“Talk to you later,” Kylie said, vanishing through the front doors. I looked up at Jayce, who was watching my face, gauging my expression of pain.
“You left early, before I could see you off,” he said. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, why?”
“Because you were devastated last night,” he insisted, putting his hands on my shoulders to stop me from walking away. I grimaced, humiliated that Jayce had seen me like that.
“It’s all part of the process, right?” I said, unconsciously reaching one hand up to touch my hair. “It’s just hair. It doesn’t matter.”
“Macey.”
“Hey, is your mom free tonight?” I asked, taking Jayce’s hand and walking towards the building before he could continue getting after me about it.
“I don’t know, but I can ask her. Why?”
“My mom showed up,” I told him. “This morning.”
Jayce’s hand tightened on my own. “Where? At your house?”
“Yep.”
“Did you ask her here?”
“Nope,” I said, and then, recalling the last conversation I’d had on the phone with her while she was still in Michigan, I sighed. “I made a comment about that if she wanted to take care of me, she could come here. I most definitely didn’t think she’d take me up on it.”
Jayce laughed, lightening the mood just a little bit. “How long is she staying?”
“Not long, I hope. Hence the reason for the dinner tonight. Maybe my friends can reassure her that there’s no need for her to be here.”
Jayce pulled me to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk and kissed me, running his fingers down the side of my cheek.
“I’ll be there,” he said. “And I’ll call my mom right now to see if she’s free. Sound good?”
“Sounds good,” I agreed, then popped up on my toes to kiss Jayce, grateful, as always, for his unwavering support and kindness. “See you tonight at dinner.”
~~
IN HINDSIGHT, MAYBEinviting all my closest friends over for dinner with my mother had been a mistake on my end. I’d hoped for the best and refused to expect the worst, but ten minutes into a meal of pizza, soda, and breadsticks, I knew this had been a mistake already.
“I’m just saying,” my mother said, rattling on like she had been doing the last fifteen minutes as every person around the table tried to give her their undivided attention. “I don’t know if this new little life of yours is the one you need right now, Macey.” She was speaking to me, but she wouldn’t look at me. Her eyes kept flittering from one person to the next, as if trying to find someone to challenge her. Under the table, Jayce squeezed my hand.
“I think Macey is doing really well here, Mrs. Britton,” he said. “We’re taking good care of her.”
The look my mother shot Jayce was blood curdling, and I wanted to slap her. To scream. Yell. Kick her out. But I did none of those things.
“No one can take care of a child like their mother,” she said instead with a haughty sniff. “And Macey knows that, don’t you, Macey?”
“Theresa,” Hansen warned from the other side of the table where he was sitting with Paisley, but she brushed him off like a piece of lint to focus on me.
“I’m doing fine here, Mom,” I insisted. “I have Jayce and Melissa, and Uncle Erik and Paisley, not to mention the entire fire station. Everyone looks out for me.”
“She’s doing fine, Theresa,” Hansen said, and my mother shot him a look so angry, so withering, that I almost ducked under the table to hide.
“Don’t speak to me about my children, Erik,” she said with a snarl. “You wouldn’t know anything about having them or raising them, so don’t pretend to.”
“That’s not really fair, is it?” Paisley piped up. “I think Erik will make an excellent father, and he and Macey are close. Maybe it’s just something you need to come to terms with.”
I wanted to applaud, to stand up and clap for my uncle’s girlfriend, but I resisted the urge, shooting her a grateful smile across the table instead.
