Just Friends

8

Meghan's POV:
"Thanks for picking me up, I could've drove myself." I told Connor as we walked up to his front door. Because last weekend Connor got to meet the boys, who are like a parental figure, tonight I am meeting his mom.

"No problem and I wanted to be sure you knew what to expect." He replied as he opened the door. He called out to the house that he was home and a little blonde woman came running from the kitchen in a stained apron.

"Oh hello! It's so nice to meet you!" She greeted. I took a quick look around and noticed that there wasn't a lot of pictures of their family.

"Yes. Thank you for having my over." I told her.

"My that's such a beautiful accent. What part of England are you from?" His mom asked as we followed her into the kitchen.

"I'm actually from Australia." I replied. She sat us down at the table and we chatted for a while.

"Connor told me you're vegan so I made sure to make something you can eat." She told me." It's homemade vegan lasagna."

"Sounds delicious." I told her." Also Mrs. Hicks-"

"Oh please, call me Cherry or Ms. Smith." She commented.

I turned towards Connor and mouthed," Smith?" He looked at me with a guilty face.

"I'm sorry but if you don't mind me asking, I thought your last name was hicks." I told her.

"Oh it was until connor's father and I got divorced a few years ago." She explained." Didn't He tell you that? Why else would I be the only one raising him." She ended that sentence with a obviously fake and over the top laugh.

"Oh well he told me his father was in the army and is stationed in Afghanistan which would explained why you guys have moved so much." I said.

"That was a long time ago. His father hasn't been working for a while from what I hear." She replied. She was very easy going about this topic while Connor was sitting there awkwardly.

"Oh. Well can you excuse me, I'm sorry but I need to speak to your son." Both of us stood and excused ourselves to the next room." You wanna tell me the truth now?" I asked him.

"Okay so my dad was in the military but got kicked out for issuing meth to the other soldiers. When my mom found out they got divorced and she kicked him out. Since then he's had an awful addiction to meth, heroine, and alcohol and he's been in and out of rehab but so far he isn't doing any better." He explained." I haven't seen him since two years ago and we don't really stay in touch."

"Why didn't you tell me? I would've understood." I said." You're acting like I don't know what it's like to have a deadbeat dad."

"It's embarrassing! How many kids of druggie parents do you know that have good lives?" He asked but before I could say anything he answered for me." Not many."

"You still should've told me." I said.

"I know and I'm sorry. I promise no more secrets; you know everything now." Connor replied." Are there any more secrets you have? I wanna go back in there knowing that there's nothing left to worry about."

I looked him on the eye and said," no." Even though I had one huge ass secret; I still loved Luke.

*
*

"I apologize for having to leave earlier but everything is squared away." I told Ms. Smith.

"Not a problem. I assume Connor let you in on our situation but I should've consulted with my son. I'm glad you know now." She replied as she gathered plates.

For the rest of dinner his mom and I chatted while Connor chimed in every now and then. From the other end of the table by his mom, Connor's you get brother Camden say quietly playing a video game on his phone.

When Jack picked me up, I didn't know whether to tell him the truth about Connor or keep it to myself; the boys have a right to know who I'm really dating.

I decide not to say anything and told him dinner was great.