It was late at night and the lights of the big city and the interwoven freeways were starting to fade into the darkness of the wooded suburbs as the Uber driver took them from the airport to the Saratoga hills.

Ethan Degler turned away from the window to look at his girlfriend. Even in the dark car she was pretty. And perfect.

Hailey Martin was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen that first day of freshman orientation at Northwestern. She had her hair in braids, then. He had turned a corner and saw her throw her head back, laughing loudly. Her teeth were bright white and almost blinding against her dark skin, and her long braids moved around her in a way that hypnotized him. If it weren't for Dad asking him whether he could see Norris University Center from where they were, Ethan might have just stopped and stared at her forever. Mom had noticed, of course, and as she guided him to follow Dad, she'd whispered that maybe that girl would be in his classes.

And she was. Hailey was a Sociology major just like Ethan was. They had three classes together their first semester. And if it weren't for how gentle and encouraging Mom had been, Ethan might have never actually talked to her. Might have never gotten the chance to fall in love with her. Might have never gotten her pregnant.

They'd gotten the news almost a month ago. Twenty-six days, actually. Ethan would never forget the exact moment of the day he learned he had gotten his girlfriend pregnant. The moment his whole life changed. Nothing would ever be the same again. No matter what happened—and Hailey hadn't decided what was going to happen yet—Ethan was changed forever.

But thank god for Mom. For Ethan's whole life, if he was ever upset or ever didn't know what to do, all he had to do was talk to his mother and suddenly everything was okay. Well, talking to her hadn't magically made this okay, but it definitely helped. She had promised him they'd figure it out, promised that she would be there for him. And he had been able to be calm after that. He could take a breath, finally, knowing that he and Hailey weren't all alone. Mom would help them figure it out.

When she had texted him less than half an hour after he'd first called her and said that he and Hailey could spend the summer with her and Alan, Ethan could hardly believe it. Being with her would make it better, he knew. And Hailey couldn't go home. They hadn't decided anything else, but they decided on that. Her dad was a Southern Baptist preacher. If Hailey went home, they'd make her get married and keep the baby, and there wasn't any other option available. Ethan wasn't really outright opposed to that happening—after all, he loved her and wanted to be with her forever, so what did it matter if that happened at age twenty?—but going to California meant that they could have other options and decide for themselves what to do. Hailey would be safe here. They all would.

In the car, Ethan noticed that the long day of travel had messed up Hailey's baby hairs, usually perfectly laid against her temple. He reached out and pressed the flyaway down, smoothing it into its usual swirl. She turned to him and gave a small smile. "Thanks," she murmured softly. "Is it all a mess?"

The slicked back ponytail wasn't really as smooth as it otherwise would have been. "It's not too bad. But we can go to bed as soon as we get there, and you can put your silk cap on," he replied.

Her smile grew at his words. She was the first black girl he'd ever dated—not that he'd dated too many girls at all before Hailey—and as soon as they started getting friendly, he'd tried to learn as much as he could to be supportive and understand all the things that were important to her that he just didn't know. And one of the biggest parts of his education came from her hair. She claimed it wasn't anything special, but to him, she was an artist with it. Every style was different and beautiful. Hailey seemed to have new hair every single week. She'd laughed when Ethan told her that his mom had basically the same hair style for thirty years.

There he went, thinking about Mom again. He couldn't help it. He was looking forward to seeing her. He knew that she would hug him and he would just feel better. That's what she did.

"I hope we don't wake them up," Hailey said as they turned onto Mom's street. The houses were set far back from the road and they were far apart, but there didn't seem to be any lights on anywhere.

"I haven't gotten any response to my calls or texts since we landed. I don't know if she got my messages about the changed flight," Ethan answered. Just to make sure, he checked his phone again. Three texts and four calls to Mom, all unanswered. He left two voicemails. He considered calling the landline, but he knew if she wasn't answering her cell, she must be asleep, and that meant that for sure Alan was asleep, and calling the landline would wake them both.

"Well, hopefully we can just go in and find a spare bedroom and go to sleep," Hailey reasoned. "This is like one of those places where people don't lock their doors or whatever, right?"

Ethan had no idea. Mom had showed him around the house on FaceTime when she and Alan moved in, so he sort of knew the layout. The guestroom was on the ground floor, and the upstairs was the master suite and the office and the library. They had a freaking library. Mom was in heaven, of course. And downstairs right off the kitchen was a wine cellar. And that made Alan happy.

Truth be told, aside from just having support over the whole pregnancy thing, Ethan was glad to get to spend the summer with Mom and Alan. He'd known Uncle Alan his whole life, but Ethan hadn't actually spent much time with the man in person. Mom was on the phone with him or showing him cards and letters and stuff when he and Charlie were little, but it wasn't until a couple years ago that Mom and Alan reconnected, and since Mom was single and Alan had obviously been in love with her forever, they'd found their way back together. Ethan had dinner with him and Mom in Chicago last year, and they'd all spent Christmas together, too. Mom and Uncle Alan and Uncle Ian and Ethan's older brother, Charlie, and all five of Ian's kids and even his two grandkids. They were all a weird, big family now. Ethan liked them all, but he'd really not spent much time with Alan. So this summer would be good for that, too. Alan had asked Mom to marry him, and she'd said yes, so Alan was going to be his stepdad soon. It'd be best if they could bond a little.

At last, they arrived. The Uber driver stopped in the driveway behind Mom's jeep that still had its Missouri plates. Ethan got his duffle and Hailey's backpack, and she rolled their two suitcases up to the front door. There were lights on inside, so hopefully that meant someone was home.

"Should we ring the doorbell?" Ethan wondered aloud.

"I don't know, it's your mom's house," Hailey countered. "You tell me."

"Yeah, but I've never been here before. And it's after midnight. I've never had to show up at her house after midnight."

Hailey sniggered. "Oh my god, really?"

Ethan felt himself blush slightly. "You know I'm not like that."

She kissed his cheek. "My little nice boy," she teased.

"Alright, stop it," he grumbled. In annoyance, he tried the door handle and was surprised to find it open without issue. "I guess we just go in," he figured.

Hailey followed behind him. The front room was dark, but there was a light down a short hallway in what Ethan vaguely thought might be the kitchen. There were sounds of someone moving around in there, too. Ethan followed the sound towards the light and was prepared to announced his presence when his vision was assaulted by the most unexpected thing he'd never imagined.

"No!" he shouted, more out of random impulse than any actual intention to say anything.

There, sitting up on the counter of the kitchen island, was Ethan's mother. And from where Ethan was standing, he could see her entirely bare back. And he could see hands roaming over her bare back. Hands attached to arms attached to another person entirely bare from the waist up. And when Ethan's voice sounded, Alan Grant's head popped up from where it was pressed against Mom's chest, and she turned her head so fast, she might have gotten whiplash.

Mom immediately pressed herself against Alan to shield the both of them. "Ethan!" she cried in shock. "What are you doing here!? You said your flight was cancelled because of weather! You were going to fly out tomorrow!"

"We…uh…we booked another flight. Into San Jose instead of San Francisco. I called and texted you," he said. Was he even saying words? What were words? He was too dazed to really know for sure.

"Uh, hi," Alan said awkwardly. He was still wrapped around Mom, but that was mostly so that her boobs were pressed against him and not just like out there. Oh my god why did the universe conspire to make Ethan have to think about his mom's boobs?

"Hi, Dr. Grant, I'm Hailey Martin. It's nice to meet you," Hailey greeted politely.

Ethan turned sharply to her, about to demand what the hell she thought she was doing, but she shrugged at him in a way that dared him to say anything to her, so he kept his mouth shut.

Meanwhile, Mom had found the sleeves of her nightgown that had been pushed down to her waist and had pushed Alan back from where he was standing between her legs. She hopped down off the counter. As she did, she kicked a dishtowel.

Hailey stepped forward and picked up the towel. "Here you go," she offered.

"Thanks," Mom answered, taking the towel. "We put that down there for Alan's knees."

"Jesus Christ, Ellie!" Alan exclaimed.

Ethan wholeheartedly agreed with that statement. That was absolutely not anything he wanted to ever hear about ever.

"Sorry, I-I don't…I don't know what's happening," Mom stammered. She did that when she got overwhelmed sometimes. And Ethan realized that this was probably just as mortifying for her as it was for him.

"Why don't you just show us where our room is and we can all go to bed and wake up like this never happened?" Ethan suggested.

"Sure. Right. Can I give you a hug first?" Mom asked, approaching him.

Ethan held out his hand to stop her. "Maybe in the morning."

Her expression went from awkward to heartbroken, and Ethan somehow softened. He put down the duffel and backpack slung over his shoulders and let his mother give him a hug.

And for one small moment, everything was just a little bit better.