Page 203 of Tag

I had been expecting that. I was hoping I would be back on campus before she went back and watched it. I swallowed, my voice small. “It’s complicated.”

“Try me,” Mom insisted. “Let’s see if I can uncomplicate things.” She turned back to the lemon squares she was transferring into a container, dropping each finished one with careful precision.

“I might as well tell you both now, I’m ending things with Ashton tomorrow.”

Sugarmama snorted, setting her crossword aside. “I think that’s for the best. That boy always looked at you like he was trying to figure out which shelf you belonged on.”

My mom’s head tilted slightly. “I agree with her for once.”

“Once you say? If you agreed with me more often, you wouldn’t have wound up in half the sticky situationsyoudealt with,” Sugarmama pointed out.

Mom ignored her. “When you’re holding onto one person and looking at another. Someone is bound to be hurt.”

There was nothing quite as humbling as your role models knowing you were stepping out on your relationship.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make such a mess out of everything. I don’t even know what I’m doing right now.”

Sugarmama reached for my hand, her fingers warm and strong around mine. “Listen to me,meri Jaan. You don’t need to apologize for finding your way, just because the path is a little bumpy. I might not agree with all your choices, but I know you aren’t cruel. You’re not some brazen harlot snatching up college boys left and right.”

My mom nodded, her eyes going soft, that gentle mom tone slipping under my skin like a balm. “You don’t owe us an apology. You’re young yet. Smart and beautiful…” Her words faltered, her eyes turning a little glassy, her lips pressing into a thin line as she blinked hard. “This is just part of your journey. Mistakes come with the territory. You’re going to stumble and learn lessons the hard way; that’s life. Rarely does it go exactly to plan, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be beautiful.”

Sugarmama cut in, clicking her tongue. “And if you’re anything like me, you’ll be stumbling for a long while yet.”

I nodded, blinking hard, trying to keep it together.

“This doesn’t make you a terrible person,” Mom said softly.

“Well… it sure doesn’t feel like I’m a good one.”

I couldn’t bring myself to admit to them that I wasn’t sorry for anything I’d done with Ryder. I didn’t want to hurt Brooke or Ashton, but now that my resolve to let her have him had been undone, I wouldn’t be giving him up.

Mom let out a small sigh. “I don’t agree with how you two went about this,” she admitted, her brows pinching faintly before smoothing out again. “But in the same breath… I want to smack you both for creating unnecessary hurdles to get here. You’d be a fool to run from what you have now. That boy… he’s grown from adoring you to loving you out loud, without even needing to say it.”

She shook her head as if to clear it. “Yes, you will do well to end things with the Hayes boy.”

“I thought you liked Ashton?”

“I think we can both agree Ashton’s a nice boy, but he was never going to be in that wedding photo I hang on my wall. That space has been filled with someone else since the day I brought you home. Maybe Ryder won’t be the one standing beside you then either, but if it doesn’t work out, we won’t love you any less. We’ll be no less proud of you.”

Sugarmama clicked her tongue, leaning back with a wicked glint in her eye. “I say while you’re waiting for him to make that photo a reality, it won’t hurt none to break the celibacy oath and have a few rolls in the sheets along the way.”

“Sugarmama!”

“It’s no different than test driving a car. No one makes that big of a commitment without at least ensuring it’s a good fit.”

“Ew, stop,” I pleaded.

Mom shook her head, exasperation and affection warring on her face. “And don’t think I didn’t give that boy hell either,” she added, a sharp glint in her eyes. “You’re my daughter first and foremost, and I will always look out for your heart.”

I wasn’t sure whether to laugh, cry, or be deeply concerned.

Sugarmama laughed lightly. “See. Even she gave him the old birds and bees talk.”

“What? Mom, you didn’t.”

“That was not the basis of our talk,” she retorted, sounding offended. “I only told him you two need to be safe. If you’re old enough to do it, you’re big enough to discuss the less exciting parts.”

“The sticky parts,” Sugarmama chimed in.

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