Текст книги "The Girl of Sand & Fog"
Автор книги: Susan Ward
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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 25 страниц)
His eyes drift closed as his fingers start moving in my hair, along my cheek, lightly brushing my lips. The taste of me on his skin is tangy and makes me hot for him all over again.
My fingers close around his dick, and he groans as my hand starts to move full length up and down him the way he likes. Slowly, a squeeze at the base, up to the head, then a finger around the top, pausing to tease that spot just below the tip.
I caress his balls and then give a light squeeze before I run my fingers back up. A bead of white pushes out through the tip and I think about taking it with my tongue. I start kissing my way across his jaw, down his neck, his shoulder, his chest and to those perfect abs, lower and lower to the base of his cock.
I start pumping as I lift my head, mouth open, but before I can take him he stops me with his hand.
He tenses. “No, Kaley.”
I freeze.
Did he just tell me to stop?
Emotions overtake me—hurt, worry, disappointment, and confusion.
My hand stops. “Why don’t you want me to do that?”
His lids lift. The tenderness of his eyes immediately calms me. “The first time I come in you, I don’t want it to be in your mouth. I want it to be inside you, making love to you, and if you so much as touch me there with your mouth, it’s a done deal. I’m going to come in about two seconds.”
The way he says that makes me laugh.
My hand gloves his erection again, stroking him slowly at first and then, as his face tenses, faster and faster.
He moans, pumping his cock into my hand, and I claim his mouth in a deep, full tongue kiss.
He starts shaking.
I feel him swell.
His breathing is uneven.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
We both look toward the door.
“Stop what you’re doing. Get dressed. Get out here and take Kaley back to school. Your mum says you have two minutes before she’s coming in.”
“Oh fuck.” Bobby groans, falling back against the bed, and covers his tense face with his forearm.
Bang. “Two minutes. Did you hear me?”
Bobby lifts his arm. “Two minutes,” he repeats, damn near shouting. He stares at me in disbelief. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. What the hell is Len doing back?”
He scrambles from the bed, searching for something to cover his body with.
Oh shit. It didn’t sound like Len Rowan. The voice was too—crap, I don’t know how to describe it.
I watch Bobby move around the room. “That was your dad?”
He nods. “Yep. Get dressed. If Linda says she’s coming in in two minutes she means it.”
My brows hitch up. “And how would you know that? Prior experience?”
He gives me a heavily exasperated look. “Don’t give me crap. Not now. And no, they’ve never busted in before. I know it because if Linda says it, she’s doing it.”
He sits back down on the bed, cradling his head in his hands. He looks like he’s suffering. He was really hard. Swelling. Almost there. This can’t be good for him.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper and edge forward to kiss his back.
His face snaps up and he looks over his shoulder at me. “Don’t touch me. Don’t kiss me. He won’t go down if you do and I need to get out there in two minutes.”
I pout and move away from him.
“Can you put on some clothes, please? Having your tits popping out in front of me doesn’t help the current situation.”
Stifling a laugh, I take my shirt from the bed, pull it on and then find and put on my panties.
He looks so miserable and embarrassed.
I search for something to say to lighten the mood. “We should have done it today. Len beating down the door in the middle would have made that milestone moment one neither of us would ever forget.”
He grimaces. “Not funny. Why do you think I planned the Santa Cruz thing? I wanted it to be a memory you would want to remember always. To be a part of both of our histories in a good way that we won’t ever regret. Not with Len or Linda busting in and ruining it.”
He grabs a pair of rumpled sweatpants from the clothes piled beside his door, pulls them on, and adjusts his dick and the fabric covering his not completely deflated erection.
“Today was memorable for me, Bobby. I’m pretty sure I’ll remember it always.”
He looks at me.
I bite back a smile.
He shakes his head. “Don’t say anything. Not one more word. Do you have any idea how fucking awkward it’s going to be to get bitched out by Dad while having a boner?”
CHAPTER 10
I stare at the closed door. Bobby left without saying whether I should stay in his bedroom until he’s done dealing with his dad or if it’s expected for me to come out.
We all know I’m in here.
I’m pretty sure they know what we were doing in here.
What am I supposed to do?
In spite of my anxiety, I momentarily lose my train of thought in the slide show flashing in my head of me and Bobby not five minutes ago on his bed. Holy crap. He definitely knows how to treat a girl’s body. He may not have ever “officially” fucked a girl but I haven’t any doubts he’s going to be amazing at that as well.
Yep, I’m going to Santa Cruz even if I have to lie to Chrissie to get there. That problem: manageable; this problem: no bueno.
What the hell are they arguing about out there?
I go from the bed, grabbing the remainder of my discarded clothes. As I finish dressing, I try to pick out words from the muffled, rapid exchange penetrating the walls of the pool house.
Wow. They sound really angry. Even Bobby, and he is never anything but respectful with Linda and even-tempered in all moments. But then Zoe did say he has a contentious relationship with Len. Still, I didn’t anticipate this. The yelling. And never from both of them, and definitely never from Bobby.
Maybe his dad is really bitching him out. Strange. Why would Len do that, since leaving a Costco-sized box of condoms in a kid’s bedroom is pretty much a green light to use them?
The voices grow louder. Fine. I’m going out there.
I dash into the bathroom and do a quick check of myself. My eye makeup is smudged, my cheeks are flushed and my hair is a mess. I wonder if I smell like sex. Can you smell like sex without having had sex? Crap, I’m lame and a mess.
I take Bobby’s comb from the vanity and try to do something with my curls. Crud, I’m just turning them into frizz. That will just have to do. I make my way to the bedroom door, open it and peek out.
“It’s none of your business what I do,” Bobby says calmly, succinctly.
The no-longer-muffled voices hold me back in the room as my eyes lock on father and son standing toe-to-toe arguing.
“You can date Kaley,” Len Rowan shouts, “but you draw the line there. She’s not some piece of ass you give a toss to. You treat that girl with respect. Always. If you can’t keep it zipped, you stay away from her.”
My cheeks burn.
“You haven’t a clue about anything,” Bobby counters in a surprisingly controlled voice. “You never have, but this is a new low even from you. Advice from Len Rowan on how to treat a girl. Excuse me if I don’t rush off to write that one down, Pop.”
Len’s jaw clenches. “I expect you to burn it into your memory, new low or not, boy. That girl doesn’t have a father to look out for her. Your mum called me and I hopped a plane home for the holidays to get things back in line around here. I’m stepping in, whether you like it or not. Chrissie is a dear friend. She doesn’t need more to manage, especially not from you pissing in her pond.”
Bobby makes a frustrated growl, shaking his head, and now looking like his anger is only loosely contained. “Fuck, that’s not why you’re here. You’re not here for Mom or Chrissie or even Kaley. You’re here because you’ve spent your entire life covering Alan Manzone’s ass and cleaning up his messes. You wouldn’t give a fuck what I do with Kaley if that girl wasn’t Alan’s daughter. Even if the bastard won’t admit that she is his daughter.”
Len raises a hand, but stops it mid-swing.
Bobby doesn’t flinch, not even a hair.
Their eyes burn into each other.
“Go ahead,” Bobby taunts. “I’ll let you have one punch, Pop. I know I’m not supposed to talk shit about him and that Alan Manzone is sacred to you.”
Len’s arm relaxes at his side and he steps back. He takes several ragged deep breaths to compose himself. “It’s not smart, Bobby, to think you know more than you do. Alan is the most loyal man I’ve ever known. The most generous, dependable, and honest friend a man can have. My friend since I was your age, when another man would have left me at the curb when his star started to rise with the money pouring in. And I’m loyal to him. That is friendship.”
Bobby shakes his head. “Covering up each other’s lies and mistakes for thirty years is not a friendship. It’s a cult. You’ve carried Alan’s water so long you can’t see the difference. Tell me, Pop, when does that girl in my bedroom start to matter more to you people than your lies and revolting web of friendship? A real friend would knock Alan upside the head and tell him to get here and take care of his daughter.”
“Like I said, it’s not smart to talk about things you don’t know anything about. I suggest you don’t do it again.” Len grabs his drink off the table and drops heavily onto the foot of a chaise. “Discussion done. You leave that girl alone. Get your dick wet somewhere else. She’s off-limits. We would have nothing if not for Manny and I’ll cut off the money—don’t think I won’t—if you blow me off on this one.”
Bobby’s laughter sends shivers up my spine. He collapses down in a loose-limbed way onto a patio chair. “I don’t want your money. I’ve already told you that. I’m here until I graduate in May, for Linda’s sake, then I’m getting the hell out of here and not coming back.”
Len rolls his eyes. “Ah, that’s right. Not going to college, even though your mum wants you to. Breaking her heart so you can live poor and live real or some such nonsense like that. Fuck, that’s only something a kid raised with money would say. I’ve been poor, kid. Trust me, you won’t like it, but since you don’t want my money, would you mind signing back over to me on your twenty-fifth birthday that trust your mother made me set up for you?”
“Consider it signed over.”
“Good.”
Their postures change in that argument over kind of way.
“How long are you here for?” Bobby asks.
Len shrugs. “I fly out on Saturday. Your mum says you’re leaving on Wednesday. Off to surf somewhere. She’s not happy about that.”
“It’s better for everyone if I’m not here,” Bobby states calmly. “You only really fly in from the road to see Madison and Mom.”
A look of having been stung by that comment flashes across Len’s face, but he doesn’t say anything. I can tell Bobby doesn’t pick up on it.
I wait to see if Bobby comes back to his room for me, but after several minutes, I suck in some air and decide to go out there.
I make my way across the patio to the pool area.
Len’s eyes shift to me. “Kaley Stanton, there’s my girl.” He stands from where he’s sitting on the lounger.
His expression is warm and friendly and such an abrupt change from what it was with Bobby I do a double-take. He beams at me from a face of very British features half-hidden by an unruly cloud of reddish-blond hair.
I stop behind Bobby’s chair. “Hello, Mr. Rowan.”
Len laughs; a pleasant, easy-flowing humor not at all like the man he’d been a few moments ago.
“Mr. Rowan, huh? Stop that nonsense now. You’re too old to call me Uncle Len like you did when you were this high”—he lowers his hand to knee level—“but we’re still friends, aren’t we, love? So it’s ‘Len’ for you and me.”
The weirdness of this on the heels of everything else renders me mute, so I smile and wait for Bobby to rescue me from this extremely awkward moment.
Bobby exhales loudly and then stands. “We’re out of here, Pop.”
Bobby does a fast inspection of me—I can see that he can tell I heard everything—and a flash of embarrassment and concern is followed by a silently asked are you all right?
I stare at the ground, and inside I die a little, because a lot happened here today, striking at all those old wounds in me and, fuck, Len Rowan gave me a few new ones to ponder.
The part about me being off-limits for Bobby. It’s been roiling inside me enough so that I’m wondering if that’s my appeal to Bobby. He did latch on to me pretty quickly. Zoe is right; he is the most popular guy at school. And for the first time, I’m starting to wonder if Zoe was wrong; maybe I didn’t land the hottest guy on campus in two days by being a total bitch.
There is as much going on in Bobby’s universe as there is in mine. Subtext and undercurrents I’ve somehow missed before today, but I need to figure them out quickly. Have I read Bobby’s interest in me wrong?
Am I just a fuck you to his dad?
A thing he’s not supposed to do, but does because contentious relationship isn’t even in the realm of what I witnessed today?
I hate that I’m doubting Bobby.
I hate that today made me feel this way.
And I really hate it because I know I love him…
“Come on,” he says, taking my hand. I look up, startled. “I just need to grab a shirt, my shoes and my keys.”
“See you soon, dear,” Len says.
I nod, and Bobby starts pulling me with him toward his room. I can feel Len watching.
Inside the pool house, Bobby releases my hand and reaches for a shirt. “I’m sorry you had to hear that. Are you OK?”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Bobby stops what he’s doing and looks at me. His eyes glow with insight. “Don’t do that, Kaley. Talk to me.”
“It’s just—” I break off, unable to articulate the things in my head with those penetrating and soulful green eyes watching me. “Forget it. I don’t want to talk about it. Drive me back to school so I can get my car. That’s what I want.”
His mouth presses in a hard line and he runs a hand several times through his hair. “Just what? You’ve never held back on speaking your mind. Don’t start now.”
“I’m not afraid to speak my mind. Not ever, Bobby. I was trying to be considerate of you by not saying anything about what went down between you and your dad.”
“That’s big of you. It’s also a load of crap.”
Knee-jerk temper kicks in. “Fine. You want to know what I’m wondering?” I step into him until we’re practically nose to nose. “Why you’re really with me. When did your parents start giving you shit and saying I’m off-limits?”
His eyes widen, surprised. Not the question he expected.
“The first day I brought you home with me. Right after I got back from picking up my motorcycle from school. I guess I was gone too long, and Linda was up my ass the second I stepped through the door—and I quote—wanting to know if I’m such a jerk that I popped your cherry in a school parking lot before I came home. Made it very clear if it’s not popped, don’t pop it. It was fucking humiliating. They’re always giving me shit about something. Them telling me ‘no’ about you isn’t about you. It’s about me.”
My knees go weak, I sink down on the bed, and drop my face into my hands. “Oh gross. Pop my cherry? Did Linda really say that? How can you say that isn’t about me?”
“Because it isn’t. Everything is not about you, Kaley. You only think it is. I get it, why you feel that way, but it’s not true. Everything is not about you.”
My face snaps up.
“Not about me, huh? It sounded like it was a few minutes ago when your dad told you to stay clear of me. That sounded pretty fucking about me, Bobby. Are you only interested in me because your parents don’t want you to date me? Is that what we’re doing here? Hooking up because it’s part of this strange war you have with your dad?”
He stares at me like I’m nuts.
“You can’t honestly believe that.”
I lift my chin. “Tell me it’s not true and I won’t.”
“I shouldn’t have to.” He starts moving around the room in an agitated, frustrated way. “Fuck, you are paranoid in the extreme at times. Do you know that? None of any of this is about you. Linda and her revolting cherry comment is just her reverse psychology bullshit. She’s so obvious at times that if I didn’t love her I’d fucking hate her. She likes you and is still not completely certain that I’m not gay—”
A disobedient laugh escapes me, since two minutes with Bobby should make that a preposterous concern for anyone. I could tell he wasn’t gay even before he put his mouth on my clit—oh shit, my face is on fire again—since he’s as all-male as guys get.
“—I’ve never brought a girl home before you, other than Zoe. And before you ask, it’s because I’ve never cared for any girl enough to bring her home.”
Pausing, he stands above me silently waiting for me to digest all that. It’s a lot to digest and he’s had a pretty rotten afternoon since his dad pounded on the door, so I shrug and lamely say, “Oh.”
He sits down on the bed close to me and collapses back in total frustration. “My wanting to be with you,” he continues in a breathy, ragged voice, “has nothing to do with anything but me and you. That shit you heard from Len, that isn’t about you and me, and has nothing to do with any sort of ‘war’—as you put it—between me and my dad. That’s about him.”
He pins me in a gaze the color of lush green grass and I know, from that spot deep inside me, that he’s telling me the truth about everything. Bobby’s total honesty in every moment is a big part of what I love about him.
I lie back, turning onto my side to face him. I keep my mouth shut this time. He’s not finished; I can feel it.
He slowly rolls until we are face-to-face.
“I’d hate Len if he had a clue he was fucking doing the wrong thing. But he doesn’t. He’s a good guy. Just wrong most of the time. In his own warped way, what you heard was Len Rowan trying to be a stand-up man for you.”
I crinkle my nose. “Really?”
A spark of humor flashes in his eyes. “Yep. Sad, but true.” I smile and he touches my face, causing me to melt into the play of his fingers. “Please, don’t take this the wrong way. It’s the first thing Len’s done in a long time that I sort of respect him for. I can’t hate him for thinking you deserve the best. No way. It’s how I feel. I love you.”
Holy shit.
Now he says it?
This is so not the way I imagined the first time a guy would say those words to me.
He starts to brush my jawline with his thumb and lightly traces my face with his kisses. “I love you, Kaley. Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
I ease into his mouth. “I love you, too.”
I kiss him in a slow, deep, tongue-swirling way that makes the heat turn up in me even after our argument. It doesn’t take long before I’m pushing into him. He’s pushing into me. I grind into him and he’s hard and straining against his sweatpants. And it’s back inside me, too: that burning need because I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anything.
I break the kiss, breathing heavily, and rest my face against his chin. “Since we got that cleared up and we love each other, does that mean this fight is over and we’re going to Santa Cruz so we can pop each other’s cherry?”
His eyes go from passion-glazed to wide open. “What did you say?”
I peek at him.
I try really hard not to.
I can’t help it.
I roll onto my back, laughing uproariously and hugging my stomach. The laughter is good. It blocks out the pulsing in my sex, probably better than a cold shower would.
Bobby covers his face with his hand, and from what I can see between his fingers I’m not sure if he’s laughing or grimacing.
Bang.
“It doesn’t take ten minutes to get your shoes, boy. Out of there. Now.”
Bobby stands up and grabs the keys from the nightstand. He looks down at his groin, groans, and plucks at the fabric covering his dick.
“Fuck. Stop laughing, Kaley. This isn’t funny. If you loved me you wouldn’t laugh. I’m in pain here.”
CHAPTER 11
I swipe open my phone and read through the last series of texts from Zoe. This is either going to work or it’s not. How the fuck did it work for Zoe? She’s already at the end of the driveway waiting in her car for me.
I click off my phone, lie back on my bed and groan.
Crap. This is stupid.
It will never work.
But it is the best plan we came up with last night.
It’s not even my plan.
It’s Zoe’s.
It has to be doomed to failure. That Zoe thought of this should tell me not to attempt it, but my procrastination in getting permission for the Santa Cruz trip from Chrissie has made it pretty much unavoidable if I want to be in the car next to Bobby today.
If I ask Chrissie this morning, straight up, if I can go the answer is going to be no. Mom hates short notice, and even if I’d ask two weeks ago like Bobby wanted me to I’m pretty sure she would have said no anyway.
I take in a deep breath.
Fuck, I’m trying it.
I’ve got nothing to lose.
It’s the only plan I have.
I lug my duffel to the kitchen. Mom is sitting at the table with her morning coffee. Alone. Perfect. Lourdes would see through this in half a second. Krystal would, too, but unlike the housekeeper, my sister wouldn’t keep her mouth shut. She’d call me out on it.
I drop my bag heavily on the floor then quickly turn to pour a cup of coffee so my back is to Chrissie.
“Good morning, Kaley,” I hear my mom say from behind me. “You’re up early. What’s with the suitcase?”
My cheeks heat. Fuck. I hate lying and I’m not any good at it. I take a moment to stir creamer into my coffee, trying to slow my heartbeat.
I calmly turn around and face my mom with my best duh, you’ve got to be kidding expression. “Big Bear. Snowboarding. With the Kennedys. Over the holiday. Until Sunday. Remember?”
Chrissie frowns. “No. I don’t. What are you talking about?”
I groan in frustration. “We talked about this.”
“No, we didn’t.”
I flounce across the kitchen and drop down heavily on a chair. “I can’t believe you forgot. Are you telling me I can’t go now? I promised Zoe.”
Chrissie’s eyes widen. “I’m not telling you anything because I don’t know anything about this.”
I grab my phone. “Fine. I’ll just call Zoe and tell her I’m not coming.”
I tap in the password. Shit, my mom’s not stopping me. Good one, Zoe. I should never have listened to her. Oh, a new text from Zoe opens on the screen.
Zoe: Make sure if your Mom decides to call to check on things that she calls only my dad. Only my dad. Don’t forget. This is important.
I quickly close the text box. I change course. “It’s not fair that I have to stick around just because you forgot about something I asked you about weeks ago.”
“We never discussed this,” Chrissie repeats more insistently.
“Well, can I go?”
“Snowboarding.” She frowns, shaking her head as she folds up her newspaper. “Since when are you into snowboarding?”
“I’m not. Zoe is going to teach me. She doesn’t want to be stuck on the slopes with her dad alone for the holidays. I promised. I’m her only friend and now I have to ditch her—”
I cut off dramatically.
OK, that was putting it on a little thick.
Fuck, did I overplay this?
Blue eyes stare unwaveringly into mine. I fight not to lower my gaze first—a dead giveaway I’m fibbing. Crap, I hope my cheeks aren’t burnish red. It feels like they’re on freaking fire.
Chrissie tilts her head and holds out her hand. “Fine. Give me the phone. If it checks out, you can go.”
Really?
I try not to be overly happy. I put my cell in her palm. “Call Mr. Kennedy.”
Chrissie taps through my contacts and frowns. “Ian?”
“He’s the one taking us.”
“Why is Zoe going alone with her dad? Where’s Yotti?”
Crap, suspicious again.
It sucks that all our parents know each other.
I shrug. “Her mom is in Bermuda. Mrs. Kennedy bailed last minute. I think they had a fight or something. Zoe is really sad.”
“Oh,” my mom says, conveying she’s not at all surprised by that creative factoid.
Good one, Zoe. That part worked brilliantly.
My mom sets the phone on the table and hits speaker. Ring. Ring. Ring. My leg wants to jiggle and I won’t let it. Another tell that I’m lying.
“Hello?”
“Ian, it’s Chrissie Harris—”
“Chrissie Harris, what the hell are you doing calling me at this hour?”
My mom laughs. “It’s after 10 a.m. Rough night, Ian?”
“Every night is a rough night. What’s going on, girl?”
Chrissie smiles and starts fiddling with her hair. “Do you know that you’re the only one who still calls me ‘girl’? But I love you for it, Ian.”
“Ah, tell me you love me again and you’ll break my heart again.”
They both laugh.
Shit—break my heart again—did my mom used to date Mr. Kennedy? Oh yuck. Not that Mr. Kennedy isn’t sort of cute for old guy, and was probably a total hottie when he was young, but I hate these unexpected bombs that hit me out of nowhere and say Chrissie used to have a life. She should be so much more of a cool mom than she is.
God, I hate lying.
Fuck, how long is this call going to take?
“I just wanted to thank you for including Kaley over the holidays,” my mom murmurs into the speaker. “Zoe’s such a sweetheart. A good friend to my daughter.”
“We feel the same way about Kaley.”
“Well, I just wanted you to know I appreciate your kindness to her. It’s been hard relocating. Adjusting. I’ve got a lot going on and your house has become practically Kaley’s second home.”
“You always have a lot going on, girl,” Ian teases. Gross. Did he just flirt with my mom? They both laugh again. “And we enjoy having her.”
Enjoy having her?
Really?
I’ve been to Zoe’s only twice, ever.
Maybe this was a good plan.
Hurry up. Hurry up.
I want to know if I’m busted or out of here.
“Well, thank you for letting my girl join you for the holidays. Have fun. I’m jealous. I could use a holiday.”
Oh crap.
Mom just rambled.
I sink my teeth into my lower lip and tense.
“Any time, Chrissie. We’re here for you always. We need to do dinner soon and catch up. It’s been too long.”
“We definitely do. Thanks, Ian. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.”
“You, too, Chrissie.”
Click.
My mom shoves the phone across the table to me and sits back in her chair.
Fudge, I can’t tell which way this is going to go.
I pick up my cell. “Well, can I leave? I don’t want to keep Zoe hanging.”
Waiting.
Waiting.
Come on, Chrissie, come through for me.
My mom nods. “Do you have everything you need?”
A smile I can’t contain fills my face as I spring from the chair. “Yep, I have everything. Credit cards. Cash. I’m good.”
Chrissie frowns. “What about snow clothes?”
“I’m borrowing them from Zoe.” Shit. That was dumb. Zoe is a midget and she’s round. “Mrs. Kennedy has extra snow clothes. I didn’t want to buy anything. I may not like it. I’m not really into the snow. I’m like you. Beach girl all the way.”
Chrissie laughs and picks up her coffee cup. “That was nice of Yotti. I’m not really into the snow either. Jesse tried to teach me how to snowboard. This may surprise you. I’m not very coordinated. It wasn’t good.”
I laugh. Jeez, don’t let this turn into an hour-long conversation down memory lane.
I don’t know what else to do.
I kiss my mom on the head.
“See you Sunday night, Mom.”
I go for my bag.
“Call me when you get there, Kaley. And check in with me every night and every morning. I worry when you’re gone.”
Well, that’s going to be a buzzkill; spending my entire five days with Bobby phoning Mom.
I nod. “I will, Mom.”
“Love you.”
“Me, too.”
I hurry out the front door, and find Zoe waiting at the curb like she said she would be. I toss my bag into the back and climb into the passenger seat.
She gives me a slightly gloating expression. “I told you it would work.”
I make a face at her, but then we both laugh.
She pulls away from the curb. “Did she call my dad?”
“Yep.”
Zoe shakes her head. “My dad never knows what’s going on and my mom bitches at him so much about it he’s afraid to admit it. I could tell him anything and he’d just say ‘oh yeah.’”
“Well, there was a moment there I thought busted.”
“Nope, wasn’t going to happen. Do you want to stop for coffee before we go to Jake’s to meet up with everyone?”
“Yep. Make a stop. I need a latte with about six shots to recover from that call. They flirted with each other. So obvious. So gross.”
Zoe scrunches up her face. “Yuck. My dad is such a flirt.”
I think of Alan and I don’t want to. “At least he’s not in the tabloids every day.”
She gives me a sharp look. “Nope, you’re not doing it on this trip, Kaley. We’re not talking about Alan Manzone. You are not cyberstalking the online tabloids or anything else. Google him even once and I’m taking your phone away.”
My cheeks redden.
“You’ve been really happy lately,” Zoe adds intensely. “Since Bobby. It’s nice. And Bobby is a great guy. You’re so lucky. Can’t you see that? Don’t you think he deserves some time with you just about him? When you don’t Google you’re more fun. And I want to have big fun this trip.”
Oh crap.
She’s right.
I arch a brow. “Big fun, huh? How do you know it’s big? I thought you and Jake weren’t doing it yet.”
She shrugs and pulls into the Starbucks drive-thru. “I know the same way you know Bobby’s is. Always wise to check out the package first. Better than being disappointed at the moment it matters. That’s what my mom told me.”
“Oh God. Yotti didn’t.”
“Yep, she did.”
We both burst out laughing.
