Page 24 of #Starstruck

I heard the door from the garage to the kitchen open and shut. My mom called out, “Zoe?”

Frantic, I started pushing him, trying to force him out. He laughed quietly but gave in. “I’m going, I’m going. But you have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Whatever,” I said.

He sat on the windowsill, hanging one leg over the ledge. His attention was drawn to the massive poster that hung over my mother’s bed. It hadn’t occurred to me to try and block his view or take it down. “Is that your mom?”

That stupid picture had made my life miserable for years. I would have kept it from him if I could have.

My mother called my name again. It sounded like she was coming down the hall.

I was about ready to throw all my weight against him. “Yes, it’s my mom. Now go!”

Laughing, he swung both legs through the open window and jumped the three feet to the ground, landing easily. Then he made a dramatic Shakespearean-type bow. “Till next we meet, my lady.”

Okay, it was sweet. But I still rolled my eyes and closed the window. I had just finished lowering the blinds when my mom opened the door. “Oh, there you are.”

The shock of her entering the room made my stomach clench and my heart freeze. “Sorry, I didn’t answer because I didn’t want to wake anybody up.”

She didn’t seem to buy it. She came over and yanked the blinds up. Part of me was afraid Chase would still be standing there, waiting for his chance to go all Romeo on me. Fortunately, he was gone.

And it was dark, so she didn’t notice the missing screen.

“Mama? Mama!” Zia’s voice crackled over the baby monitor. Like she’d been awake this entire time, waiting.

“Looks like your plan didn’t work,” my mom said, taking off her purse and jacket and laying them on her bed. I followed her to the girls’ room, where Zia was standing with her arms held out. My mother picked her up and rested her cheek on Zia’s corn-silk-blonde curls.

Oh, I didn’t know about that. Even if the baby had woken up, Mission Get Chase Out of the House had gone very well.

Until my favorite little saboteur took her thumb out of her mouth long enough to say, “Zo-Zo’s boyfrien’ is Cheese.”

Icy panic gripped my throat, making it impossible to respond. How did she even know that word? It wasn’t like I’d ever had boyfriends.

“Good choice,” my mom whispered as she gently rocked Zia to sleep. “My boyfriend is brick-oven-style pizza.”

“No,” Zia said, sounding fully awake. “Mommy’s boyfrien’ is Daddy.”

I couldn’t see her, but I felt my mother go still and heard her choke back a sob. Her voice was thick with emotion when she replied, “That’s right. Daddy will always be Mommy’s boyfriend.”

Zia’s words affected me, too, like a punch in the gut. Duncan had been my stepfather for ten years and had been such a good man and a good father. The only one I’d ever known. I tried not to think about how much I missed him.

“Hey, I gotta head back to school,” I told my mom, my chest feeling tight, my voice rough. I briefly wondered whether Chase had left or if I’d run into him in the front yard.

“Thank you so much,” she said as she sat in the rocking chair, trying to soothe Zia. “And I hate to do to this you, but Shelly’s aunt is still sick, and she canceled Saturday, too. Would you mind? I’m working from eleven to seven.”

I planned on meeting with a study group then, but I could reschedule. Family first. “Yeah. Of course. See you on Saturday.”

I hurried outside before Zia could rat me out further.

As I put on my seat belt and started up my car, I glanced in my rearview mirror. It was then that I realized what had happened, and I let out a groan.

After all that, Chase had forgotten his tux.

CHAPTER NINE

The next morning before class, I texted Chase to remind him about the forgotten tuxedo he said he had to have that night.

A second later my phone rang. I considered making him wait, picking up on the fourth ring so I wouldn’t seem too eager.

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