Mrs. Robin's Sons

I wanted to see her, but I hadn’t planned to bring her back with me.
It just happened.”
“It’s cool.” Noah stared at him for a moment. “You really like her.” It wasn’t a question, and Nick didn’t bother to respond. They both knew it was true. Noah started clearing away the dishes without commenting further.
Nick watched him for a moment. “Go ahead and say it.”
Noah glanced over his shoulder. “Say what?” he asked.
“What a sap I am for getting so caught up in a woman.” Nick smiled.
Noah turned and looked at him. “Nah” — he shrugged — “I can see why you want her.
She’s special.”
Nick nodded. “Yeah, she’s the one.” He spoke quietly, seriously. “You know, I used to think that the whole ‘love at first sight’ thing was complete bullshit.” Nick shook his head.
“But since I’ve met Rylee, I see how it could happen. I get how the right person could make you feel things that you never believed you’d want, never imagined you’d need.” He met Noah’s gaze. “And, that person is Rylee.” They were both silent for a moment before they were interrupted by the sound of knocking at the front door. Nick opened the door and found his mother on the other side.
“Leslie told me you sold Pike today.” She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek as she walked in. “That’s a great sale. Pike was worth a lot of money.” She walked into the kitchen and kissed Noah as well before she had a seat at the counter.
“Hi, Mom. I’m fine. How are you?” Nick smiled and shook his head.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Nicky, honey. How are you?”
Nick walked over and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. “So, what brings you by — other than to congratulate me on my big sale today?”
“Pour me a cup of coffee, Noah, sweetheart,” she spoke to Noah before turning to Nick.
“The weather is supposed to be really warm today, and I thought it would be nice to have a barbeque this —” She stopped speaking in mid-sentence, her attention focused behind Nick. His gaze followed hers to Rylee, who was standing in the bedroom doorway, watching them.
*
Rylee figured she’d given Nick and Noah enough time to talk, and decided to go and join them again. She opened the door and stopped in her tracks when she saw Nick with his arms around a blonde woman. Before she could decide if she should be upset or not, the woman turned around and looked at her, and Rylee saw those trademark hazel eyes that were so much like Nick’s and Noah’s.
“Well, I wanted to catch you before you made plans for the evening, but it seems I might be too late.” The woman spoke again, her eyes locked on Rylee.
Nick looked at her and smiled. He walked over to her, took her hand, and pulled her over to the woman. “Mom, this is Rylee Putnam.” Nick released her hand and looped his arm around her shoulder. “Rylee’s visiting for the weekend.”
Rylee shook her hand and smiled. “It’s very nice to meet you, Mrs. Robin.”
“Please, call me Caroline.” She chuckled. “Mrs. Robin makes me feel old.”
Rylee laughed. “I highly doubt anyone would ever mistake you for being old.” It wasn’t an exaggeration; Nick’s mom didn’t look much older than her.
“Thank you, Rylee.” She beamed. “So, as I was saying, I thought it would be nice to have a barbeque tonight. Rylee, I hope you’ll be able to talk these two into bringing you for dinner.” She looked expectantly at Rylee.
“I’ll do my best, Caroline,” Rylee said. “And, thank you for the invitation.”
“It’s my pleasure. Well” — she stood — “I’m headed out now.” She walked to the door and threw out a quick, “Dinner’s at seven,” before she was gone.
Rylee turned to Nick, who grinned down at her. “What?” she asked.
He kissed her. “Mom likes you.”
“Oh, yeah? How do you know?”
“She told you to call her by her first name,” he said. “She’s never let our girlfriends do that.”
She looked over at Noah, who nodded in agreement. “And, she invited you for dinner right after she’d just met you,” he chimed in. “Another first.”
“See, I told you.” Nick kissed her again and whispered against her lips. “Trust me; everything’s going to be fine.”
Rylee smiled and tried to ignore the trepidation she felt. She just hoped Nick was right.

Chapter Eleven
“What I want to know is, what in the hell does she see in you?” Nick glared at his cousin, Leslie’s husband. José just returned his glare with a grin, completely unfazed, while Noah laughed his ass off.
“I’ve been wondering the same thing since I met her,” Noah joined in. “But, she’s still beautiful and funny and smart, so we’ll forgive her lack of taste when it comes to men.”
“Oh, fuck both of you,” Nick said, fighting hard to hold back a smile. He saw his cousin walking toward him.
“Yo, Leslie! You’re just in time to rescue your husband from a serious beat down.”
“Hey, nobody gets to beat on my man, but me.” She wrapped her arm around José’s waist and kissed him on the cheek.
“Speaking of rescues” — she looked back at Nick — “you might want to rescue your girlfriend from Mom and Aunt Caroline.”
Nick groaned. “How bad is it?” He was almost afraid to hear the answer.
“Let’s just say that by this time tomorrow, the entire town will know that you’re dating a woman who’s almost as old as your mother.” She snickered.
“Don’t be a bitch, Leslie.” Nick scowled at her. “It was just a joke, Nicky.” She laughed. “Besides, I don’t care how old Rylee is. I like her.”
“That’s good, because you’ll be seeing a lot of her,” he told the group before he walked off in search of Rylee.
*
Nick found Rylee being held hostage in his mother’s living room by every female
relative over the age of forty