Page 11 of Homebody (The Long Road Home #21)

Chapter Ten

D ean opened the front door of his parents’ house, sighing when he noted that it wasn’t locked. He shook his head at their small-town na?veté. Even small towns had crime.

Before he’d even closed the front door, the vibrating of his cell in his pocket dragged his attention away from the lecture he’d been preparing in his head to be delivered to his parents about safety.

Maybe it was one of the guys, checking on him. Or reporting some tale of their adventures out last night.

At least he could hope that was it. He pushed the door closed and pulled out his cell… and groaned when he saw the name on the display.

Freaking Juniper again.

Apparently his ignoring her first text this morning, the one that had come through while he’d been in the library talking with Tessa, wasn’t enough of a hint for his ex.

He only kept her number in his phone so he wouldn’t accidentally answer a call or text.

There were a whole bunch of women’s names and numbers saved in his contact list for that very reason. Because he didn’t want to talk to any of them, or her.

Drawing in a deep breath, he shoved the phone back in his pocket. He’d made a good decision asking Tessa out. She’d be his shield against Juniper’s unwanted advances while he was in town. He only hoped it would be enough.

He would feel bad about using Tessa like that, except for the fact he’d been perfectly upfront and honest with her about it last night at the bar. She’d seemed fine with playing his pretend girlfriend. Into it, even. In fact, she’d offered to do it.

Not that he would mind hanging out with Tessa anytime anyway. It would be no hardship going on their fake date tonight. She was… intriguing.

Writing papers on neuroplasticity? For students for cash? He had to respect her sense of entrepreneurship. And her intelligence. He wasn’t even sure he could spell neuroplasticity correctly, never mind write an entire paper on the subject.

Had he been a professor he might feel differently about her little illicit enterprise that helped students cheat.

Since he wasn’t, he let out a chuckle at her ingenuity and reached for the railing on the staircase.

He wanted to change into PT clothes and get in a good run before it got too late in the day.

“Dean, sweetie, is that you?”

Dean paused at the bottom of the stairs with one hand on the railing.

“Yes, Mom. It’s me,” he called back, hoping that would be the end of this conversation.

“Can you come into the kitchen?”

He drew in a breath. “Of course.”

So close… He’d almost made it upstairs without getting the third degree.

He knew how this conversation would go already. He could hear the questions now.

Where had he gone? Who did he see while he was out? Did anything interesting happen?

He loved his mother. She was a wonderful woman. A good person. A great mom. But sometimes all he wanted her to do was leave him alone.

Just that thought made him feel like he was a horrible person. That guilt didn’t quell the innate instinct within him to keep his private life private. Even from family. Hell, especially from his family.

“Yes, Mother?” he said, entering the kitchen.

The sight of his mother transferring fresh baked cookies from a baking sheet to a rack to cool had him walking over to the kitchen island.

Being home with Mom wasn’t so bad after all—nosy questions aside.

His mom’s fresh, hot, home baked cookies were one huge benefit of his visits home. Cookies just weren’t the same after she boxed them up and shipped them to wherever he was stationed. They’d arrive a week—or a month—later. Mostly crushed.

That wouldn’t be the case now. The room was filled with the tantalizing aroma of the fresh-baked cookies he hadn’t noticed during his attempt to make it from the front door to the staircase while avoiding an inquisition.

He reached out to grab a cookie… and yanked his hand back when she swatted him with the potholder she held in one hand.

“Nope. Those are for the church bake sale.”

Quicker than she and her potholder were, he shot one hand out and successfully snatched a cookie. He leapt back, out of strike range, before she could swat him.

“I’ll pay you for it later.” Hiding a smile under the guise of chewing the hot, gooey cookie he enjoyed the narrow-eyed glare she sent him.

She shook a metal spatula at him menacingly. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

“Oh, I know you will. I also know you’ll probably rope me into helping you at this bake sale, at least for the set up and break down, so I’m not feeling too bad about taking one as payment in advance.”

“Fine. You can have the cookie.” She pulled her mouth to one side, before her demeanor changed and took on a casual air. “So, how did your errands go this morning in town? Anything eventful happen? See anyone special? Do anything interesting?”

“No. Nothing exciting,” he replied.

Damn. Just as he’d expected. Almost word-for-word she was needling him about where he’d been and who he’d met today. But the question remained, was this just her normal motherly curiosity? Or something more?

In fact, now that he studied her more closely, he saw something odd. Her demeanor had changed completely. She’d donned an air of nonchalance that didn’t quite ring true. As if she were pretending to be interested in his answers when the fact was she wasn’t very interested at all.

That led him to evaluate the meaning behind it all… He had one guess. She already knew something.

Dammit. Did she somehow find out he’d run into Tessa when he’d been out?

Knowing his mother and her network of eyes and ears around town, she’d already heard about everywhere he’d been and everyone he’d talked to. Including Tessa.

It was possible. In fact, it made a lot of sense. He knew his mother had friends in the library.

He remembered the one older woman he’d spoken with. She was within hearing distance of the whole conversation he and Tessa had.

Was that what this was about? His mom had heard he’d talked to Tessa? Maybe even that he’d asked her to hang out tonight. And she was just waiting for him to admit it to her. Or maybe even to confess in a good old mother-son heart-to-heart how much he liked Tessa.

His mother’s number one interest was his love life. She’d do whatever it took to ferret out information about it, even if it meant enlisting the help of her spies.

Why she was so obsessed with his romantic life, he couldn’t understand. She had plenty to occupy her time between his father, her book club and her volunteer work. Yet here he was, trying to dodge her meddling.

Or, maybe he shouldn’t dodge it. Instead, he could face it head-on. And today was the perfect time to do that.

A smile twitched his lips as he decided to throw her this one bone. Maybe feeding her a tidbit would get her off his case. Satisfy her to give him at least one day’s reprieve.

“I won’t be around for dinner tonight, if that’s okay. You haven’t planned anything special, I hope.”

Her eyes lit before she visibly tempered her reaction.

“No. Nothing special. Do you have plans?” she asked, with a tone so overly casual it rang false in his ears.

It was a Hail, Mary, but he did it anyway. Threw that ball toward the end zone and prayed for a goal. In this case the goal was his mother being satisfied enough with him going out with Tessa she’d leave him alone for the rest of this trip.

“Actually, yes. I do have plans. I’ve got a date.”

Her reaction didn’t disappoint. Her eyes were wide with excitement. Her mouth was open but wordless when a text vibrated her cell plugged into the charger on the counter.

Smiling, he took that opportunity to make his escape.

“Gotta go change so I can get in a run and shower before my date.” After tossing out that tantalizing word— date —one more time he took a step toward the door. “Good cookie, Mom. Thanks.”

She was still speechless when he cleared the doorway.

This plan was working out nicely.