Ditched (17 page)

I decided my boredom was getting the best of me. I rarely, or never, sat home alone on a Friday night. I was always either out with Collin, or my friends. I couldn’t even call my friends because I knew they were all out, together, back in Chamberlain. I couldn’t expect them to stop what they were doing just to make chitchat with me because I was moping.

I knew that of course they would, they just shouldn’t have to.

I finally used the remote to click the TV off. I headed to my room. I wasn’t buried under the covers more than five minutes when headlights flashed through my window and sliced across the wall. I slammed my eyelids closed, telling myself I did not need to go check on him. That thought lasted until I heard the front door open and close.

I padded out of my room to the kitchen where I heard him getting a glass of water. He turned and gave me a small smile when he heard me coming.

  “Did you have a good time?” I asked. I narrowed my eyes at him. His hair and shirt both looked a bit disheveled. I raised my eyebrows, curious.

His answer was a shrug.

“Was the music good?”

Another shrug. “It wasn’t bad.”

I took a step closer, squinting as he finished off his glass of water. I swiped a napkin out of the holder on the counter and slid it across the corner of his mouth. I held it up with a smirk, letting him see the lipstick smudge.

“You must’ve had
kind of a good time.” I meant for the words to be light, despite the fact that my chest suddenly felt heavy.

He let out
a sigh. “Yeah, I guess. She can be kind of aggressive. And she really doesn’t like to take no for an answer.”

Oddly, I didn’t want to ask for details. Normally, I would love to tease Max. But now, I couldn’t tear my gaze from his hair. It was obvious someone had been running their fingers through it. And I was pretty sure that someone wasn’t Max.

My fingers twitched, wanting to run through his hair, too. I blinked in surprise. I quickly told myself the only reason I would want to do that was to fix it. To pat it down, back into place like it should be. It was not because I was wondering if it was as soft as it looked.

It just wasn’t.

“You okay?” he asked. He was watching me warily.

“Um,” I muttered, wondering if I was. “
Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “Because for a minute there, you looked a little freaked out.”

“What? Me? No. Noooo,” I assured him. “I’m fine. Good. Great, really.”

He gave me a little nod. “Okay then,
I’m going to bed.”

“Oh, okay,” I said.

He reached over and gave my shoulder a squeeze as he walked past me. I stood there, in the middle of the kitchen watching him go.

A dull ache set up residence in the pit of my stomach. To my dismay, I realized that I wasn’t jealous of Max because he was out having fun.
I was jealous of Tori. I just wasn’t exactly sure why. Maybe because she was edging in on the time I could be spending with my best friend?

I glanced down
at the napkin in my hand. The shimmery pink streak seemed to be mocking me. Confusion swirled through my veins. I thought there was a possibility, though I didn’t want to admit it to myself, that might not be the reason at all.

Chapter 13

I tossed and turned a bit too enthusiastically for what felt like hours. Thinking about Max and trying not to think about Max. I slept in longer than I meant to the following morning. By the time I hoisted myself out of bed, Max was nowhere to be found. His car was parked outside so I came to the only logical conclusion. I decided he must’ve gone for a run.

By that time,
I’d convinced myself that I’d just been in an odd mood the night before. I was single for the first time in a ridiculously long time. I was sure it was perfectly normal to feel so out of sorts. Especially when everyone I knew was out having fun and I wasn’t. That alone was likely to push anyone into a peculiar mood.

Max had tried talking me out of joining his grandparents for their party. He insisted that we’d be the youngest guests by far.
He tried to tell me it would be stuffy and boring. I told him I didn’t mind. I was anxious to meet his grandparents. Truthfully, I missed my family. Not enough to go home yet. But I missed them all the same. So I was more than happy to spend the day with
his
family.

I showered then
dressed in a simple, cream sundress. I hoped it was appropriate for a function at a winery. Then I finished it off by spending more time than usual with my hair. And my make-up.

I had been living in flip-flops the last few weeks. Since I was meeting his grandparents for the first time,
I decided to dress things up just a bit. I pulled my suitcase out from the closet and sorted through the few remaining things I hadn’t bothered to unpack. I found my cute, strappy sandals.

I told myself it was because I wanted to make a good impression on his grandparents. It would be silly to think I was doing it because of Max. I mean, Max had seen me at my worst. He often saw me in sweats. So
how I dressed today really wasn’t important.

That’s what I told myself when I swiped
on another layer of lip gloss.

***

“It’s about time Max shared you!” Villette said as she pulled me into a tight embrace.

Her small body felt fragile and her silvery, coiffed
, heavily sprayed hair prickled against my face as I returned her hug. I was greeted by the scent of lavender and a feeling of complete belonging.

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” I said.

She released me but held firmly to my hands as she looked me up and down. Then she turned her smiling face to Max. “You were right. She is a pretty little thing.”

I looked at Max and raised an eyebrow. Max told her I was pretty? The way his cheeks immediately turned crimson led me to believe that maybe he had.
I smiled and he looked slightly mortified. How or why that had even come up between them was a bit of a mystery.

Collin had told me I was beautiful every now and then. The trouble was that I didn’t really believe him. It always sounded more obligatory than
truly complimentary.

“There she is!”

I turned to greet a man I assumed was Charles.
Villette released me and Charles pulled me in for a hug as well. “I was hoping he wasn’t going to keep you stashed away all summer.”

“
I wasn’t stashing her away. We’ve been… busy… with things… and stuff,” he stammered.

We hadn’t been
that
busy. I wasn’t going to put him on the spot by pointing that out. It did make me wonder, though, if he just hadn’t wanted me to meet his grandparents. And if that was the case, I had to wonder why not.

“No matter!”
Villette chirruped. “She’s here now!” She looped her arm through mine. “It’s such a lovely day. I thought we could sit out on the patio. I’d like to visit with you a bit before we have to leave.”

“That sounds perfect,” I told her.

I followed her through the house. Max and his grandpa were right behind us. Villette led us to a stone patio surrounded by flower beds. The scent emanating from the fragrant blooms permeated the air. It was gorgeous and I told her so. I was sure my mother would be impressed. And possibly a bit envious.

“Oh, thank you
,” she said. The wrought iron table had four places set. Two of them had half empty wine glasses in front of them. Villette took one spot; Charles sat beside her, claiming the second glass. A platter of finger sandwiches sat at the center of the table.

I settled in be
tween Villette and Max.

“Are you enjoying your time here?” Charles asked.

I couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, definitely. I’m having the best time. I love the beach house. It’s absolutely amazing. I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay there.”

“Oh,
pish-posh
,” Villette scoffed as she waved the notion away. “It’s no trouble at all. And it’s certainly keeping Max happy. We know he enjoys the company.”

“Speaking of company,” Charles said, “when are we expecting Mike?”

“In two days,” Villette told him. She turned to Max. “Did you know your brother is coming for a visit?”

I looked at
Max. He shook his head and frowned. “He didn’t tell me.”

“Goodness,”
Villette said with a little shake of her head. “He should have. He told me he plans on staying at the beach house.”

My gaze flicked to Max again
. He gave me an apologetic look. Mike and I didn’t get along. Or rather, Mike simply didn’t like me and I didn’t know why. I usually tried to stay out of his way. If he was staying with us though, staying out of his way could prove to be a challenge.

“I told him he was welcome to stay here but he wants to be on the beach,” she continued. “Hopefully he won’t be too much of a bother for you two.”

“He’ll be fine,” I assured her. He had more of a right to be there than I did.

“It’ll be great,” Max said. He didn’t sound very convincing.

Villette gave him a knowing look. “He’ll be gone soon enough. Then you can have your girl all to yourself again.”

Max started to say, “That’s not what I—”

Villette cut him off by saying to me, “We’ve been so excited to meet you. I don’t know why he’s been such a stinker about it! He talks about you constantly. I thought he’d be a little quicker about showing you off.”

“Gram,” Max grumbled.

She ignored him.

“Oh, he does, does he?” I asked
. I wrinkled my face up at him, in a teasing smirk. He didn’t smile back. He didn’t seem to find the situation amusing.

“
All the time. Daily. This boy’s got it bad,” Charles said in a conspiratorial tone as he leaned across the table. He tacked a wink on to the end of his comment.

I started to shake my head,
ready to protest. Obviously he’d made erroneous assumptions. I had to admit, that would be easy to do. I mean, we were living together. For all intents and purposes, it probably looked like I followed him out here. And now here I was, meeting his extended family. I had to stop the thoughts from tumbling out. Yes, I could see how very easy it would be to mistake our relationship for something it was not.

Or
, perhaps it was simpler than that. Perhaps they simply enjoyed teasing their grandson.

Villette
placed a gentle hand on my arm. “I was so sorry to hear about your unfortunate situation. An event like that, it could be devastating. However, I have always strongly believed that everything happens for a reason. I think you were meant to come out here with Max.”

My gaze flicked to his, he looked resigned but not at all happy.

“He’s such a sweet boy. And he just thinks the world of you,” she announced.

Gram,” Max
said again, “really, a subject change would be nice.”

“Nonsense,” she insisted. “There isn’t a girl alive who doesn’t love a little bit of flattery. If you think the world of your girlfriend, she should know it.
”

“Except,” Max said, his voice a little too tight, “she’s not my girlfriend.”

She leaned over to pat his hand. “So you keep insisting. But I think we need to remedy that situation. Don’t you?” she asked me with a wink.

I was momentarily
speechless. Max and I exchanged flustered looks.

“I think they’re being shy,” Charles decided.

“You know that you don’t need to be shy around us,” Villette said.

I really didn’t
know that. But I nodded and pretended I did.

Max scrubbed a hand over his face
. He looked as if he was wishing he was somewhere far, far away.