Page 127 of Sugar
My suspicious gaze was pulled from her when Dad gave a low whistle. “Wow. That’s quite the assignment. Your editor must be loving your work.”
“He is. But it was actually the guy that I’m seeing who arranged the coverage for me. Joel just happily scooped up the feature when I pitched it to him.”
Happilywas an understatement. Though he’d initially tried to push for an invite for himself, he’d been a jittery bundle of excitement that his pride-and-joy paper would have a feature guaranteed to garner more than ten views.
Some of Dad’s delight dimmed. Or maybe it was transferred to my mom because her happiness was starting to resemble Joel’s hyperactive energy.
“I didn’t know you were seeing anyone,” Dad said. “Is he also a journalism major?”
“No. He’s, uh, a lawyer.”
Mom squeaked, but the rest of Dad’s cheerfulness was gone. “Actually a lawyer orinlaw school?”
Oh hell.
“Actually a lawyer. He has his own firm. Wells Law.”
“You’re dating a man who’s old enough to have his own damn law firm?”
“Howard—” Mom tried placatingly, but he wasn’t put off.
“What’s wrong with him that he couldn’t get a woman his own age?”
She dropped the pacifying tone and put her hands on her hips. “What was wrong with you that you couldn’t get a woman your age when you pursued me?”
“That was different, Kerri,” he blustered.
“You’re right. I was younger than Maddie is now when we got together.”
She had him there. More surprisingly, she had my back in a way I hadn’t expected. I’d thought it would be them against me for at least a few dozen questions.
Something is fishy—and I’m not talking about the scaly trespasser.
“I… It’s… This…” Dad let out a disgruntled harrumph and grabbed his laptop. “I’ll be in my office.”
I rolled my lips between my teeth as I watched him storm off.
It wasn’t a horrifically epic disaster. He hadn’t threatened to go after Easton with a shotgun—though that was likely only because he didn’t have a shotgun.
That was about what I’d expected with Dad.
Mom, however, was a different matter.
She began pulling veggies from the fridge as she reassured, “Don’t worry about your dad. He’ll get over it. It’s just a shock.”
I eyed her. “Yet you didn’t look shocked. I didn’t get so much as an eyebrow raise.”
“Good. My Botox is still working.”
“It’s more than that.” I rounded the island to help her. “Why aren’t you upset or surprised or anything?”
“Because I’m a cool mom. You’re not the first woman to go through an older man phase. I married mine. And also, I knew. Do you want orange or yellow peppers in the salad?”
I nearly dropped the leafy greens I held—and since it was kale, I wished I had. “Youknew? How in the world could you know?”
“Again, I am a cool mom. I pick up on these things. Every time we’ve talked, you’ve seemed happier. Lighter. And also, Greer posted you two on her Instagram. But mostly, a mother knows her only daughter.”
“What? Greer didn’t post anything.”
