Page 17 of The Truth About Love

How can someone look the way she does and have no idea?

“One of the few good things my Mama taught me.”

If I thought Summer-Raine would skip over a statement like that, then I’d be wrong. “You don’t get along with your Mama?”

“No, I do,” I backtrack, guilt nicking at me. “That was unfair of me. Our relationship is… dysfunctional. She’s not very well, but she tries and does the best she can. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Don’t hide your truth from me, Auden, if you’re expecting me not to hide mine from you.” Her words are firm, but her voice is soft. “Your Mama is sick?”

“Not physically,” I say, unsure whether or not I want to tell her more. But she’s right. I can’t expect her to reveal herself for me if I’m not prepared to do the same. And I want to. I want her to know everything there is to know about me, it’s just that I don’t know how she’ll react to learning about my Mama’s illness and this is quite a heavy subject for a conversation straight out the gate. But I tell her anyway. “She’s schizophrenic.”

“Oh.”

I search her face for a reaction. I find no pity, but concern swims in the depths of her green eyes.

“Which is fine. Obviously. She can’t help it, it’s not her fault. But having to carry your mother off the roof of the house at twelve years old because she thinks the world is flooding kind of changes the parent-child dynamic.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Summer-Raine nods in understanding, eyes widening slightly at that last part. “But it’s okay to resent her for it sometimes. Sometimes a kid just needs their Mama.”

“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”

She shrugs. “My parents aren’t around much.”

“How come?”

“They work a lot.” She pauses and I wait for her to continue. “They’re doing things more important than raising their kids, I guess.”

“That’s shitty.”

“It’s fine.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “It’s the same for every rich kid, right?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

Which is the truth. I wouldn’tpersonallyknow if it was the same for every kid born to a wealthy family, but I do know that Freddy’s home situation is pretty similar to Summer’s.

But where Fred tries to compensate for his parents’ shortcomings by latching onto the wrong girls and claiming it’s love, Summer-Raine works hard to keep everyone around her at an arm’s length.

Apart from me, it seems.

Somehow, in the space of only two weeks, I seem to have clawed my way inside her comfort zone, even if only for a few moments at a time. And those glimpses she gives me of the girl no one else gets to see makes me desperate to find a permanent home for myself inside that icy exterior.

The waiter, a dude called Elijah who is a year or so older than us, approaches the table and fist bumps me in greeting.

“Auden, my man.” He grins at me genially before turning his eyes to Summer-Raine.

I watch the moment he registers the sheer scale of her beauty. He takes a step back as if literally blown away, thick eyebrows almost hitting the ceiling.

I get it, buddy, I get it.

“Damn, dude. Who’s this and what the fuck is she doing with you?” And then… “I’d hide every chair in the world just so a girl like you could sit on my face.”

Summer-Raine’s cheeks burn red and I have a sudden, uncharacteristic urge to punch Elijah. Hard.

“Back off her, man,” I say, but that’s as far as I get in my valiant attempt to defend my date’s honour. Should’ve known Summer-Raine wouldn’t need someone fighting her battles for her.

“Then I’d probably just sit on the floor.”

Elijah’s eyes widen, both amused and thunderstruck. “Ouch. I feel like you’ve stolen my manhood. You have successfully robbed me of my scrotum with your scathing words and laser-beam stare.”

---