Page 32 of Mom Com
“So then how will you manage full-time at the bakery and, well, everything else?”
“Liv,” Wilder says, drawing her name out like a warning, his eyes momentarily flicking to me.
“What?” she says innocently. “All I’m saying is that I want a heads-up if—”
My heart thumps and I lean forward, waiting for her to name the thing he clearly doesn’t want to talk about.
But Wilder cuts her off before she continues. “Yes, well, as long as we’re making requests,” he says, a hint of a smile appearing on his lips. “I’d like a warning the next time you two are up to something that involves me.”
Oh shit.
Wilder looks from his sister to me and back again, his amusement increasing as he realizes he’s correct. “I’m guessing it has to be quite interesting to get Maddi to agree to come here because I doubt she’d volunteer to go to Matt’s birthday on her own accord. And then there’s all the whispering and unsubtle plotting you two have been doing. Was it some sort of bet, Liv? And now I’m wondering, what’s the prize?”
All the heat I felt a moment ago rushes to my cheeks.
Liv laughs, only whatever she was going to say in response gets lost as her gaze draws toward the bar. “Well, now if this didn’t just get more interesting,” she says almost to herself.
As I follow her eyeline, my pulse quickens. There, shrugging off his coat and giving Jenna a quick embrace, is Jake.
The waves crash rhythmically into the sand, sending white sprays of foam into the night sky. I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around them, yanking my coat a little tighter and handing my now empty beer bottle to Jake.
“Cold?” he asks, stuffing our empties inside his bag.
I shrug. “Maybe a little,” I admit. “But I’ll be better after another beer.”
Jake laughs. “Would if I could, but two was all I could swipe without my parents noticing.” And even though I’m certain he knows I’m a bit off, he doesn’t question me about what’s wrong the way Wilder would. “Here, why don’t we go to my truck and warm up.”
“I’m not ready to go home yet,” I say, a phrase I’ve repeated a lot these past few months ever since the bonfire where Wilder got tipsy.
“Who said anything about home?” Jake replies with a grin. “We’ll swing by Tony’s and grab a couple of slices.”
I laugh. “Are you ever not hungry?”
He considers it. “When I’m sleeping... maybe?”
For a second, I hesitate, recognizing that Jake didn’t suggest Matt’s party, even though that’s where he probably wants to go, because I said I didn’t want to. But that thought only makes me angry, because we both know the reason I don’t want to go isn’t so much a reason as avoidance. But why the hell am I the one hiding from Wilder? He’s the one who screwed everything up.
“Actually,” I say, emboldened by the injustice of it all, “why don’t we go to Matt’s?”
His eyes flash with surprise. “Yeah? I mean, I thought you—”
“Changed my mind,” I say, standing up and dusting off my jeans.
“Then yeah, definitely,” he agrees enthusiastically, pushing himself up from the sand. He swipes his messenger bag, throwing it over his shoulder.
We plod along the path through the dunes and onto the pavement. The parking lot is empty—besides the fact that it’s early November, I’m willing to bet the entire school is at Matt’s. His parents are away for the weekend, and it’s supposed to be something of a rager.
Jake stops by the passenger side door and opens it for me, tossing his bag into the back, the beer bottles clinking together as they land. I step up onto the running board and into the gray upholstered seat. But instead of closing my door, Jake grins at me.
“You’re really beautiful, Maddi,” he says, and I turn to face him, legs dangling out of the truck instead of neatly tucked forward.
I laugh. “Look, you don’t have to convince me to go to Matt’s, I was the one who suggested it.”
He laughs, too. “So, that’s what you think of me, huh? Brutal.”
“Tell me you’re not secretly stoked.”
He grins, easing my knees apart and stepping between them. “Oh, I’m stoked. But mainly because it means I’m going to be hanging out with you all night.”
