His mother!

At the front door? Now? Just when she was about to experience something life-changing. Well, it felt like something would happen, now she would never know. Tristan jumped out of the bed and looked out of his window.

"What is she doing here?"

"Did you invite her?" She covered herself with the cover as if his mother could see through the walls and see her nearly naked in his bed.

"No!" He yelled out. "I gave her the address and said whenever she wanted to come see the place, but hell, it's been months."

The doorbell rang again, followed by a knock that sounded as if the police were at the door. Was that the pounding and ringing she heard before? She thought it was the anticipation of Tristan kissing her down there.

"Tristan, open the door, it's your mother," came a stern voice through his phone.

"Fuck!" Tristan shouted out. "This feels like deja vu and I wasn't even doing anything."

Of course, she thought as she remembered the instance Tristan was caught in the act by his mother. He was still traumatized by that. This was different because they were not doing anything. And he was an adult and out of her house.

Tristan picked up his phone to speak with his mother. "Hey ma! I was sleep, give me a minute."

Tristan went to his dresser, opened it, and pulled out clothes.

She stepped out of the bed. "I better go-"

Tristan turned to her, his face in a deep frown she had never seen before. "Hey, my mom can't know about us."

That hurt. Why? It was bad enough that she could not tell her sister, but why not his mother? She did not live there and she had not visited till now so there was no worry that she would tell Zee.

"Okay, I'll get dressed and-"

"Serious Jo. She needs to know we're just roommates okay?"

"Fine!" What was another lie to another person?

Tristan had already thrown on some clothes and now was turning to make up the bed. Why? So what it was messy, he just woke up.

In her room, she found a pair of shorts and a T-shirt to put on. She did not want to appear too underdressed or overdressed to meet his mother. Wait, was she even allowed to meet his mother? Should she stay upstairs and wait till his mother left?

Tristan did not say anything either way. Now she was worried. She listened to hear anything from Tristan. After he finally did whatever in his room, he bounded down the stairs and opened the door. She heard voices but it was not clear enough to understand.

Stay in her room or go downstairs and meet his mother?

Tristan did not want his mother to know about her. Why did it matter? After pacing around in her room for a bit, she decided to take the chance and go downstairs to meet his mother. What harm could it do?

She walked downstairs and into the living room where a woman sat on the sofa, while Tristan on the smaller one. A very striking, young-looking woman, looked more like Tristan's sister than mother. Had to have been young when she had him. No older than forty. Her hair in rows of neatly coiffed sister locks down her back.

She did not look much like Tristan, darker complexion, dark eyes, a perfectly made-up face, a slim build, and wearing a nice two-piece pantsuit as if she was on her way to work. She sat perfectly at attention on the couch, and so did Tristan, no slouching as usual, and both their eyes went to her when she walked in.

"Hello. I thought I would come and introduce myself. I'm Johanna, Tristan's roommate...one of his roommates I mean...also my sister, you know...she's not here." Why the heck was she stumbling over her words and carrying on?

Because three minutes ago she was in this woman's son's bed having him kiss her in all the right places. One minute, her body was on fire from the scorching trail of kisses, the next it felt like a bucket of ice water thrown on her. Too extreme and she was lucky she did not go into shock and start to stutter or worse, go mute.

"Mom, Johanna, and her sister Zee inherited the house...you know I told you this...and I help out fixing things." She could tell by Tristan's tone and the pauses, he struggled to say the right things without giving away their relationship. "I still pay rent too."

"Come sit down." His mother patted the seat beside her, and her eyes immediately went to Tristan, who gave her a nod.

Moving over to the couch and sitting next to this woman she did not know felt eerie. Tristan met her mother, but that was before they were dating. Her mother also flirted with him, so it could not get any more awkward than that. Sitting there next to his mother, all she hoped was that it did not show on her face how she felt for her son.

So she sat there as emotionless as she could be.

"Nice house," his mother said to her.

"Thanks, Mrs... Ms...I mean-"

"Ms. Mathews is just fine. Never married Tristan's father and so I gave my only son my last name."

She should have known that. Why hadn't she known that? It was not something she needed to talk about with him. Her mother never married her father but she had her father's last name. She hated growing up not having the same last name as her mother, even though Zee never saw it as a big deal.

"Mom, you want to look around the house? I have a fitness room in the basement."

"I can't believe you came into these girls' home and took over their basement."

"No, it's fine, Ms. Mathews, really. Zee and I both hate the icky basement."

"This is a lot of house for two young girls and not that great of a neighborhood."

Tristan started to say something but she jumped in before he could. "The Ville is historic and I love being in this neighborhood where some great people lived. My grandparents bought this house when the neighborhood was happening. Yes, it's in the decline, but there are still nice things about it."

"And I hear Johanna's grandmother was beloved in the neighborhood," Tristan added. "So no one messes with her family or this house."

Except the one time, she thought to herself. But she did not want to bring up that memory.

His mother seemed to be studying her, looking her over with a stern look, not an up-and-down harsh look, but a glare in her face, as if she was reading through her thoughts. Her dirty thoughts about her son.

"Pretty girl," his mother finally said.

That's it, she knew she lost it in her face. Her eyes went toward Tristan to see what he was doing. He sat there, still as a board, and only nodded. What was that? Agreeing with his mother that she was pretty?

"So you two are just alone in the house all day long? That's why it took so long for you to let me in?"

"Mom? No! It's not like that," Tristan quickly spoke up. "We're friends. Roommates."

She wanted to go in the corner and cry. She wanted Tristan to shout to everyone that he was with her, so this hurt. But yet, she kept her composure.

"Yes, friends. Tristan helps out around the house, we just talk and hang out...oh, and he even helped me with my garden."

"Garden?"

"Yes. We started a garden together and he helps me with it."

"Never knew he had an interest in gardening," his mother stated. "I would love to see it. Show me."

"Sure!" She jumped up, along with Tristan standing up.

"I'll show you," Tristan said.

"No, no, I got this with just Johanna," his mother said and stood up. "Stay here, we ladies got this."

With no look back at Tristan, she leads his mother to the back of the house and out of the back door. It was a nice, hot sunny day, so she hoped Ms. Mathews did not want to stay out there long.

"My grandmother started this garden years ago. She was so great at it, and creating recipes from her garden. I've been bumbling around and Tristan helps with the yard, cutting grass, so he also stepped in to help me tend to the garden."

She was proud of her little garden. It was bigger than her GiGi's and so far there was a nice harvest, which she was very proud of. There were a few things left to harvest, maybe Ms. Mathews would want some of their tomatoes or peppers.

"Nice," Ms. Mathews said looking over her garden and then back at her. "But I'm not interested in the garden. You and my son."

Oh no! She did not know what to say, so she said nothing.

"I have eyes, I can see. You two have feelings for each other."

She was not going to say anything if Tristan did not want his mother to know about them. It was one thing keeping the secret from her sister, but now he wanted to keep it from his mother. It must have showed all over her face.

"I don't know why he thinks he can't tell me. He is a grown adult, twenty-one, out on his own now. He doesn't have to answer to me, or hide things from me." His mother glanced back toward the house where Tristan stood at the back screendoor, watching them. "Oh, I see he has it bad for you."

"I care for him a lot." She didn't know if Tristan could hear them or not but it felt like a relief talking to his mother.

If his mother already knew they were an item, there was no sense lying to her. Tristan could be mad at her all he wanted, but she was tired of lying about their relationship. Telling his mother felt freeing.

"My sister doesn't think your son is good enough for me, that's why we've been hiding it from everyone."

"Oh, I see." Ms. Mathews nodded. "I would agree with that if he is up to his old tricks. My son...likes the ladies...and is careless about how he treats them. So just be careful."

She could not believe his mother said that to her. She had no faith in her son that he could be a good person. A good boyfriend. Was Zee and his mother right about him and she was being fooled?