Page 53 of The Right Garza
He looks me over with a frown. “No?”
“No!” I half-shout, as if it’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard. “I slept over because Maggie ditched me after Tripp’s fight last night and Trent didn’t want me to be at the house alone. Plus I was really tired so we…came…here…” With each word, I realize how ridiculous the whole thing sounds. True’s popped eyebrow doesn’t help, either. “Okay, I know how all that sounds, but your brother and I aren’t hooking up.”
“You’re in his clothes,” he points out.
“Because I had nothing to sleep in!”
“Okay. I believe you.” He gives me a curious look. “Wouldyou hook up with him, though?”
“God, no.” The lie almost gets lodged in my throat.
“Why?” he asks. “Because you’re still in love with Tor?”
“I was never ‘inlove’ with Tor. He was my first. Who the heck knows what kind of hormonal teenage nonsense I was feeling back then. But I know for sure it wasn’t love, because it was too easy to walk away after what he did,” I say. “I guarantee you, though, that whatever I felt for him back then, I don’t now. I’d probably stab him in the eye if I saw him right now to be honest, so he better not come walking through that door, too.”
“He won’t,” True says through a chuckle. “He’s abroad, on a job. Me, I live right next door, so I’m always here.”
“You do?” I whip my head to the huge glass windows, trying to get a glimpse of the house next door. “Is it a twin thing? Like, you can’t be too far from each other or something?”
He shrugs. “Maybe.” His gaze drops to my necklace. “Is that the necklace Trent gave you on your sixteenth birthday?”
Involuntarily, I reach up and finger the locket. “Yep.”
“Wow. Why do you still wear it?” he asks. “With all the money you’ve made counting cards, I would’ve imagined you’d replace it with something fancier.”
“Two reasons,” I say. “One, because Mama’s pic is inside and this necklace is how I keep her with me whenever I’m away. Two, it’s super sentimental to me. Being that it’s the first authentic thing anyone’s ever given me.Real gold. At the time, getting a gold necklace was a big deal for me. To own something that wouldn’t change no matter what. I can tell you I felt like a princess for months after he gave me this.” I laugh. “Sounds stupid now, I know. But I said I would never, ever take it off until someone gave me something better one day.”
“I’m assuming you never got that something better?”
“Nope,” I say. “Every nice or authentic thing I’ve ever owned since this necklace, I bought myself. So yeah, I appreciate this necklace a lot.”
At the sound of the door opening and closing again, we both swing our attention in that direction. Two sets of footfalls this time and judging by the click-clacking on the hardwood, they’re women’s.
The newcomers come into view a few seconds later. Monica and Tillie.
Taken off guard by their presence, I sit up straight.
True doesn’t. He remains sprawled on the couch with his hands behind his head, and drawls sluggishly, “Hey, Mom.”
“Hey—Oh,I…”Monica stutters when she sees me, just as caught off-guard as I am.
“Lexi!” Tillie exclaims, rushing over and diving onto the couch. She throws her arms around me. I hug her back, the ever-excitable bouncing ball of joy that she is.
“Well, um, if I’d known you would be here I would have brought more,” Monica says, holding up a large lunch bag.
“More of what?” I ask.
“Red rice.” True bounds up from the couch and snatches the bag from Monica’s hand. “Mine’s in here, right?”
“Yes, Trueman. You’re always here, so I packed yours with your brother’s so I wouldn’t have to make two trips.”
“That’s because you always come here first,” he complains. “You just drive right past my house and leave me over there tostarve. Better yet, you drive past us all the way to Venice, toyour favorite son.But don’t worry, I’m gonna find me a nice Jamaican wife to cook me some Jamaican food whenever I want it.”
Monica rolls her eyes as if she’s used to this, while Tillie throws a Sour Patch at him and says, “Shut up, you spoiled, overgrown baby. You’re always bitching about something.”
“Hey! Language,” Monica admonishes.
As True heads to the kitchen to unload the lunch bag, Tillie picks up the remote and begins flipping channels, and Monica moves to sit at the far end of the couch.
