Chapter 3 #2
“Well, you’ve got all of your cousins that are going to want to see you.” She glanced at me. “How are you guys going to make plans?”
“Right.”
I stared at the familiar route to my grandparents’ house, holding back my confession with sheer will and a clenched jaw. My mother didn’t need to know that I’d been all over a guy at a party the night before. She really didn’t need to know who I’d been with.
But, as the silence dragged on in the car, my stomach began to sink.
“You could call Myla from my phone, I guess,” she finally said. “Or Meg.”
“Who told you?” I snapped, turning in my seat.
“Told me what?”
“Oh, don’t even try it. I know you know.”
“You have a guilty conscience or something?”
“For fuck’s sake, Ma!”
“Meg told Cecilia last night in some drunken phone call, and your aunt called me this morning asking if I knew what the hell her kid was talking about.”
“That’s fucking awesome.”
“So, you want to tell me what happened?”
“Nothing happened.”
“Then why are you asking who told me?”
“I kissed Bas,” I spit out before clamping my mouth shut again.
“Oh. Shit. So, Meg was right.”
“I don’t know how the hell Meg knows. She wasn’t even there.”
“I thought she went to the party?”
“She was at the party, she didn’t see the kiss.”
“Well, someone must’ve.”
“Noel,” I muttered. “And honestly, I’m a little pissed because I never thought she’d be the one gossiping.”
“That’s fair,” my mom replied. “But I don’t think she was. I think Gray was looking for you or something, and when Noel saw you two, she told him what was going on—probably so he wouldn’t walk in on something he didn’t want to see.”
“We were just kissing!”
“Must’ve been one hell of a kiss.”
“Well, I know that Gray wasn’t telling people.”
“Everyone found out somehow,” Mom said grimly as we rolled to a stop in front of my grandparents’ place. “Brace yourself, because with the way the club gossips, everyone knows by now.”
“I hate it here,” I lied as my grandma strode toward the car, wiggling her eyebrows at me.
I threw open the door and climbed out as she reached us.
“Hey, Gram.”
“Hi, doll,” she replied, cupping my face in her hands so she could get a good look at me. “Beautiful as ever.”
“Really? This morning Dad said there was something wrong with my face.”
“That’s because your father’s an idiot,” she replied, tapping my cheek. “All men are, sweetheart. But we love them anyway.”
“I’m telling Dad you said that,” my mom called from her seat.
“As if I wouldn’t say it straight to his face?” Gram replied as I moved out of her way. “I’ve got a whole-ass list, so I hope you aren’t in a hurry.”
“Nope.” Mom shook her head as I climbed in the back seat. “We’ve got plenty of time today.”
“You sure?” Gram asked. “Maybe Harper’s got big plans later.”
“No plans,” I piped in.
“And why is that?” Gram asked. “Home for the first time in months, and your cousins aren’t breaking down your door?”
“She’s hiding out,” Mom informed her.
“I am not.”
“Why the hell would you do that?” Gram asked over her shoulder.
“I’m not hiding out.”
“You are the definition of hiding out,” my mom countered. “I’m surprised you’re not wearing a fake mustache stuck to your glasses.”
“It would clash with my dress,” I ground out.
“Oh, for God’s sake, Harper,” Gram said with a scoff. “Everyone’s kissed someone they shouldn’t have. Grow a pair.”
My jaw dropped open in surprise. “How the hell did you hear about it?” I sputtered.
“I’m old, but my hearing is just fine.”
“It was less than twelve hours ago!”
“There are these things called telephones. They work great.”
“Who told you?”
“None of your business,” she replied with a laugh.
“Who cares, kid? So, you kissed Bas. I don’t blame you.
Once that boy took all of the piercings out of his face, he could’ve left the club for a damn modeling career.
Not that I’ve got a problem with piercings.
But his were too much. Talk about hiding your light under a bushel, or piercings. ”
“I was glad when he started getting rid of them,” my mom added quietly. “It seemed like the happier he got, the less there were.”
“Noticed that, too,” Gram murmured. Then she turned her head toward me again. “It’s not like he has an old lady you need to worry about.”
“Mom,” my mother said, her voice low.
“Well, he doesn’t.”
“He’s got Lou,” I reminded my Gram, even though I knew she was well aware of all the club dynamics.
“Oh, please,” she said, shaking her head. “If he wanted to, he would. If they haven’t figured out what they are by now, they never will.”
“You’re telling her to basically horn in on someone else’s…something. Hell, I don’t know what they are.”
“Exactly.” Gram pulled the shade down and used the mirror to check her lipstick.
“Why the hell would she want to deal with a bunch of drama?” Mom asked.
“Who says it’ll be drama?”
“Well, considering that everyone knows already, I’d say the drama already found me,” I cut in. “This has been an illuminating conversation, but can we talk about something else?”
“Sure,” Gram said as we pulled onto the highway. “I hear you got fired.”
I dropped my head back against the seat in defeat.
* * *
Hours later, I was in my sweatpants, eating freshly procured rainbow sherbet, going through my parents’ bookshelves looking for something to read.
Grocery shopping had been an entire ordeal where we walked down every aisle, sometimes more than once, while Gram tried to convince me to go down with her and Gramps to Sacramento.
She was convinced that if I just checked out the boys in the Aces chapter down there, I’d find someone to cure me of my doldrums.
She’d actually said doldrums.
Mom was on a mission and left us halfway through the trip and was waiting in the car by the time we were done.
I was freaking exhausted, and I didn’t want to talk to anyone for the rest of the day.
Dad was somewhere outside, Mom had disappeared into her room, and I could’ve sworn that I could hear my phone ticking like a bomb where I’d stuffed it in the bottom of my suitcase.
On the bright side, we hadn’t run into anyone we knew at the store, and before we’d split up, I’d thrown a bunch of snacks in Mom’s cart while she pretended that she didn’t notice.
Finding an old favorite of my dad’s on the shelf, I carried the book over to the couch and settled in.
One of the best things about growing up with parents who were readers was that when they saw you in the middle of a book, they generally left you alone.
I couldn’t count the nights over the years when I’d looked up from whatever story had captured my attention and realized that the three of us had been sitting for hours in complete silence, all of us absorbed in our own novels.
I’d barely reached the fourth chapter when there was a quick knock on the front door, and then it swung inward. Scootching down in my spot, I barely glanced up, hoping that whoever it was would walk right past me. Instead, my cousin Rumi stopped and ruffled my hair.
“Hey, loser, where’s your pop?”
“Out back,” I answered, jerking away from his hand.
“Cool.”
He disappeared toward the back of the house, and I realized his wife was still standing in the entryway.
“Hey, Nova,” I said, closing my book. I could find my page again easily—I’d read the book so many times before. “What are you guys doing today?”
“Rum wanted to borrow something from your dad,” she replied, moving over to sit on the other side of the couch. “He can’t find a couple of his tools, and he thinks they got stolen.”
“He probably left them somewhere.”
“I know, but don’t tell him that, or he’ll go on and on about how he takes care of his tools.”
“Ah, the bliss of zero self-awareness.”
Nova laughed and leaned back against the couch. “What are you up to?”
“Went shopping with my mom and Gram earlier, and now I plan on rotting for the rest of the day.” I lifted my book and snuggled even further into the couch.
Nova nodded and glanced around the room. I watched her carefully because it seemed like she wanted to say something, but she didn’t. My shoulders started to tighten with anxiety, but I tried to keep my expression neutral, waiting for whatever it was.
“Listen,” she said finally, turning her head to look at me.
“I just wanted to tell you if you feel like doing something while you’re home, I’m usually available in the evenings.
I mean, Thursdays I work until seven, but all the other nights I get off at five.
There’s a new used bookstore downtown and a place where you can drink beer and paint canvases that I’ve never been to and thought looked kind of cool. ”
I tried not to look surprised.
“You know,” she said with a shrug. “If you want to. Rotting is fun, too.”
“I’d love to,” I said quickly. “Man, that is not what I thought you were gearing up to say.”
Nova shot me a small smile. “Yeah.”
“Go ahead,” I said with a sigh. “Hit me.”
Her eyes twinkled, and she backhanded my shin.
“That’s not what I meant.” I lightly kicked her thigh.
“I don’t have anything to say,” she replied. “I know what it’s like to have the whole club talking about you. Having that kind of family is a good thing in a lot of ways, but the downside is that everyone is always in everyone else’s business.”
“No shit.”
“I don’t know the whole story,” she said with a shrug. “And it’s really none of my business. All I know is that Bas is a single guy from what I’ve seen. He can hook up with whoever he wants.”
“We didn’t hook up,” I replied, sitting up. “Are people saying we hooked up?”
“That’s the gist of it.”
“We kissed. That’s it.”
“I don’t give a shit if you gave him a striptease,” Nova countered with a laugh. “Who the fuck cares? It doesn’t have anything to do with me.”
“People are pissed, huh?”
“I try to stay out of it, so I haven’t heard much,” she hedged.
“Rumi doesn’t, he’s the biggest gossip I know.”
“Rumi doesn’t want to hear about any of his girl cousins having any kind of relationship,” she said dryly.