“You’re right, of course,” Tara said.
After a few minutes, Liz heard the front door open.
“Mom, where do want this stuff?”
“Excuse me,” Tara said. “If I don’t direct Nathan, he’ll end up putting milk in the pantry.”
Liz got up, too. “I’ll help you.”
She followed Tara into the kitchen.
Nathan was in there and she was struck by how much he’d matured in the past few years. He was taller, and had picked up a lot more muscle. He wore his hair shorter now, and it was a darker brown. Though still young, he was no longer a young boy. Now he was a young man.
“Hi, Nathan,” she said.
He smiled at her. “Hey, Liz. How’s it going?”
“It’s going good. On errand duty?”
He grinned. “Always.”
A tall, quite gorgeous young woman carried a bag in. “Where do you want this one, Mrs. Riley?”
“On the counter, Sonja. Thanks.”
The girl had to be nearly five-eleven or maybe even six feet tall. Considering Nathan had shot up his senior year to six-four, he was still taller, but wow. She was beautiful, with café au lait skin, honey colored eyes, and sleek black hair.
Wow.
“Oh, Sonja, this is Nathan’s Aunt Elizabeth, but we all call her Liz.”
Liz stuck out her hand in greeting. “Nice to meet you, Sonja.”
“Same here. And I’m probably never going to remember everyone’s name so I’m going to apologize if I have to ask it again.”
Liz laughed. “That’s okay. Ask away.”
“Hey, I warned you I had a big family,” Nathan said, casting a grin at his girlfriend.
“You did.”
“Where are you from, Sonja?”
“A small town in southwest Texas that no one’s ever heard of. Nathan wanted to drag me here to see more big-city life.”
“Well, St. Louis isn’t exactly a huge city.”
Sonja leaned against the counter. “Bigger than where I grew up, that’s for sure.”
“What’s your major?”
“Marketing with a minor in communications. And I play for the UT basketball team.”
“She’s good at it, too. One hell of a guard,” Nathan said. “You should keep your eye on her, Liz. She might go pro.”
Sonja laughed. “I don’t know about that. I’m just happy to have the scholarship so I can get my education.”
“Yeah, and she’s being modest. She really is good.”
“Then I’ll definitely keep my eye on you.”
“Liz is a sports agent,” Nathan said to Sonja. “She could get you a great deal.”
“Nathan,” Liz warned.
Sonja just looked at her. “I’m not even thinking that far ahead. I just want to get a degree.” She elbowed Nathan. “Quit being so pushy. You’re making your aunt uncomfortable.”
He shoved back into her. “Hey, I believe in you.”
She laughed. “Whatever.”
He put his arm around her. “Come on. Let’s go hang out.”
“Dinner’s in about thirty,” Tara said.
“Okay.”
After they left the room, Tara asked. “So? What do you think?”
“I think she’s stunning.”
“I know. Isn’t she? Like fashion-model beautiful. And she’s very smart. Nathan said she has a 4.0 GPA, plus she plays sports, too. She’s outgoing and she really seems to be into Nathan and he’s obviously very much into her.”
And she very obviously wasn’t at all how Liz had imagined her. So she relaxed on that count. “She’s very sweet. Nothing like that first love is there?”
“Well, I wouldn’t know about that since my first love got me into a lot of trouble. But yeah, I like her. She seems grounded and reasonable and not flighty and all into Nathan just because he’s the quarterback. She seems to have her own goals and ambitions. So that reassures me.”
“I’m sure it does.” Liz was a bit reassured, too. She wished Nathan didn’t have a girlfriend at all, but she supposed that was a bit unrealistic. He was in college and out on his own now, and he needed to have some fun, to grow up some and become a man. He was going to likely have a lot of girlfriends in his lifetime.
She wasn’t his mother, so she had no idea why she was so nervous about Nathan getting involved with Sonja. She should just let it go.
But she did watch them during dinner, when the family could really get noisy, talking over each other and often arguing over the most innocuous topic. Maybe they were on their best behavior tonight because Sonja was there and they didn’t want to scare her off, but it was relatively calm. Plus, the baby was still awake and he captured a lot of attention. In fact, Nathan sat next to Sam and he and Sonja entertained him during dinner, feeding him and making him laugh.
Sonja seemed at ease with the family, which didn’t happen often with strangers. After dinner she even helped Tara in the kitchen.
“You seem pretty comfortable around our crazy family,” Liz remarked as she, Tara, Alicia, and Jenna, along with Gavin’s mom and Alicia’s mom, helped Tara with the after-dinner mess.
“Oh, I come from a big family. I have three sisters and two brothers.”
Liz’s eyes widened. “Really. Wow. So dinnertime is a lot like this.”
Sonja laughed. “Yes. Exactly like this. Only maybe more yelling. My brothers are younger than me, so they’re a little . . . boisterous.”
“Boys do tend to be like that,” Gavin’s mother said from across the room.
Tara nodded. “Yes, they do. And I only had one. Well, one at a time, anyway.”
“I imagine it takes parents ruling with an iron fist to keep a brood like that under control,” Alicia said.
“My mother is pretty fierce. When she speaks, believe me, you listen.”
“And your dad, too?”
“He died when my youngest brother was two years old. It’s mostly been just my mom for a while.”
Liz laid her hand on Sonja’s arm. “I’m so sorry.”
“I am, too.” Tara pulled up a chair at the kitchen island. And suddenly the women surrounded Sonja.
“Oh. Wow. Well, I didn’t mean to talk about it. But he got cancer and it took him pretty fast. It was hard on my mom having all us kids to deal with, but she had my aunts and uncles and my grandparents to help her. It’s been okay, really.”