeze him back.

“Skipper,” a deep voice says.

My heart tightens slightly when I look over my dad’s shoulder to Uncle Will. He’s a tall, tan figure with short, gray hair and eyes hidden behind a pair of aviator sunglasses.

“Uncle Will.” I instantly straighten my back and march over to him.

“It’s good to see you.” Uncle Will hugs me.

“You too.” I ease away, my heart thudding with a hint of guilt and embarrassment. I don’t know why I feel so chastised in this moment. It’s not like I’m fifteen and working in Uncle Will’s hangar anymore.

My family piles into the car. 

“I’m so excited to see Lucky Falls,” mom gushes. “There wasn’t much online about the town. Except for the fact that Chance McLanely met his girlfriend there.”

“Fiancée now,” I update her.

Mom clasps her hands in delight. “How wonderful!”

We talk about hockey and the Lucky Strikers for a bit and then dad pipes up from the backseat.

“Riley, Chris told us you’ve been running a garage?”

“I want to see it,” Uncle Will says in his gravelly voice.

It’s not a question.

“Yeah, let’s stop by first before we go visit Nat,” mom says with excitement.

My palms are sweating so much that it’s hard to fully grip the steering wheel, but I take my family straight to the garage.

Jimmy, Carlos and Blade greet my parents and Uncle Will with smiles.

I give my family the tour, while keeping an eye on Uncle Will. He says nothing for most of the rounds.

As we’re preparing to leave, Carlos pulls out his logbook to record a meeting with a customer while Blade and Jimmy say goodbye.

Uncle Will notices and points it out. “You got a good thing going here, Skipper. It suits you.”

I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath until that moment but, all of a sudden, my steps feel lighter.

Next, I drive my family to Nat’s house.

Nat’s parents fly through the door to greet them.

“Tricia!”

“Karen!”

The women collide with warm hugs while the men take the many suitcases out of the car.

Nat is in the doorway, on his crutches.

My heart skips a beat.

But then I flip the fangirl mode off and rush toward him. “Nat, you shouldn’t be standing.”

“I wanted to greet your parents properly,” he informs me, a stubborn tilt to his jaw.

My fingers close around his bicep. “They know about your leg. They don’t expect you to do anything fancy to greet them.”

Nat frowns.

I frown too, refusing to back down.

One corner of his lips hitches up in a smile as Nat surrenders. “Alright. Alright. I’ll sit.”

I flutter my eyelashes and slide my hand down his arm. “Thank you.”

His eyes darken as my touch lingers.

“Nathan!” My mom’s exuberant greeting shocks us back to reality.

I step back as my parents fuss over Nat. Dad steers him to the sofa while mom flings question after question at him.

I move to the kitchen where Nat’s mom is getting drinks.

“Can I help with anything?” I offer.

“No, sweetheart.” She pats my hand and grins at me. “You don’t need to lift a finger.”

I smile awkwardly.

Nat’s mom has been treating me like a prized possession ever since she arrived in Lucky Falls.

“When are you planning to tell your parents that you and Nat are…” she wiggles her eyebrows.

“I’m sure it’ll come up naturally.”

She sets the tall glasses of lemonade on a tray. “I’m about to burst keeping the secret.”

I chuckle self-consciously. When I’m with Nat, it’s easy to get lost in the bubble. No one else in the world exists. But now that both our parents are here, everything is starting to feel… intense.

“Let me help you take those,” I insist.

“No need.” Nat’s mom whisks the tray away from me. “My future daughter-in-law will be waited on hand and foot. I trained Nat well, don’t worry. He knows how to cook, clean, wash his own laundry and I had him babysitting his cousins in between hockey season too. You’ll be well taken care of.”

“Dear,” Nat’s dad appears in the kitchen, “do you need help with anything?”

“See?” Nat’s mom winks. “I have them trained.”

I squirm because what do I say to that?

Nat’s dad grins at me. “Hey, Riles. It’s good to see your folks again. Brings back a lotta good memories.”

“We’ll make a ton more good memories now that our children,” Nat’s mom whispers loudly, “are dating. Imagine how fun the wedding will be.”

Nat’s parents laugh.

I bark out a scared laugh too.

“What’s so funny?” Mom calls from the living room.

“Nothing!” I shriek.

We bring the drinks over and I sit beside Nat.

He casts me an ‘are you okay’ look.

I nod and fiddle with my hands.

“What are you two so happy about?” Mom asks Nat’s parents, tilting her head to the side.

Dad agrees. “You both look like the cat that ate the canary!”

“Oh, we’re not at liberty to say,” Nat’s mom replies, sharing out a glass. However, she glances pointedly at me and Nat.

Mom’s jaw drops and she gasps. “No!”

“What?” Dad asks, glancing back and forth.

Uncle Will looks equally confused.

I peer at Nat.

He’s looking back at me with a pinched, ‘I’m sorry about this’ expression.

“No!” Mom says again, launching to her feet in excitement.

Dad stands too, scratching his head. “Honey, you’re saying ‘no’ like something’s wrong, but you’re grinning from ear to ear. Care to explain?”

“I’ll explain, Mr. Carter.” Nat scoots to the edge of the chair with effort and then he takes my hand. “Riley and I are dating.”

Dad’s jaw drops.

Uncle Will’s eyebrows fly high.

“Tricia, are they pulling my leg?” Mom demands. “Is it real?”

“It’s real. We’re going to be in-laws.”

Mom’s eyes get teary in a way I’ve never seen before. Nothing I have accomplished before this made her so emotional—not getting into AMT school, not getting my AMT certification and not even the news of my promotion.

“Fantastic news!” Dad gushes. He slaps Nat on the back. “Great going, you two!”

“When? How? What? Tell me everything!” Mom enthuses.

Nat glances at me again and sees how overwhelmed and uncomfortable I look.

He, thankfully, takes over and tells them how we met in Lucky Falls, keeping out the more embarrassing bits about me running away at every turn and us almost breaking up over his reluctance to see a doctor.

When he’s done, mom looks like she just rode the most thrilling rollercoaster.

“Tricia, did you ever think these two would get together?”

Dad jokes, “I thought Nat would get married to hockey at one point.”

“Hockey isn’t as important to me as Riley,” Nat says, gazing into my eyes.

I smile sincerely.

“They’re so cute,” mom whimpers.

Dad clears his throat. “So are you two planning on staying in Lucky Falls?”

“Yes, sir.”

Dad nods. “It’s a great little town from what I can see. Although it’s a bit far from us. And when you have kids—”

I choke. “Kids, dad?”

Nat’s dad speaks up, “We’re already looking into housing in the area. It’s clear these two like this town and we want to be close by, especially if grandchildren start popping out.”

I look down at my legs. Popping out?

“Dad,” Nat reminds his parents, “we’re not in a rush. I still have more years of hockey in me and Riley’s turning her shop into the best garage in the county. We’re not planning for marriage and kids right now.”

Mom checks her phone and says excitedly, “Plans change all the time, Nat. It’s good to be ready. Now, where is that number for the wedding planner I met last month?”

“Great thinking, Karen. The best places tend to book out fast. Better to be prepared. I saw this lovely country estate that would make a darling outdoor ceremony.”

“Ooh! Outdoors!” Mom shrieks.

Nat gives me a helpless look.

I simply shake my head, giving up. I knew this would happen.

“Alright, ladies, settle down,” Uncle Will defends us. “You’re scaring the kids.”

“Will’s right,” dad says. “Riley’s getting red.”

“We appreciate your excitement and we love that we have you on our team, but we’ll go at our pace and when anything changes, we’ll tell you,” Nat says. His tone is polite but firm.

Mom sighs. “If you insist. I’ll calm down for now. But my my.” She grins. “The star hockey player and my little girl.”

“Mom…” I groan.

 Nat’s mom leans forward. “Didn’t you used to have a nickname for Riley, Nat? What was it? Squirrel?”

“Shrimp,” Nat says.

 Mom snaps her fingers. “Oh, this is making me so nostalgic. I wish we had our photo albums.”

“I don’t,” I mumble.

Nat rubs my hand. “You were always pretty, Riles.”

Big. Fat. Liar.

Uncle Will jokes. “You didn’t fit photo albums in those suitcases, Karen? You packed your entire house.”

“Who needs albums when we have cell phones?” Nat’s mom lifts her phone.

I groan. 

“Yes, yes! Let’s watch! Turn on the TV so everyone can see it,” Mom chirps.

Nat’s mom projects our childhood pictures on the screen to my utter horror and I’m forced to relive those painfully bad hair days and awkward smiles.

Nat is having a great time laughing at my photos.

“Keep it up,” I tell him in a still, dangerous voice when he laughs at a particularly unfortunate pic of me running from a bug.

He stops laughing instantly and rubs my back. “Looks aren’t everything, Riles. Everyone is a little awkward at that age. I had a terrible haircut all through middle school.”

That’s easy for him to say. Bad haircut or not, Nat was hot since infancy.

“The shrimp and the star hockey player,” mom sighs. She points at the screen where a young and confident Nat is smiling at the camera with me beside him, beaming ear to ear. “Do you think they had any idea they’d fall in love?”

“No,” Nat says, “but they were always meant for each other.”

I squeeze his hand.

On that point, I agree.

Thanks for reading!

Come back to Lucky Falls soon,

Lia