I lead Jack into the house. “Would’ve thought there’d be more plants in here, given your place looks like the party room at a Rainforest Café,” he says.
“Dad had the green thumb, not Mom. I—” I hesitate, unsure I want to add more weight to this moment. It’s only a second before I settle into the truth, wanting to give Jack another piece of me no one else has ever held. “After he left, it felt good to grow things in a house where we’d been so”—I shrug helplessly—“cut back to the roots.” I point out the bathroom door. “There’s one upstairs, too, if you want more privacy.”
He crowds me against the wall. “I want more privacy.” His gives me a sweet kiss, and then his hot mouth is on my neck.
I angle my head back, giving him better access. “Oh. Don’t give me another hickey, though.”
He pulls away, his eyes gleaming. “That hickey was from me?”
“Of course it was. Who else would it have been from?”
He smiles, and my blood feels carbonated. I take his hand, leading him to the second-floor bathroom, and he pulls me in after him, immediately unbuttoning my shorts and tugging them down.
“I need you. I’m obsessed with the taste of you.”
“Oh God.” I close my eyes as he runs a finger over my most sensitive spot. Breathless, I gasp out, “You’re just jealous because you met my boyfriend Bri— Ohhh.” His mouth is on me, licking, sucking, before he pulls one of my thighs over his shoulder. I lean back against the sink, grasping for the porcelain or his shoulders or any purchase at all as utter ecstasy washes over me again and again.
When it’s over, I look down at him, stunned. He licks his lips, his eyes warm and triumphant, and I pull him up, kissing him deeply and reaching for his pants. I pull my mouth away from his with an effort. “Your turn,” I whisper, relishing his shiver.
When we rejoin the party a bit later, my mom is in the kitchen with a few other women.
“Yes, Penny’s moving back eventually. Getting New York out of her system,” she says.
Jack understands the look in my eye, and the sated look in his own is replaced with concern. But, to his credit, he doesn’t try to white-knight things. He nods, heading outside with only a small backward glance.
“Mom, can I speak to you in private, please?” If looks could kill, her health crisis from yesterday would be very real right now.
“Oh, sure. Give me a bit, I’m just—” She catches my expression. “Sure. Excuse me, everyone. Let me know if there’s anything I can bring outside for you.”
I tap my nails against the counter while I wait for my mother to stop playing waitress. I stop myself when I realize I’m tapping out S-O-S. What I’m about to do goes against the grain. The opposite of keeping the peace.
“Penny, couldn’t it wait until after—” Mom closes the door behind the departing crowd.
“No. It couldn’t. You lured me here under false pretenses.”
“I told you I wasn’t feeling well!”
“And you were cured by a cheeseburger deluxe. Yes, you mentioned that.”
“And ‘lured.’ ‘Lured’ to visit your own mother. Sad state of affairs, that is.”
I don’t push back on Mom like this. Never have. This hurts, but I need to say it. “I told you I couldn’t come to this party.” My voice cracks. “And you brought Brian here to set me up, despite knowing that I’m not interested. Knowing I have Jack with me. Knowing that he and I are…together.” I blush at that, still unable to believe it, even when my sore muscles are screaming that it’s oh so true.
“That won’t last. He isn’t for you.”
“You don’t know him. You don’t even know me.”
She opens her mouth to counter, and I raise a hand. My chest is tight, and my vision blurs. I have boundaries now, but they’re easier to keep up when the battering ram isn’t standing a foot away. “No. No more of that. I need you to listen to me.”
I take a deep breath, trying to keep the anger out of my tone. She immediately dismisses anything I say the second I sound at all emotional.Say it before you lose your nerve. “I know it’s hard for you to understand, but I’m a separate person from you. With different things I want out of life. I don’t need you lying to manipulate me into doing the things you want me to do. You have to stop trying to control me.”
“Well, if you stopped making a hash of your life, maybe I would. Moving to New York by yourself. Living in a shoebox. Whatever it is you’re doing for a living…”
“You make it sound like I deal in black-market babies, Mom. I’m in marketing.”
“Well, I don’t know what to tell people when they ask. Brian is a realtor. That Jack you brought with you is a lawyer. That’s easy.”
“You tell them—” I hear my voice go up in volume and immediately hit the brakes.Don’t escalate.She has the ability to burrow her way into my nerves like no other. I know that, and I can fight against that. “You tell them I’m a marketer. Or don’t. I really don’t care. All of that is beside the point. My life is my life, Mom.”
