Page 88 of Bring You Back

Oh, but she is. Valerie has gone out of her way to set her too-good feet on a street I’m sure she hasn’t been on in years, inside of a house where nobody wants her to be, all because she thinks she’s now standing on common ground. Only Valerie can sink that low into the dirt, and she’s trying to drag Naomi down with her. Typical.

“I don’thate men, Valerie,” Naomi clarifies again, and Valeriereallycan’t catch a hint.

“Oh, I know,” she says with a defeated sigh. “It’s so hard. Literally,” she adds with a suggestive lilt that has me rolling my eyes to Tommy. Grumbles has joined him and they’re playing ping-pong with the balloons.

My laughter is cut short by Valerie’s next words.

“Also, it seems my Reyna has finally snagged your Julian. About time for those two, right?” She works to opening the wine, but my instinctive response halts her effort.

“They’re not together. They’resleepingtogether. You would know about that concept.”

Tommy mutters something that sounds like “Oh, shit,” and Naomi breathes a sigh as I realize what I said.

My bad.

If Reyna doesn’t know that she and Julian aren’t actually a couple by now, she will if her mother questions and blabs.

Valerie narrows her eyes at me, while I shoot Naomi an apology with mine. “If I wanted to talk to a teenager, I would talk to my daughter.”

I bet you would.For the rest of Naomi’s sake, I keep that sarcastic note to myself.

Through the gulp of my drinking and Valerie’s second attempt at opening the wine, the front door opens, and in walks said daughter with Julian right behind. She shares a smile with Tommy, then halts at the sight of her mother.

“Mom?”

“Hey, babe,” Valerie greets, unperturbed.

Reyna gives Julian a quick glance as she says, “This isn’t the surprise.”

“What is this doing here?” Julian questions with a hard stare on Valerie, and I laugh behind the lip of my bottle.

“Mydaughterinvited me,” Valerie responds with a smile at Reyna. “Didn’t you?” Reyna shakes her head, opening her mouth to disagree, but doesn’t get a word in. “It’s aparty.”

“It’s not aparty,” I chime, gesturing to the finished cake resting on the counter. “It’scake.”

“There are balloons,” Valerie says with a sideways point toward them. Right on cue, Grumbles paws one to Tommy and he palms it back, earning them both a laugh from Reyna. “And wine.”

Balloons and wine constitute a party. Noted.

Valerie yanks up the bottle, still working to get it open. “Does no one have a corkscrew around here?” She pauses, taking in her surroundings as if she’s now realizing she’s at the Fowlers. “Oh, of course not.”

“Mom, you should probably go,” Reyna says as she scans the various looks of discomfort and irritation at her mother’s presence. Her saddened look makes me want to ask Valerie to stay, to try to tolerate her under the same roof for more than ten minutes. I see the same thought playing on Julian’s and Naomi’s faces, but none of us disputes.

Valerie scans our faces, as well, her features shifting to embarrassment at the stretching silence. “Fine,” she finally spats, swinging the wine bottle as she points a finger at Naomi. “Don’t say I didn’t try.” She stalks to the door, tossing a “You can do better” at Reyna with a side-eye at Julian.

At the sound of Valerie’s exit, Reyna gives us all a small, shamed smile. “Sorry.”

Tommy runs his thumb down her arm, shaking his head when she looks at him, as Naomi voices, “Nothing to be sorry for.” She takes a breath, ready to move on. “Let’s eat.”

Banks decides to show back up when we’re setting the table, announcing himself with a fart.

We all cringe, various scolds leaving our mouths, and Reyna questions him with a laugh. “Why are you so nasty?”

“He has a Y chromosome,” I answer.

“It slipped,” Banks defends as he takes a seat at the table,nothelping. I try to skip over him, but he manages to get a hold on the plates and yanks one from my hand. I keep the forks out of his reach, so he swipes the one I already set down. Julian replaces it with a divided look between us.

“I didn’t get a party when I first started,” Reyna notes, a halfhearted complaint.

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