Page 79 of Elevate With Me

“She’s a friend.”

“Is she the friend who’s made you come in late these past few weeks?”

“No,” Luke said. “That would be a different friend.”

“I see,” my mother said. “I wouldn’t happen to know that friend of yours as well, would I?”

I tried to step away from Luke, no longer wishing to hear the conversation. He rubbed his thumb against my side but stepped forward together with me, keeping us attached.

“I’m sure you do. You are a well-connected woman.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and took deep breaths.

“Do I understand correctly that Haylee is not the one in trouble, but Glen is?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

A long silence filled the line, and for a moment, I feared that she had hung up. Then finally, she said, “I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

Then, the call ended.

Luke dropped the phone and looked at Glen. “She’s coming.”

“Wait, right now?” Glen gasped.

“Yes.”

We exchanged a nervous look, then she gasped again. “Haylee, your eye! She can’t see you like that, she’ll freak!”

That’s when the mayhem started. Luke rushed to change out of his slacks and threw on a shirt. Glen dragged me upstairs to our bathroom to cover up my bruise as best she could after all. I fidgeted under her ministrations and winced more than once when she hurriedly tapped powder on it too hard. This was going to o so bad, I just knew it.

Good riddance with a scoff

HAYLEE STEPPED OUTof ?the bathroom, Glen right behind her, urging her forward and toward her bedroom. I studied her face as she stumbled to a stop regardless of her best friend’s efforts.

“How does it look?” she asked, chewing on her lip nervously.