He Who Wants A Rose, Must Respect The Thorn

Mrs Edelman

**mature content**

I climbed out of Julian's car, being greeted by him, waiting for me, to take my arm. "you ready?" I smiled up at him. "of course" he winked and then led the way inside.

After giving his name to the hostess, whom unprofessionally checked him out, led the way over to where Julian's mum was waiting for us. To say I was nervous would be a total understatement. I let go of Julian's hand and hid a little behind him, which wasn't hard with muscles like his. "Julian, Sweetie!" I heard a woman's voice and him greet her too, bending to give her a hug. I caught a glimpse of her, smiling, eyes shut, cuddling her son. I smiled through my nerves, it was cute.

"Mom," J took a step back from her, turning to me. Here goes..."this is Penny." he said, looking at me with a reassuring smile, "and baby, this is my mom" I looked from Julian, to the attractive blonde lady standing in front of me, giving me the warmest smile. "Nice to meet you Mrs . Edelman" I smiled at her, my nerves dissipating as soon as I received a smile off her, "oh sweetie, call me Angie, please" she said, coming in straight for a hug. "it's nice to finally meet you" she fussed at me, pulling back to look into my eyes. "I've heard so much about you" she whispered playfully, making me giggle. "let's sit, I've been waiting forever to meet you" she said, taking my hand and pulling me to sit next to her at the table. I glanced at Julian as I moved passed him and he stood there watching us with the biggest smile, throwing me a wink to make me blush.

..................

"so Julian tells me you're here for a few weeks" Angie said, as we tucked into our meals. I nodded, swallowing down the steak I'd picked from the menu. "Yes, I arrived yesterday, and have until the end of the first week of January here" I told her. "well you must spend the holidays with us" she smiled excitedly. That took me by surprise. "mom" Julian sighed, making me flick my head to look at him. My heart sank a little, as he briefly shook his head. "I've not spoken to her about it yet...her brother lives in Boston..." He said softly, looking at me with an apologetic smile. "well I just want to tell her she's welcome to spend it with us" His mum explained like it was no big deal. Julian looked a little nervous, glancing from her to me and then down to his plate. "well, thank you, I am flattered that you would open up your home to me" I said to her, hoping to defuse the little tension that Julian seemed to be creating. I wondered if he didn't want me spending it with his family. "I do need to talk to my brother about things yet. But if I can't make it, I'd love for us to get together again before I leave" I suggested, hoping to not offend her, yet still giving Julian a get out clause if he didn't want me to spend any more time with his mum. I'm not entirely sure why I was getting that vibe from him, but I guess I'd find out sooner than later.

.............

The rest of the evening seemed to fly by. We'd been zooming through topics, mainly myself and his mum, which I found quite amusing. Julian, I caught several times just watching us, listening to us talking. I was so relieved that I got on well with her. She was such a nice lady, and I would love to see her again. If it was okay with Julian.

"well, I really hope we get to see each other again Penny. I've had a lovely night" she said to me, taking my hand gently in hers. I blushed, smiling at the sweet gesture. "me too, it was great to meet you" I nodded, then I was pulled into another hug. Tighter this time. She kissed my cheek and then I moved back so she could say goodbye to her son. "call me when you two get home" she said to him as we were waiting for our cars from the valet. "yes mom I will" he said quietly, I grinned at that. It was too cute. "I love you bubs" she said, kissing his cheek. "love you too ma" he responded as her car pulled up to the curb. "night honey" she waved once more at me, "night" I waved a little at her with a smile, as Julian opened her door. I watched her climb in and then off she went.