Page 41 of Cloudy With a Chance of Bad Decisions
“You and Alex looked cozy in the sandbox,” she told me as she’d been making my bed for me a few hours earlier. I’d offered to do it myself, and she’d looked so offended I’d shut up. “Maybe you can ride with him to the venue tomorrow.”
“Cozy” was a stretch and she knew it.
“Ha. Very funny,” I replied, too exhausted to say much else.
“It’s not a bad idea to clear the air,” she gently prodded. I could still remember how massive Alex had looked towering over her, a contrite expression on his face.
“What did he tell you?” My heart skipped a beat. “Whatever it was—was most definitely a lie. He’s a manipulative lying son-of-a?—”
“He told me not to blame you,” Mom cut me off, tucking the sheets around the corners of the bed. “That he’d provoked you, and not to hold it against you.”
I blinked.
A beat passed, silence echoing between us.
“He said that?”
“He did.” She moved to the other side of the bed, working at the other corners. “He wanted me to know he was to blame for the entire argument.” With a grunt, she straightened up, turning to look at me. There was a knowing glint in her eyes I wasn’t sure I liked.
I was surprised, to say the least.
Confused, mostly.
I didn’t know what to make of any of this.
“I’m not riding with him,” I replied, because I had no idea how to confront…any of that. Shame sat like lead in my stomach at the reminder of how I’d let her down. “And I’m…” I sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry about earlier.”
“You didn’t do anything to be sorry about,” Mom shook her head, quirking a brow. “Flirting is not a punishable offense.”
I flushed. “I wasn’t flirting.”
“From where I was standing, you were.”
So apparently I hadn’t offended her like I’d thought I had. That was good. Even if it was embarrassing.
“I’m not riding with him,” I reiterated, because she’d ignored that bit.
“Mhm.” Mom did not sound convinced.
“I’m not.”
“We’ll see.”
“Mom,” I cut her off, shuffling from foot to foot as she turned back to the bed to tuck in the comforter. “Please tell me you’re not also trying to hook me up with Alex?” I already knew she was. Juniper had confirmed it earlier, but playing dumb was the easiest way to confront her.
Mom’s silence was all the answer I needed.
“I don’t need you, or Joe, or god forbid,Roderickto set me up. I’m perfectly fine on my own.”
She sniffed, “I never said you weren’t.”
“I don’t need a boyfriend.”
“Of course not,” she replied noncommittally.
More silence.
“Mom.” And now I was whining, like a petulant child.
