Page 50

Did she think I worked for her? I was about to get upset, but instead I took a breath and said what any other mother would have said in this situation. “I’ll go tomorrow.” Okay, I said what any mother who felt guilty after spending the afternoon with a man who wasn’t her husband would’ve said.

“By tomorrow I won’t care,” she snarled.

“Good, because now I’m not going.”

She groaned, put her earbuds back in, and stomped as loud as she could on carpeted stairs up to her room.

I sat down at the kitchen table withPeoplemagazine. I read all about how some woman had been kidnapped from her house and turned up three weeks later, saying the kidnappers fed her steak and gave her a comfortable bed. Why couldn’t I be kidnapped by those people? After reading through most of the magazine, skipping the article on home decorating tips from Snoop Dogg, my phone buzzed.

Was Gia mad that you didn’t get her ice cream?Was Michael psychic too?

Yep, she was a snot. Now I’m glad I didn’t get it.

Me too. We got to spend more time together.He sent me a yellow emoticon heart. Was a yellow heart for friendship? Yellow roses were. I wrote him back and made sure to send him the same yellow heart and no other emoticon so it wouldn’t look as if I was upping the ante.

I was smiling when I looked up from my phone, and Gia was standing at the top of the stairs, staring at me. Okay, face, stop looking like you’re a cheater. “Who are you texting?” Gia asked.

I put the phone back in my pocket. “Your grandmother.”

She eyed me suspiciously. I was never a good liar, although I had become a better one since I’d met Michael. She came down the stairs and got her backpack from the kitchen. “You don’t usually smile when you text Grandma. What did she say?” She sat down next to me.

Why was she grilling me? “It’s a private joke.”

“Well, maybe if you texted less, you would’ve had time to get my ice cream.”

I brought my hand down on the table so hard the stinging in my fingers shot up through my arm. “This coming from the girl who left school in the middle of the day with her boyfriend,” I blurted.

“You were spying on me?” She was stunned.

“I was driving by your school and saw you two get in the car. Where did you go?”

“To have sex.”

“Ha, ha, very funny.” She gave me a half-shrug and a slight smile. “You had sex?”

“Yes.”

I started biting my lower lip, pulling the skin off in little bits. “You’re not allowed to leave school in the middle of the day,” I said. She had sex, and I was nagging her about leaving school. My brain could not process this right now.

“I’m a senior. What’s the difference?”

“I don’t care if you’re a senior. Your grades still matter.” I always thought I’d be one of those moms who could be supportive and listen to anything without judgment. But nope, I was judgmental. “I thought you wanted to wait to have sex until college,” I said as calmly as I could muster.

“I changed my mind.”

“I wish we could’ve talked first.”

“You would’ve tried to talk me out of it.”

“No, I wouldn’t. Yes, I would’ve. I don’t know.” Oh my God, what should I say to her? This was a big moment. I put my arm around her and lowered my voice. “Did you use protection? Are you okay? Did he pressure you?”

“This is why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want all the questions. When I told Dad, he didn’t ask me anything.”

“You told your father you were going to have sex?” I said, dropping my arm from around her shoulders. I felt as if I’d been slapped.

“I told him not to tell you.”

“Well, clearly he didn’t.” I felt my toes clenching in my shoes. How could Jim not tell me something so important? Then again, Jim hadn’t been telling me much of anything lately.