Sharynn POV

Sharynn would never take her relationship with her mother for granted. Sure, they did not see eye-to-eye on most things, but her mother cared for her and loved her and treated her with respect.

That was more than she could say for Kayla's mother. She insisted to Kayla that she get her mother some mental health before she tried to build their relationship. Beyond that, just because the woman gave birth to her, did not mean she had to have a relationship with her.

Sharynn could tell Kayla still wanted her mother to be the bigger person and to call and apologize. That was very unlikely. In the meantime, she would give her friend all the love she could.

"Lunch?" Trenton stuck his head in her office door.

She checked the time, it was past lunchtime and her stomach growled to let her know she needed to take a break.

"Sure." She shut down her computer and grabbed her purse. "If you had not come, I probably would have worked through lunch and not eat anything till late."

"Now we know you get hangry when you don't eat." Trenton leaned in to kiss her, but she backed away.

"Trent!"

"What?"

She looked around to see if others were watching them. She still had told no one in her department she was dating a co-worker. Sure, they could assume so because they hung together a lot, but she was not about to put her business out there. In her department, working with human resources and their money, it was not a good look to be involved with an employee.

She had access to personal records, not only their salary.

She could tell who was being garnished and who was paying child support or who took out loans on their 401Ks.

"Trenton, I still don't feel comfortable everyone knowing we're together."

Trenton looked around as well. "No one cares. And if they do, fuck them!"

She chuckled at him as they walked through the hallways to get to the cafeteria. Plenty of co-workers had lunch together, in twos or groups, and it was no big deal. She had lunch with others throughout the building who worked in other departments. There were several ladies in her sorority at Edward Jones, and she always met up with them now and then.

This was different. She just did not want it to be a big deal.

"All I'm saying is, let's give it some time." She wanted to make sure what they had was real and would even last. She adored Trenton, he was a sweet guy, but the relationship was still new. She would rather keep it on the low.

"It's like you want to hide me."

She rolled her eyes and gave him a nudge with her elbow. "Why would you say that? Not true!"

They finally made it to the cafeteria and stopped talking.

She paid for her food, he paid for his and then, and they found a table to sit.

"Hey Trent...I don't want to hide you." She took a bite of her burger, stuffed fries in her mouth, then started to talk before she chewed it all. "In fact, you should meet my parents."

Trenton stopped eating his burger to give her a look.

"What? You're ready for that?"

She shrugged, finishing the food in her mouth. "No big deal. They're cool. But...let me feel it out first."

Why had she told Trenton he could meet her parents?

Was she hit in the head? Temporarily insanity? Forgot who she was dealing with? The mother who wanted to marry her off and was very judgmental?

She decided to have dinner at her parents' house that night.

This was a rare occurrence outside of their weekly Sunday dinners after church. Her parents did not make a big deal of it either. She helped her mother with the cooking while her brother set the table and her father watched the baseball game on television.

Her father cooked as well, maybe once a week if that, and he was a decent cook. It was never a fifty-fifty split with the cooking, he just did it enough for her mother not to nag. He did most of the fixing things in the house and cleaning, so she figured that was a fair trade-off.

If and when she got married, everything would be fifty-fifty.

"Nice to have my baby girl over," her father said when they finally sat at the table to eat.

"Did she cook, because if she did, I'm not eating," Ace said.

She grabbed her steak knife as if she was about to stab him.

"Hey, you two," her mother said. "Manners, Sharynn. You're a lady, and you're the big sister. Behave."

Her brother sat there looking scrappy while she looked professional and well kept. Hair always flawless and in the best designer clothes and shoes.

Her brother dressed like a bum most times. He needed a haircut, his fro getting out of hand, and he didn't normally have a fro. If she looked like that for even a moment her mother would give her the third degree. Because Ace was a boy, he could look like he was raised in a shoe.

She would not allow her brother to get to her. She did indeed make the homemade mashed potatoes to go with the homemade Salisbury steaks her mother made. There was also corn and a salad to go with it. She always skipped the salad and went for the main meal and had seconds. That got looks from her mother, but oh well.

"Ace, how is uh...art school?" she asked her brother, changing the subject.

"A breeze," Ace said with a grin. "It's like high school all over again when I was the man. Teacher's pet and all."

Sharynn let out a chuckle at that. He was always smart but the class clown as well, and teachers loved him for that. He was just never pushed to do more by their parents. He could be anything if he was pushed like she was pushed to be successful.

"He's doing well, let's hope this all leads to a job and money....and moving out!" her father said.

"Dad it's not about the money, it's about the art!"

She ate her food silently at that. So. her brother planned to live with their parents forever. There was nothing wrong with that, she hoped he was a success, made lots of money and took care of their parents in their old age.

"Richard has a new girlfriend."

She stopped chewing and looked to her mother. Why was she telling her that? Why did every time she come over Richard's name came up?

"Pretty girl. I think she is a model or something."

"Nice," was all she could muster out.

"Maybe he will bring her to church. Hope she's a church girl. Sweetheart, you should meet her, maybe feel her out if he brings her by. Or he could see what he's missing out on in you."

"Richard is not thinking about me."

"Oh, I doubt that."

"Mother, I am not thinking about Richard." She sat straight up in her chair. "I'm seeing someone."

"Oh."

Her mother did not say anything else, they ate for a moment. Maybe that's all there would be. Her mother would leave her alone.

"When are we going to meet him?" It was her father who asked.

"Well actually-"

"Come on dear, I'm sure it's nothing serious," her mother stated. "We don't need to meet every guy Sharynn simply goes on a date with."