Page 97 of Before We Fell

My eyes were still wide. I could feel them almost leaping from my sockets. “Are you telling me thatisnormal?” I couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t comprehend it in any way, shape, or form. With overdramatic reactions like that it was a wonder, women didn’t commit more crimes of passion. How did they get a grip on their emotions if a ponytail could throw them over the edge to psycho-ville?

“It’s normal,” Lauren assured me. “A bit over the top, I think, but be prepared. When she hits puberty, you’ll see that a lot more often than you’ll see the sweet side of her.”

Jesus. I scrubbed another hand down my face and shuddered violently. I hadn’t even considered. “I am screwed.”

Lauren reached a hand out to me and I took it, her touch not doing anything to comfort me or calm my still racing heart. Good Lord. This was not funny. “There is a positive side to this, you know.”

“What is it?”

“She trusts you enough to behave like herself around you. I would guess it’s taken her a long time to get to that place to trust you that much.”

My hands fell to my hips. Good Lord. My heart was still racing. “That makes no sense.”

“Sure it does. Parents always say their kids behave way worse for them than they do other adults, or teachers and coaches and there’s truth in it. Kids can trust their parents to handle anything, even the ugliest sides of them, so they don’t hold back their reactions. Honestly, it’d concern me more if she never freaked out like that.”

“I’d be thrilled if I never saw it again.”

Another slam came from the bathroom. Another foot stomp. Apparently the ponytail was still not behaving.

Lauren laughed at my expression and bit her tongue, laughing silently while tears gathered in her eyes.

“This is not funny, Lauren.”

“Oh, but it’s really hilarious. Want me to go help her?”

Lauren usually snuck out of the house before Riley woke up. She might have known we were dating, or together, but I tried not to confuse her by having her teacher around all the time. Especially in the morning. But this epic tantrum called for breaking the rules. “Please, before she gives me another heart attack.”

Lauren giggled. It was beautiful, even if it was at my expense. She pressed her hand to my shoulder, rolled to her toes and kissed the hinge of my jaw. “Happy Thanksgiving, Noah. This really is a good thing. I promise.”

My hand was at her side, sliding beneath my shirt to touch her warm, soft skin. I gave her a quick squeeze as she scurried away. “I’ll take your word for it.”

I sounded grumpy. Iwasgrumpy, but more than that, for the first time since I’d gotten custody of Riley, I was terrified out of my freaking skull.

What in the hell did I know about raising a teenage girl? Heaven help me.

Thank God I had Lauren.

I walkedaround the front of my truck, opening Lauren’s door on the passenger side. Somehow, Lauren had managed to whip Riley’s ponytail into submission in a matter of minutes. She’d taken off and gone home to get dressed for Thanksgiving with my parents. Somehow, in the span of an hour, our day had done a total one hundred and eighty-degree turnaround. If someone would have said that by the way I woke up this morning, that within an hour, I’d be the one choking down laughter, I would have called them crazy.

Fortunately, I had Lauren for more than help with Riley.

I had her ridiculous nervousness at meeting my parents forcing me now to be the one fighting back laughter.

Sliding out of my truck, she wobbled in her heeled-boots, brushing her hands down her jeans, like she was wearing a dress.

Her nervousness was cute. Albeit totally unnecessary. My parents had been hearing Riley wax poetic about all things awesome about her teacher and uncle’s girlfriend for months now.

I was only partly surprised they hadn’t made some surprise visit to my house over the past few weekends, complete with a made-up excuse of why they were there, just to get a look at her.

It was unseasonably cold that morning, the wind gusts making the temperatures well below freezing. Lauren bundled her coat close to her and shivered as the wind whipped her curled hair around her shoulder.

“Brr. It’s freezing.”

“It’ll warm up. Come on.” My fingers threaded through hers and at the last minute, she reached back and grabbed her purse. “Riley’s already inside, probably chattering nonsensically to my parents about your incessant prattling on the way here.”

She shot me a look. A line dipped low between her brows. If I didn’t think my parents were secretly watching from the window pane next to the front door, I would have kissed her. “I don’t prattle.”

“You rambled non-stop about what you should talk about.”

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