Page 31

“Uhhh, yeah. Got her in the back of the limo right now.” I’m trying to sound casual and failing miserably. “Small world, huh?”
”She’s getting married?” she says, her tone heavy with disappointment.
“Actually, I’m not entirely sure,” I say, checking to make sure the volume of the music in the back of the limo is high enough to drown out the sound of my voice. “Either her or her sister.”
Please let it be her sister.
“Jaxon…” My mom’s voice trails off in silence. Either she isn’t sure what to say or she knows that what she’s about to say isn’t something I want to hear. “You need to tell her.”
Yup. Something I don’t want to hear.
Mainly because I know she’s right.
She keeps talking. “You should’ve told her years ago. Maybe if you’d explained--”
I’d always thought I kept my infatuation with Claire under wraps. Her observation shames me. Especially after everything I put her through. “I couldn’t.” I cut her off, not wanting to hear about all the ways I fucked everything up. “You know I couldn’t.”
“Jaxon.” She says my name gently like she knows exactly what I’m feeling. Thinking. “You were just a kid. A normal kid with normal feelings. That didn’t change just because—”
“I gotta go, Ma.” I cut her off before she can say anything else. For some reason, listening to her excuse me—what I did—so easily makes me feel like shit. “I’ll call and check-in in a few hours.”
She sighs. “We’ll be here.”
I hang up the phone before she can say anything else.