She gave me a long look over her shoulder, and then smiled. When I settled back in the car, I let out a long, deep breath.
My phone buzzed.
Adaline: Thank you.
Adaline: For bringing me home. And for taking care of me.
I wanted to promise her that I always would, but I knew it was best for me to let her crawl into bed and sleep it off. Not engage when we couldn’t have the kind of conversation we needed.
Me: You’re welcome. Good night, Adaline.
She sent a heart, and I thought about that the entire drive home.
The house wasn’t as lit up anymore, and when I let myself back in through the garage door, I exhaled heavily.
My mom was curled up on the couch, and she muted the TV when I sprawled on the seat across from her. Her eyes were expectant and full of a million questions.
“You gonna tell me what the hell is going on?” she asked.
I sighed, clenching my teeth. Finally, I shook my head slowly. “Not yet.” I gave her a small smile. “I’m sorry.”
Mom screwed up her lips and gave me a considering look. “Fine. You’re an adult. I can’t pry it out of you.”
“Thank you.”
“One question, though,” she added on a rush. “I’ll make it easy too. Yes or no.”
I sighed.
“Were you or were you not looking at Adaline Wilder like you were going to toss her over your shoulder and drag her up to your room?”
The look I gave her was incredulous. “I’m not answering that.”
She kept going. “Like you would walk over hot coals to spend some time alone with her? Or like you have been hiding something very big and important from your family?”
“I beg of you to stop.”
“That is a yes in man language.” She turned the volume back on the TV, her smile smug. “I’m satisfied that I can still read the room. Your dad will be home any minute, and I promise I won’t tell him.”
“Why did I come home again?” I muttered.
She laughed. “Because you love us.”
“I don’t know why.”
“I love Adaline too, by the way,” Mom continued slyly. “If you were wondering my take on it.”
I stared her down.
She stared right back.
I cracked first. My dad might have taught me how to throw a football, but I learned how to stare down a linebacker without flinching from Paige McKinney Ward—and she damn well knew it.
“We can talk about it later,” she said. “We have all week.”
Adaline
Wine-drunk me was very free with her feelings. If only that came with a clean slate the next day. Unfortunately, I also had a great memory for every single thing that I said.
I didn’t deserve how good I felt the next morning, and by the time Kendall picked me up on her way to the office, I was in the middle of the most epic negative self-talk I’d had in a while.
Idiot.
Idiot.
Idiot.
A selfish idiot at that.
For four months, I’d managed to keep a tight lid on my impulse to word vomit all my butterfly, goose-bumpy feelings to Emmett.
Four months.
Because he was so very skilled at catching me off guard, all it took was one night, and I’d blown all that discipline to fucking smithereens.