Page 76 of Next in Line
She doesn’t like that response one bit as she fiddles with her necklace and stares at the wall with a serious expression. “Well, what’s your end goal then? Are you in love with the girl?”
“Love? No, Mom,” I snap and turn to grab the bottle of sealer out of my box. “Why would you think I’m in love with her?”
“Because you’re risking a friendship for her.”
She shrugs her shoulders as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, and I quickly turn around so she can’t see my reaction to that statement. My eyes blink rapidly as her words have an unexpected effect on me. Am I risking my friendship with Miles for Maggie? Surely, I’m not. I don’t want to lose Miles, but coming clean seems like the only thing to do at this point. Maggie and I have obviously progressed somewhere past casual, and I can’t keep lying to my best friend when I’m falling for his sister.
My heart begins to pound in my chest at that realization, and I turn to lean back on the shower wall and get my fucking shit together. My phone chimes from its spot on the floor, and I glance down to see a text from Miles.
Miles: Hey man, change of plans. Megan’s boyfriend just showed up unexpectedly, so can I get a rain check on drinks tonight? Kate and I are going to take them to Rio and introduce them to the two limit margaritas.
My hand tightens around the phone, my eyes losing focus as I absorb the fact that Maggie’s ex-boyfriend is here.Sterling is here? What kind of fucking name is that anyway?
And seriously, what the actual fuck? It was only days ago when I was inside Maggie making her come, andnowthis fucker decides to show up?
“Who is it?” my mom asks, her voice soft but probing.
“It’s Miles,” I reply, my hand loosening around my phone. “Maggie’s ex just showed up, so he needs to take a rain check on the drinks we were supposed to have tonight.”
“Maggie’s ex?” Mom asks, her voice rising in pitch. “Is he from Boulder?”
“No,” I reply through clenched teeth. “He’s from far away.” Which means if he’s here, Maggie’s stupid-ass plan actually worked, and he wants her back.
I stand and begin tossing my tools into my toolbox, throwing them in way faster and noisier than necessary, but damnit, I’m freaking the fuck out right now. Who is this guy to show up at my best friend’s house and have dinner with my goddamned people?
Mom slides off the counter and grabs my arm, so I turn my focus to her. “Sammy, what’s going on?”
“Nothing, Mom. Leave it alone,” I growl. Pulling away from her, I grab my toolbox off the floor to head out the door.
“It’s not nothing!” she exclaims and uses all her strength to turn me to look at her. “Talk to me.”
Her face is stricken with worry, and instantly, my anger morphs into an apology. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m just pissed off, I guess.”
“Because of that text?”
“Yeah, because of that text,” I growl and rake my free hand through my hair. “That ex of hers is an asshole. He broke her damn heart, yet she’s obsessed with getting him back. She’s going to take him back. I know it.”
“And why do you care?” she asks, her hands reaching up to touch my cheeks so I stop darting my gaze all around the small bathroom and look at her.
“Because I care about her,” I state without pause.
She nods, her brows pinching together in the middle. “I can see that. Does she care about you?”
I shake my head in frustration because it doesn’t fucking matter. “That’s not the point, Mom. She’s Miles’s little sister. I can’t go there.”
“Of course, you can,” she says, slapping my chest with her hands before placing them on her hips. “He loves you, and he loves her. He’ll understand it if it’s what makes you both happy.”
“It’s not just that,” I state and fight the urge to roll my eyes. “You don’t know Maggie, Mom. She’s got her mind set on winning her ex back, and she went to great lengths to do it. If he’s here, it’s game over. She’s succeeded in her mission.”
Mom pins me with a seriously unimpressed stare. “Are you trying to tell me that after all that horrible brawling you did as a kid, you don’t have it in you to fight for this girl?”
I bark out a laugh because getting romance advice from my mother is about as useful as a bucket of frozen minnows. “I don’t think Maggie wants me to fight for her.”
“It doesn’t matter!” Mom argues, whacking me in the stomach. “If you’ve given your heart to this girl at all, Sammy, that’s not something to walk away from.”
I exhale heavily because I hate having to explain all of this to my mother, but I know she won’t let this go if I don’t. “I can’t handle being with someone like her, Mom. Maggie is…a lot. She’s young and stubborn and way too obsessed with a perfect life and achieving her happily ever after. She wants romance novel shit. I’m not the kind of guy who can give that to her.”
“Of course, you can, you fool. Happy endings come in all shapes and sizes.”
