“Sorry I’m late, dear.” Winston shuffles in between me and Mom, planting a beefy arm around her shoulders. Noxious cigar fumes waft from his fleshy mouth, and his beer gut is straining over the waistband of his too tight dress pants.
Winston heads up a global TV network, and I know he’s mega rich and successful, but the guy is loud, obnoxious, hugely self-centered, and clearly only with Mom because she looks good on his arm. He’s at least ten years older than her usual prey, and with his thinning gray hair and weather-beaten face, he could pass for her dad.
Mom is angling for an engagement, and I’m praying daily that it never happens. She might be top of my shit list right now, but I’d hate to see her tied to such an egotistical jerk. I have liked all of Mom’s ex-husbands. They were decent guys and kind to me, for the short period they were in our lives, but this idiot breaks the mold. I have nothing in common with him, and he clearly has no time for me either, so I’d rather she didn’t saddle me with him for a stepfather.
“Garrick!” Mom snaps, giving me a push in Pepper’s direction. “Stop acting like a toddler, and go and stand beside Pepper.”
There is no point fighting any longer, so I walk over beside my friend with steam practically billowing out of my ears. Pepper’s brow is puckered as I line up beside her. She leans in, and I lower my head to hear her. “Is everything okay?” she whispers, looking into my eyes with evident concern.
“My mother is getting on my very last nerve,” I whisper back.
Pepper reaches across my body to squeeze my hand. “She’ll come around.”
I’ve been telling myself that for weeks, but the truth is, I don’t think she will.
I know, when it comes down to it, I’m going to have to decide between my girlfriend and my mother. Right now, as I watch my mother suction herself to Winston and primp and preen for the cameras, I despise her for forcing me to make a choice. Especially when it won’t end up in her favor.
ChapterTwenty-Five
Stevie
“So.” Hadley draws out the word as she drives Nana’s Range Rover away from the greenhouse, loaded up with deliveries.
“So, what?” I ask, stifling a yawn. I’m still on Cypriot time, and my body clock is all messed up. I stayed awake all day yesterday, not that it helped much when I was overtired and couldn’t sleep last night. At least I got all my unpacking and laundry done.
Nana told me to take today off, but I’ve been gone for almost two weeks, and I don’t like slacking. The decision was made for me when Nana’s main delivery guy called in sick today, and I was needed to fill in for him. It’s not like driving to and from the shop, and making house calls, is any real chore. Although, I was thrilled when my bestie showed up ten minutes ago and offered to help. I’m struggling to keep my eyes open, and it’s safer if Hads drives.
“It’s as I figured. You don’t know.” Her mouth pulls into a grimace.
“Know what?” My brow puckers in confusion as she slows down, pulling over at the curb and killing the engine. “Why are we stopping?”
“I need to show you something.” She plucks her cell from the cubbyhole in the console. “Have you spoken with Garrick today?”
I shake my head as worry pricks at my nerves. “I missed a call from him at lunch, but I haven’t had time to call him back yet.” I sit up straighter, drilling my bestie with a sharp look. “Is this something to do with him?”
She nods, and sympathy splays across her face as she hands me her cell. An image of Garrick and Pepper fills the screen, and acid crawls up my throat. From the caption, it’s evident the photo was taken at the charity event last night. It’s a close-up of their faces as they lean into one another in an intimate pose that looks like they’re having an intense private moment or getting ready to kiss. Bile coats my mouth as I gulp over the messy ball of emotion clogging my throat. “He wouldn’t cheat on me,” I croak, finally forcing words out my mouth as I stare at the picture in a kind of dazed horror. Stabbing pain pierces me through the heart, and I’m struggling to breathe.
Hadley smooths a hand up and down my back in a soothing gesture. “I don’t think he would,” she agrees. “But this looks pretty damning.”
“It does.” I rub at the tightness spreading across my chest as tears prick my eyes. I thrust her cell back at her, unable to look at it anymore. “Has he been playing me for a fool? Have I turned into my mom?”
“I don’t think you can jump to conclusions, but if he has, he deserves a fucking Oscar for his performance. The guy is nuts about you, Stevie. Hudson told me he’s never seen Garrick like this with any girl before. I spoke to him earlier, and he swears this is innocent. That Garrick doesn’t have feelings for Pepper.”
“He would say that if he wanted to cover for his best friend.”
“True.” Hads sighs as she leans back in her seat. “But unless Hudson is delivering an Oscar-worthy performance too, I believe him.”
Hadley and Hudson have been hanging out a lot this summer. Fucking a lot. Unusual for her, they are not exclusively dating, and she seems to be working hard to keep it casual. It takes one to know one, so I see what she’s doing. I suspect she’s afraid of developing real feelings, so she’s keeping distance between them. Hadley is in complete denial. I think she likes him a lot.
But I get it.
Hudson is returning to Brown in a couple of weeks while she attends UW. There is an end date in sight as they have agreed to end their fling then. I get not wanting to do the long-distance thing, especially when they have two more years of college left.
“How does Garrick know her?”
“Her mom is best friends with Garrick’s mom. They have known one another for years. I have tried to be cool about Pepper because Garrick genuinely seems to only consider her a friend, but it’s been challenging when I know his stuck-up bitch of a mom wants him with her. She tries to force them together any chance she gets.”
“What’s she like?” Hadley’s corkscrew curls tumble around her shoulders as she turns sideways to look at me.
