I stared out the window momentarily, watching the unrecognizable roads pass and willing the ache behind my eyes to disappear.
“Dinner at my parents’ is always awful, to be honest. My mother whines about my career, my sister antagonizes me in any way possible, and my father shows no interest in me…” I pushed a hand through my hair, working the tension from my scalp. “The moment I arrived, Lauren was on a mission to piss me off.”
“What did she say?”
“Just quoting the old headlines about you.” I left out the part about my not being good enough for him, hoping it would keep my tears atbay.
His throat bobbed with a swallow, but he watched the dark road ahead.
“So you said something to her?”
“Yeah, for probably the first time in years.” I laughed, unable to believe I’d said it. “I told her where to shoveit.”
“Oh yeah?” Pride emanated from his voice. “What did you say?”
“That it was rich coming from her as someone who’d slept with her sister’s ex-boyfriend.”
His head jolted to the side, mouth parting with surprise. “Excuseme?”
Another laugh escaped me, brittle and strained. “Yeah, I know.” As I recited the story of Lauren and Mark’s flirting, the breakup, and then finding them together a week later, Luca’s expression became increasingly bewildered. I couldn’t help the near-maniclaugh that bubbled out of me at his expression and the absurdity of the situation.
“How are you laughing right now? How do you put up with seeing them both and still behave so nicely?”
“I wasn’t at the start. My sister and I argued for about a week after the whole thing.”
“Only a week?” His deep voice pitched higher in disbelief. “I would never speak to either of them again.”
“It was difficult…” I thought back to a year ago. “Lauren was never going to admit to being in the wrong. She said it was my fault that he’d dumped me because I ‘didn’t offer him enough,’ and, ultimately, I still wanted a relationship with Taylor.”
“Did she and Mark become a thing?” Luca turned his eyes on me for a moment.
I scoffed. “No. They lasted all of a month before he ended things with her—and asked me for a second chance.” I held up my hands, guessing the next question. “I told him no, obviously. But it was mid-season in last year’s show, so I couldn’t escape Mark, really.”
“And your parents didn’t have anything to say aboutit?”
“Not really.” I had been the mediator in their arguments my whole childhood, but the second my sister and I got into it, they’d turn a blind eye, saying they “didn’t want to get involved.” Unless we were arguing about something that touched my mother’s legacy. Then she had an opinion. “Because we were already broken up when they got together, my mum said there wasn’t anything technically wrong about what they did.”
“Damn, that’s crazy, and complete bullshit. What they did was completely wrong.” He paused. “What about Taylor’s dad? Is he not in the picture?”
“He works with my dad; they’re always traveling for business. He’s pretty hands-off when it comes to Taylor. I only really see himonce a year on Taylor’s birthday. It does make me feel bad for my sister.”
“Still. You shouldn’t have had to put up with that, Stevens.” Luca just shook his head, not taking his eyes off the road.
“It pushed me to move out, though, so there’s that. I don’t know when I’d have taken the leap to find my own place had all that not happened.”
“And that’s why it’s so important for you to win andthenquit the show? Not just to ‘repay’ your mom?”
“It’s mostly only about that now. Would getting my mum off my back be a bonus? Sure. But I just want to be able to be independentandhave a career I love.”
He nodded in understanding. “Either way, I’m proud of you for standing up to them today.”
A small smile spread across my face as I looked out the window. “Where are we going?” Although it was dark, I could just about make out unfamiliar trees and lakes. Wherever we were heading, it wasn’t toward my house or the studio.
“I want you to meet my mother.”
After driving throughthe countryside for a few more minutes, the Sycamore Lane Care Home sign came into view.
I couldn’t quite believe Luca was taking me to meet his mother.
