He nodded towards my door. “I noticed your siblings going in, they looked stressed. Ran to the door. Never heard a thing though. A van pulled up later, three more people. Didn’t seem like a party.”
I shook my head, hating how quickly his tone shifted from a normal voice to his ‘cop voice’. It suddenly felt like he was interrogating me. “My parties are quiet.” His eyes flicked to the right, and a second later, I felt the warming presence of Everett stepping up behind me.
My heart fluttered.
He was back.
Wade studied him a moment before returning his focus back to me. “You never did answer me about those drinks, Liv. Maybe Friday night?”
The anger rolling off of Everett was palpable. “I told you that I wasn’t interested,” I said, now more scared for his wellbeing than mine.
“Nothing serious, I remember.”
“Nothing at all,” I clarified, praying he would understand the clear boundaries. “Thanks for stopping by, but I was just heading out,” I explained, turning towards Everett, only to stop when I saw a cab pull up to the curb.
Thank God, although now I wanted to stay home for completely separate reasons. I didn’t need coffee if I had him.
My relief was short lived when a small box truck pulled up right behind it, and a woman who looked almost exactly like me climbed out of the cab.
My heart fell to my ass as my mom smiled at me. That tight little ‘I hate you but I have to save face’ smile that she liked to wear when there were cameras in view.
“Someone else moving in?” Wade asked, glancing over.
Two men hopped out of the truck, meeting her on the sidewalk. “Just start unloading,” she told them, gesturing towards the house. “Pile them wherever.”
This is what I got for not leaving the house in days. I deserved it. I deserved all of this.
She walked up to me in her six-inch heels, her dress tight and revealing, completely inappropriate for someone of her age. She took her sunglasses off and looked Everett over. “Honey, it hasn’t been October for almost a year, and that mask is unsettling. Why don’t you take it off, let the sun shine on your face.”
She couldn’t even pay attention to me long enough to see how fucked my face now was. I wasn’t sure if that was a blessing or acurse yet, but I was sure I would figure it out soon enough.
“She’s right, people don’t like stuff like that on this street,” Wade agreed tightly. “It’s suspicious.”
Everett remained quiet, probably glaring, I didn’t look back, I was too busy watching the two guys head for the back of the truck. No coffee for me then. No office space, no anything today except for standing here, dealing with this.
Mom turned to Wade, looking him over as well, those judgmental eyes taking in every wrong that man had ever done. I almost felt bad for him. “Are you working?” Almost.
Wade straightened. “On my way to work now, I wanted to stop by and say hi to your sister,” he nodded.
I sneered, rolled my eyes, and turned back for the house, not bothering to spare Everett a glance as the turmoil in my stomach continued to build. I pulled my keys out. This couldn’t have happened on a worser day.
At least I wasn’t dealing with it alone. Everett could be under her scrutiny as well. He could hate her with me when she left.
I unlocked the door and let it swing open before turning back to the three people standing in my yard while two men I had never met before started piling stuff on two dollies.
I watched them for a moment before my eyes finally found Everett’s. He was watching them too, mom and Wade in deep conversation. Mom had most likely brought them from Denver, people who worked for her, but that didn’t mean they weren’t some kind of trouble. She always had an agenda, so by proxy, they did too.
I released a breath and walked over to the banister. I pulled my phone out and sat down, leaning my back against the post, watching what was happening right before my eyes. I was going to call Katie, tell her my mom was in town, that maybe we should move the signing, but before I could even lift my phone, it had already started ringing.
I looked down, seeing Evelyn’s name flash across the screen.
It was the first time she had ever called me, and, on instinct, my eyes flicked to the corners of my porch roof, looking for the cameras they had installed around the edges.
“Hey,” I answered.
“Who’s the broad?”
I knew it. “If Everett is here, why are you watching the cameras?”
