Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

I Called It

Violet

Intuition tells me that something big is about to happen. Well, it’s less about intuition and more about observation. My mother has spent an inordinate amount of time disappearing into her bedroom since she came back from her weekend away with Sidney. She’s never gone for long, just a few minutes, but when she returns, she’s always sporting a dreamy smile.

At first I thought maybe she was taking care of personal business, which isn’t something any sixteen-year-old girl wants to consider too carefully when it comes to her mom. We’re pretty open, but there are some lines that should never be crossed. It was happening so frequently, though, I decided that couldn’t possibly be it.

And then comes the mid-week barbecue at Sidney’s. That isn’t too unusual considering it’s summer and the nice weather only lasts so long in Chicago, so we definitely want to take advantage of it while we can. But add in the incessant text messages, phone calls where she disappears for several minutes because apparently the content requires privacy, and then when she returns, she’s all squirrelly and nervous.

“Do you have your lactose pills?” she asks for the tenth time.

“Yes mom, I have my lactose pills.”

“And your bathing suit?” She rummages around in her purse for the seven hundred and fifty-second time in the past ten minutes.

I hold up the giant beach bag that contains not only my bathing suit, but my favorite towel, a romance book in case listening to Buck talk about hockey gets boring and I need to tune him out, a change of clothes and a lot of sunblock. “Yup.”

“So you’re ready to go?” She’s still digging around in her purse.

“Yes, mom. I’m ready to go. Are you making a stop in Narnia first, or channeling your inner Mary Poppins?”

“Huh?” She stops her purse rummaging to look at me.

I prop a fist on my hip and arch a brow. “You’re basically trying to climb into your purse. What’s going on? What are you looking for?”

She blinks at me for several long seconds. “I’m just making sure I have everything I need.”

I drop it. For now. This is what she does when we travel; compulsively checks her purse for her driver’s license, even though she always keeps it in her wallet. It doesn’t matter if it was there two minutes ago, she’ll still check again, like an inanimate card is going to sprout a pair of legs and walk off.

We hop into the car and drive over to Sidney’s. Mom is antsy as hell. Neither of us is awesome at keeping secrets or hiding things from each other, so I’m about ten thousand percent sure one of two things is going to happen today. She asks me the same three questions twice. I don’t call her on it.

Sidney is already on the front porch when we arrive. Another sure sign something is going down.

“Hi, Violet. Miller’s out back by the pool if you want to join him. I’ll help your mom bring everything in.” Sidney pats me on the shoulder.

“Sure. Sounds good.” A couple of minutes alone with Buck is exactly what I need. He’s been messaging relentlessly since the weekend, making sure we’re still cool. I have a feeling he remembers bits and pieces of our conversation before he tossed his cookies.

If I’m right about what I think is coming today, it will serve me well to have something to hold over Buck in the future. Just in case he gets it in his head to throw another party with his hockey buddies when our parents inevitably go away again.

I find Buck skimming leaves out of the pool. It seems to be one of his favorite pastimes.

“Vi! Hey. Hi.” His eyes go wide and his gaze shifts behind me. “Where are the ‘rents?”

“Inside, doing whatever.”

He puts the net back and rushes over. “I’m so sorry about Saturday night. Thanks for not letting me die. And whatever I said, I didn’t mean it. Unless it was an apology. I meant those.”

“Do you mean the part about me being forbidden fruit?” I arch a brow.

His eyes widen further. “Oh God. I said that. I hoped it was all in my head. I didn’t mean it the way it came out. However, it came out.”

“I’m sure you didn’t.” Is it awful that I’m allowing him to believe he made an actual pass at me? Probably. But if our parents end up getting married, I’ll be his younger stepsister. His douchebag friends might decide to torment me because I’m a certified nerd and I’m horrifyingly clumsy. But if I have something to hold over his head, he’ll be compelled to defend me. Even though Buck makes some questionable choices, and he seems like he’s on the path to becoming a player, he’s a genuinely nice guy. He’ll feel bad about this for as long as I allow him to believe it’s true. Which may or may not be forever.

“You won’t tell my dad, will you?” He looks like he’s about to pee his swim trunks.

“It’s never going to happen again, is it?”

He shakes his head vehemently. “No. God no. I was wasted and talking out of my ass. I don’t look at you like that. I’m kinda hoping you’re going to be my sister. Stepsister. But still. We’ll be related one day. Maybe.” He stares at me for a few long seconds. I’m not sure what he’s waiting for. “I have like five hundred dollars in cash in my room. You can have it.”

I tip my head. “Like hush money?”

“Yes. No. You made sure I didn’t die, even after I said whatever I said. And you’re not gonna tell my dad. You should have seen him on Sunday. He was so mad at me. So damn mad. And I was scared your mom was going to break up with him. I haven’t had a mom since before I really remember what having a mom is like. And Skye is such a cool lady. And fun. And I get that I’m like, almost eighteen and stuff, but I don’t want to do anything that might mess up the chance that she might become my stepmom. God, I hope I’m not jinxing this whole thing.”

My heart squeezes and my empathy buttons start firing. Not enough for me to tell him the full story of Saturday night, but enough to assuage his fears. “I get what you mean. My grandparents have been like a second set of parents all my life, but I’ve never had a dad. I don’t even actually know who my real dad is. But it’s been nice seeing my mom so happy, and it’d be cool to have an older brother, even if the only thing we really have in common is that we’re both teenagers.”

He blinks twice, like he’s trying to decode the underlying message.

“I don’t need hush money. Just don’t let your hockey buddies bully me, and we’re good. And I might need the occasional drive somewhere, and if you play professional hockey and you’re making the big bucks, I’m not against you picking up the tab for my milkshake and fries obsession when you’re in town.”

“Deal.”

We shake on it. His palms are sweaty so we both wipe them on our shorts after.

Our parents come out. Sidney is carrying a tray of appetizers and mom is clasping her hands together, wearing a really weird smile.

“Snack time!” Mom’s voice is all high and pitchy.

“I’ll grab drinks!” Buck offers.

“I can help.” I follow him into the pool house. “Something is going on today. My mom is acting strange. Stranger than usual, even.”

“My dad has been the same for the past couple of days. He’s been all smiles since Skye came over Sunday night. Usually, when I’ve done something stupid and irresponsible, he’s grumpy for a couple of days, but it hasn’t been the case this time around.”

“Huh. Well, I feel like they’re gearing up for the big reveal of whatever it is.” Buck passes me a bottle of white wine and a grape soda, then grabs a beer and an orange soda for himself. He doesn’t spike it with vodka this time.

Sidney and Mom are sitting at the outdoor dining table, the appetizer platter set in the middle. Mom’s hands are folded together, and she’s still wearing that creepy, weird smile that looks like it belongs on one of those awful dolls with the eyes that blink. I give her a questioning look, but all she does is continue to grin.

Buck passes his dad the beer and pops the cork on the wine bottle, then pours half of it into a stemless wine glass for my mom. She murmurs a thank you and takes a seriously hefty gulp.

“All right. What’s going on?” I cross my arms. “Mom, you’ve got your creepy smile thing going on. Someone needs to spill the beans, whatever the beans are.”

Mom and Sidney look at each other. “We have some news we’d like to share.”

“Oh shit! Skye’s preggers, isn’t she!” Buck holds his hand up to his dad for a high five. “Your swimmers still work!”

Sidney stares at Buck’s outstretched hand.

I knock it out of the air. “My mom isn’t preggers. She’s drinking a bowl of wine. You can’t drink when you’re pregnant and she has an IUD.”

“What does drinking and driving have to do with getting pregnant? Unless those things all happened at the same time,” Buck’s eyes go wide.

“Not a DUI, an IUD, intrauterine device. It’s a form of birth control,” I explain.

“Oh. Well, that makes a lot more sense. So no one is pregnant?” Buck looks from me to my mom and back to me, eyes widening again.

“I’ve never even made it past second base with anyone but myself, so no, no one is pregnant.”

Sidney coughs.

Mom thrusts her hand out like this is some kind of sports circle where they all put their hand in the middle and do the whole “we’re going to kick some ass” thing. Buck clearly thinks this is what’s happening because his hand shoots out too.

But before his giant of a mitt covers hers, I spot the massive rock decorating her finger. I slap Buck’s hand away and grab my mom’s wrist. In the process I knock over my chair and my grape soda, which, by some miracle, Buck catches before it makes a mess.

“Oh my God! That’s an engagement ring! You got engaged? You’re getting married? Fuck! I should have put money on this! I knew something big was going down!” I shout.

I release my mom’s hand and trip over the leg of the chair as I try to round the table. I go sprawling across the patio, scraping both of my palms and my right knee and my glasses go flying.

Buck, being the ridiculously agile and not-clumsy soon-to-be-stepbrother that he is, picks me up and sets me on my feet, then hands me my glasses.

“Thanks. I wish my feet were better at their job.”

Sidney, being the smart, thoughtful guy he is, quickly stands and pulls my mom’s chair out for her so she doesn’t suffer the same fate. We both step to the edge of the table, throw our hands in the air, and scream obnoxiously loud.

“You’re getting hitched!” I shout.

“I am!” she shouts back.

We rush each other, our boobs slamming together, causing us to grunt in discomfort, but we wrap our arms around each other and hug and jump up and down until we step on each other’s feet. Then we just sway back and forth.

“You’re okay with this?” Mom whispers.

“More than okay.” I squeeze her tight.

It’s been the two of us for a damn long time. We’re ready to add some testosterone to the estrogen fest.

Buck and Sid are standing side by side, wearing matching smiles. Buck looks like maybe he’s on the edge of getting emotional. Dude is a huge freaking fuzzy yeti-bear.

Mom gives him a questioning smile and opens her arms. He takes the invitation and folds her in a hug. “Pretty damn excited that you’re gonna be my mom.” He opens his arms. “Family hug!”

Sid and I join, and I end up with my face mashed into Buck’s sweaty armpit for a second before we shuffle around and it turns into more of a huddle.

It’s awkward and silly and exactly what I always wanted for us.