Page 44 of Only for Tonight
“How do you know she barged into the house?” My father looks over at me.
“Um.” I look at him for I think a full minute. “You just said he was caught with this other girl. I don’t think he got up in the middle of ‘banging her’”—I use my fingers to do the quotations—“and answered the door for her. Also, can we stop talking about him banging whoever he was banging? That’s private and none of our business.”
“True,” my mother agrees, and I hang my head. “Needless to say, he’s not with that girl anymore.”
“Well, maybe they weren’t good together anyway.”
“Maybe,” my father says and I look back over at the screen and see Stone now on the TV, talking to Jaxon, the two of them laughing about something,
“Stone Richards greeting his longtime family friend, Jaxon Stevenson.” My eyes go to Jaxon and only Jaxon. “It’s all fun and games until the puck drops.”
I take my phone out and pull up his name, thankful I changed it to Himeros.
Me: You looked really hot in your suit. I want my coupon back to redeem it at a later date.
I close the app, knowing he’s not going to be able to answer me now since he’s literally on television, and the pizza gets here.
I’m eating a slice of pizza while my parents talk about the weather changing. “I’ve been thinking,” I start the conversation and they both look at me, “maybe it’s time to get out of New York.”
My mother’s eyes go wide. “Are you coming back to Dallas?”
“No.” I shake my head. “I don’t know where I’m going to go just yet, I was just thinking about it. But last week I was in California, and I really like it there.”
“Same distance from Dallas to there as it is to here,” my father observes. “You’ll get better weather in California.”
“Why the sudden change?” my mother asks me, tilting her head to the side and watching me. I avoid looking into her eyes, knowing she can totally tell when I’m lying.
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I was there and I like the greenery.”
“The greenery.” My mother practically laughs at me. “Since when do you like the greenery?”
“I like the water, you know this,” I defend myself.
“I can call Evan, see what he knows about places since Zoey lives there now.” My father doesn’t see the standoff between my mother and me.
“Dad, no. If I’m going to do this, I’m doing it. Not, ‘oh, here, I bought this house, you can stay in it.’”
“It’s an investment,” he explains. “Besides, you can keep this place and rent it out.”
“No, if I move there, I’m selling this.”
“Fine, sell it,” he says, not caring.
“California,” my mother repeats herself. “Interesting.”
“There is nothing interesting.” I give her a look and she nods her head like “sure.”
“I’m going out there again next week,” I tell them, “for a couple weeks to scope out things.”
“I’ll come with you,” my mother offers and I tilt my head to the side.
“And leave the kids?” I smirk, knowing she wouldn’t leave my sister for that long.
“Oh, the puck is about to drop,” my father states, oblivious to the showdown between my mother and me. He gets up and walks over to the couch, sitting down.
“You think you’re pretty slick,” my mother accuses. “I know you.” I roll my eyes. “He may be in the clouds but I know there is more to it than, ‘I think maybe I’m going to move,’” she mimics me. “Please, you either broke up with someone or you’re dating someone.”
“Well, time will tell.” I get up and kiss her cheek. “And when it’s time to tell, you’ll be the first one to know.”
