Page 28 of Our Little Secret
“That’s, like, nothing!” Marilee said.
“A few minutes ago you said it was ‘forever,’” Brooke pointed out. She was rewarded with an angry scowl from her daughter.
Neal wasn’t deterred. Standing, he cracked his back, then walked to the bureau and leaned against it. “Look, why don’t you meet him there?”
“Ooh! That’s what Mom said! Like I’m still in junior high. All of my friends get to date!Theirparents trust them.”
“It’s not a matter of—” Neal started, then caught the tiny warning shake of Brooke’s head.
“You”—Marilee swept her gaze from one parent to the other—“you just don’t understand!” With that, she stomped through the door, down the short hallway toward her room.
Neal warned, “Don’t slam the—”
Too late. The door to her room closed with a timber-rattling thud.
“—door.”
Brooke let out the breath she’d been holding. “Was it my imagination or did the whole house shake?”
He smiled. “I think our whole lives just shook. She’s growing up.”
“I know, but she just sprang this on me today, a few minutes ago, and the dance is tomorrow night!”
“Maybe he just asked her today.”
“Maybe,” she admitted, frowning, a headache threatening. “I don’t know.”
“Fun times,” Neal pointed out. “Teenage rebellion.”
“I know. And we—the parents—we’re so clueless.”
“Trying to make her life a living hell,” he remarked, scratching at his chin and grinning.
Brooke nodded as she got to her feet. “As if we haven’t been there ourselves.”
“Oh God, yes. Sally Matthews.” He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “She was the one I would have killed for when I was what—?” His eyes narrowed as he calculated. “Maybe seventeen. Thereabouts.” He wiggled his hand, as if it didn’t matter how old he was. “All I could think about was getting her alone and into her pants. That seemed to be my primary goal in life.”
“That and basketball.”
“Well, yeah.” He smiled and shook his head. “But man, was I horny.”
“I know.” Brooke shared a conspiring look with her husband. “I remember.” Theirs had been a fiery, hot, guilt-ridden romance, though Neal was twenty-six and she barely eighteen at the time. Neal had been her first boyfriend since Keith Turnquist, and Neal was off-limits. Taboo. Which had made her want him all the more, caused her to find him incredibly hot. Now, remembering it, she felt cold inside. Their mercurial relationship, fueled by raw sex and teen angst and deception, had been an emotional roller coaster that had cost them both. And yet they were still together despite the obvious holes in their relationship. Deep abysses, in reality.
Brooke only hoped she could help Marilee avoid the same pitfalls.
Neal slid her a glance. “How long has this—this thing with Nick been going on?”
“She says it’s not a thing, not yet anyway. But she’s interested.” Brooke thought for a second. “You know, she’s been hanging out with Tammi more, going over to their house for about three months, maybe four. She and Tammi have gotten tighter recently.”
“Maybe because of Nick?”
“What do you think?”
“Right.” He nodded. “I’ll talk to her . . . in a few minutes. Give her time to calm down.”
“And—?”
“I think we should stick to our guns. She can meet him at the dance or ride with him and Tammi or some other kids.”
