23. Cake? Totally Overrated.
23
Cake? Totally Overrated.
ANDREW
Natalie: How’s the wedding? I need all the details. What is Carly wearing?
Natalie: Seriously. You all ditched me. ON CHRISTMAS! I deserve PHOTOS!
Me: sends photo
Natalie: O
Natalie: M
Natalie: G!!!!!!!!!!
Me: What?
Natalie: heart eyes emoji
Me: Should I tell her you like her outfit?
Natalie: No, doofus. It means you’re totally IN LOVE
Me: What? I didn’t say that
Natalie: You didn’t have to. It’s all over your faces
F aces? I tried to see what my sister did, but all I saw was Carly’s sparkling smile. Sure, it was one of her genuine ones with the adorable wrinkles around her eyes, but love was stretching it a little far. Maybe the plural faces was an autocorrect.
I couldn’t ponder it too long because Charles found me and wanted to chat about my math videos. He and Noah had watched the one about hexagons, and he suggested I visit the hexagonal tiles on the Passeig de Gràcia. While we talked, I kept an eye on the hallway.
Finally, my mother emerged, billowing into the room like an angry, red thundercloud. Had they argued? I said a hasty goodbye to Charles and headed toward the hallway to check on Carly. Before I got there, she sailed out like a warship, guns blazing. Sparks lit her eyes, but her red lips were compressed into an angry line.
“Are you okay?” I asked through my tightening throat. Mother was a force, and I should’ve stayed to defend Carly, whether she’d wanted me to or not.
“We’re leaving,” she muttered. “Correction: I’m leaving. You stay.”
My body tensed. “Why would I stay without you? I’m your date.”
The lines around her mouth deepened. “Consider yourself released from any obligations concerning me.”
“What are you talking about?” I grabbed her hand and threaded it through my elbow.
True to her word, she marched toward the exit. I clung to her, mirroring the regal lift of her chin. We left her ex’s wedding reception before they’d even cut the cake.
Cake? Totally overrated.
Outside the hotel, as I scanned the street for a taxi, she muttered, “Your mother thinks I’m bad for you. She’s probably right.”
“No!” The word rang out on the busy street. “My mother doesn’t get a vote in my relationships.”
“Doesn’t she?” Carly tilted her head to look at me out of the side of her eye. “She’s the matriarch of your family. Doesn’t she have to approve anyone any of you dates? To keep the Jones family what it should be?”
“It’s not like that.” Or was it? Was that why I’d never brought a date to brunch? My brother, Jackson, had fallen in love with his wife without telling Mother, but of course she’d loved Alicia. Despite her humble background, she was as driven as Mother was. Then when Alicia birthed the first Jones heir, Mother had granted her the place of honor at the dining table.
My sister Samantha had fallen for Niall, a novelist, a career outside the set of respectable ones for a Jones. But his father was tech royalty, creator of the phone I had in my pocket. Even though they were estranged, Mother considered Niall part of our circle.
And so was Carly. Or she had been. What was the issue?
Finally, a taxi pulled up, and I opened the back door for Carly. I wished I could tug her to me, but an ocean of embroidered silk separated us across the seat of the taxi. She’d hate it if I wrinkled her. Instead, I leaned across it. “What did my mother say?”
She stared into my eyes for a moment. “Nothing I didn’t already know.” She sighed. “We’re not a good fit, Andrew. We should?—”
“No,” I growled. “Don’t say it. Are you seriously letting her decide who you should be with? Did she tell you to break it off?”
“No! Actually, yes.”
My blood boiled. How did Mother think she could control my romantic relationships? A thought speared through me like a blast of chilled air. Because she was my only living parent, I’d always done what she asked. When she’d asked me to stay in California after her surgery, I hadn’t hesitated to move across the country.
Not this time.
“You’re not going to let her tell you what to do, are you?”
Carly folded her arms. “What are we doing? We said no sex, but we broke that rule not three days into this trip. And now everything’s complicated. What’s real, and what’s fake?”
“We’re real. This is real.” Earlier, I’d been afraid to say it, but if I didn’t say it now, I might not get another chance. “I always wanted it to be real. Since Monterey.” I settled a hand on her forearm. “I want this. I want it all.”
When she unfolded her arms, I took her hand. She didn’t resist. “Your mother’s right. I can’t give you what you need. Your life would be easier without me.”
“What I need is you. Today was special. You felt it too,” I said with more confidence than I felt. Winnie’s words echoed in my brain. I’d open myself up for Carly. I’d open my family to her too. “You’re worth standing up to my mother for. And you won’t have to do it. I will.”
“But…should I?” She stared at her gown and rubbed a finger over the embroidered pattern. “I’m thirteen years older than you. Middle aged. You have so much life ahead of you. A career to grow. Maybe a family.”
“I don’t want a family,” I said. “I want you.”
When she turned her eyes up to me, they’d softened like a caramel left out in the sun. Did she want me too?
The taxi pulled up in front of our hotel, and it was time to hand over my card and work out the fare. By the time I’d finished, Carly stood out on the street, shivering.
I winced. “We forgot your coat at the hotel.”
“It’s fine.” Goosebumps covered her bare arms.
I whipped off my suit coat and draped it over her shoulders. “I’ll go back for it tomorrow.”
I guided her into the hotel and up the stairs to our room. For once, I didn’t fumble with the awkward key, and we were inside the suite in a matter of seconds.
“Tonight,” I said, coming around to face her, “I’m going to take care of you. Tomorrow, I’ll tell off my mother.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned my mother. Carly looked down at herself, her slim body engulfed by my suit jacket. She shrugged it off. “No.”
“Fine. We’ll freeze her out. We’ll do whatever we want.” I swallowed down the bitter taste in my mouth. “She’ll come around.”
“No. She won’t. And I—” When she finally met my gaze, her eyes were glassy. “I won’t do that to you. To your family. We’re done, Andrew. I’m leaving in the morning. Don’t follow me.”
“But…” My stomach dropped. “What about our arrangement?”
“I’ll meet you at your holiday party. I’ll pretend for Vic and everyone else. But after that, it’s over.”
She shoved my suit coat at me and in a whirl of champagne silk, disappeared into her room.
Fuck. Me.