DON’T STOP
“Is this the neighbor you mentioned?”
I swallowed hard, trying to keep my voice steady. “Yes. This is Scarlett. My… girlfriend.”
The word felt both terrifying and right on my tongue. Scarlett’s fingers twitched in mine, but she didn’t pull away.
My mother’s eyes widened even more. “Girlfriend? Since when?”
“Recently,” I said, keeping it simple. I didn’t want to dive into the messy timeline right now — the secret identity, the paid sessions, the slow build from neighbors to this. “Can we talk inside?”