I paused and tried my best to look confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Your brother doesn’t like the idea of you two.”
“I know.” I glanced in her direction now, trying to piece together where she was going.
“For once, I agree with him.” Mom nodded, peering down at her bottle instead of at me. “Leo seems wrong for you. You need someone a little more simple”
When I wrinkled my nose, she laughed. The sound of it was light. Genuine. Like we were friends, having a good time teasing each other. God knows how many times I’d wished for that between us.
“What I mean is, he seems happy being a winner,” she explained. “And winners can be ruthless.”
I let out a heavy breath. “I have to go.”
“I know, sweetheart…” She looked almost sad now. “My advice to you would be to choose an actual winner. Not someone pretending to be one.”
“Leo’s not pretending anything,” I defended. She didn’t know him. She didn’t know anyone in Riley Beach because she thought she was too good for them.
“Okay.” She nodded, resigning for probably the first time in her life. “Just think about it. Try to listen to your old mom for once. One day, you’ll realize I’m only trying to help.”
* * *
I’d tucked the girls in bed as soon as the sun went down. When I hugged Lily goodnight, she held me in place to whisper, “Sometimes moms are mean, but they don’t know. They love you still. That’s what my grandma says.”
I nearly choked up at hearing her attempt to console me. After holding her close for a little while longer, I pulled away and nodded. “Your grandma’s right. Now get some sleep, okay?”
She nodded with a small smile and closed her eyes before I could turn off the light. When their bedroom door closed behind me, I allowed myself a few tears before wiping them off my cheek.
Usually, I’d leave the girls with the door locked. But since Ms. Ryland would not be home until after midnight, I settled on the couch to wait for her. I flipped through their Netflix to find something that wasn’t too hard to follow. Whatever I watched needed to be unassuming enough for my mind to wander and mourn about a relationship I’d never get with my parents.
I settled on an old episode ofSupernatural. By the time I was twenty minutes in, I heard someone knock on the front door. It wasn’t even close to the end of Ms. Ryland’s shift. I paused the episodes and tiptoed to the door to peek through the peephole.
“Hey,” I said as soon as I opened the door. “What are you doing here?”
Leo welcomed me with a small smile on his face. I had seen him earlier today, but because Nate was around we didn’t say much more than ‘hello.’ My body buzzed with the excitement of being able to say so much more now.
“I went by your place looking for Nate,” he explained.
“He’s downtown with some guys from school.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I swore you were invited.”
“I was.” He nodded. “I wanted to make sure he’d actually gone because I wasn’t planning to.”
“Really?” My grin widened. I tried to bite my lip to contain it.
“Really,” he confirmed and revealed a fast food bag he’d been hiding behind his back. “I seemed to remember you loved the curly fries from Jack’s, ham sandwiches from Medium, and the cobbler on Main?”
My eyes widened, and my stomach grumbled. “Those restaurants are on opposite sides of the city.”
He shrugged. “I like driving. And I like this smile on your face even more.”
I practically tackled him with a hug. He chuckled, wrapping his arms around me, too. We stayed in an embrace for a moment before he finally asked, “Does this mean I’ve done enough to be invited in?”
“Of course, of course,” I said, blushing a little. “Sorry.”
“I’m teasing you.” He laughed and crossed the threshold. “You’re more than free to take the food and shut the door in my face, Kira.”
I scoffed. “That’s rude.”
“It’d be an honor to be on the receiving end of your rudeness,” he teased as he followed me back into the living room. I glanced back to see if the light was on in the girls’ room. The space between the doors revealed it was still dark. I hoped they were still asleep.
