“Vegas isn’t romantic,” I snapped.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it? The magic didn’t come back, and Courtney’s moved on. You’re free. It worked out, didn’t it?”
I heard a high-pitched buzzing in my ears.
On top of everything else to hit her that day, she’d thought I’d betrayed her too.
“Jesus, Mom.” And then, “What the fuck, Mom?”
“Don’t be mad. I tried liking her—on the train that day—but she just seemed so…flighty. And I saw that video, the one where she broke up with her fiancé, and now… Did you know he doesn’t even have a show anymore? She’s practically ruined him. I was protecting you, sweetheart.”
“What. The. Fuck? Mom.” I rubbed at the space between my eyes, remembering every passive dig she’d made about Luna on the trip. I’d asked her to be nicer. I’d believed her when she said she would.
I hadn’t realized my own mother would ever…
What. The. Fuck?
It was a damn good thing she was telling me this over the phone. Because in that moment…
“You know I love you,” I said. Deep breath. “But interfering in my life like this… Lying to someone I care about. Interfering... That was… ” I couldn’t even finish it. Couldn’t say unforgivable.
But the silence said it for me.
I hated—hated—hurting my mom’s feelings, but… “I need to go.”
There was a moment of stunned silence.
“But Noah, I was just?—"
I hung up.
She was my mom. But she was going to have to make some changes.
And right now, I didn’t want to hear her apology.
I needed to talk to Luna.
I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, closing my eyes, my mind racing.
Remembering everything.
Not only those amazing nights at the Grand Canyon.
Not just her hands on my chest or the way her eyes fluttered closed when I kissed the corner of her mouth.
I remembered the very first time I saw her. When she’d looked at me like I was the reason for all her problems. Grumpy. Frazzled.
Cute as hell. Like an angry chihuahua.
Then I’d gotten on that damn tour bus, and there she was again. Same wild hair. Same guarded stare.
But as the trip went on, I kept seeing it—how even when she had nothing left to give, she still did. Giving up her massage in Glenwood Springs without a second thought. Chasing after some old hat in the middle of the desert in those ridiculous little sandals. It wasn’t about the hat. It was about the way she cared. Instinctively. Fiercely. Even when it cost her.
God help me, I hadn’t stood a chance.
By the time I finally kissed her under that waterfall, I was planning my life around the sound of her laugh.
And by Vegas?
