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“Yeah.”
“I’ll go upstairs.”
I release an exasperated sigh. “My parents are going to be in that room. And I’m going to be in the room next door. Upstairs, Jan’s parents are going to be in the biggest room, Jan and her husband will obviously be in the other room with a large bed, and Larissa will be in the bunk bed room. So, unless you want to bunk with Larissa, this is your room.” I’m tempted to ask her if she’d rather bunk with me, or better yet, we both take this room. As if she can read my mind, a smile tugs at the corners of her pink lips.
“Fine. I’ll accept this room.” We both stand there staring at each other, unsure where to go from here. She’s staying. Thank God. A buffer between Larissa and me. Someone to wedge between us at dinner, a go-between when we are all going out to the lake, and my own little human shield from the matchmakers. It’s perfect that she’s staying.
Now if I can just convince myself to keep my hands where they belong.
I enter the kitchen and immediately regret my decision to walk into this room. My mother and Jan’s mother are deep in conversation but stop when they see me. Holding up my palms, I go for a casual tone as I say, “Sorry to interrupt. I’ll just be—”
“Be coming over here to explain that,” my mother points toward the bedroom where I left Journi.
“Sophia! I’ve known Journi a long time and she’s a sweet girl. She’s practically part of our family,” Jan’s mother defends.
“Well, I would like for my son to be a part of your family.”
“Oh, come now. You know that both your boys will always be a part of our family.”
“Legally,” my mother clarifies. “This weekend would be a marvelous opportunity for Christopher and Larissa to spend more quality time together.” I inwardly groan. Nobody but my mother calls me Christopher. “Not a weekend with some immoral and lustful plaything.”
Plaything? “Journi wasn’t here for me.” I try to clear this up, but my mother isn’t listening.
“Funny. I didn’t see her half naked with Jan’s arms wrapped around her. And in our family cabin. You know it’s always been Sophia’s and my dream for our families to unite, and you openly defiled that woman for us to walk in on.”
Jan’s mother steps in. “Journi is here on Jan’s behalf. Jan knows our hopes for Larissa and Cruz. I’m sure it was nothing. Journi is a free spirit and I’ve seen her in a towel plenty of times. I’ve seen you in a towel.”
My mother places her hands on her hips. “This is not the time for your bleeding heart. I think the hussy should go. She’s trouble.”
“And I think she should stay. If you don’t like her being in your half of the cabin, I’ll respect that and she can sleep upstairs with Larissa.” Jan’s mother is the only woman I’ve seen who doesn’t cower under my mother’s gaze. Well, she and Journi.
“Mother, what will Jan say when you kick out her guest? Or force her to move upstairs when there’s a room available downstairs.”
Mother narrows her gaze on me—those blue eyes not missing anything as she reads me. “A room that offers easier access for you.”
Sophia laughs. “He’s a grown man. You can’t ground him.”
“And she’s the type looking to sink her claws into a man like my son. Let me change the bulbs in there to red.” Wow. She’s now comparing her to a hooker in a red-light district.
“Mother. Enough. Have a little more faith in me than that.” Even though I was thinking about how I would sneak into her room if she invited me to her bed. Unlike my mother, I doubt I’ll have that easy of a chance.
“You’re both giving me a headache.” My mother places a manicured hand to her forehead. “Fine. Let the little harlot stay.”
“You have the heart of a saint.” Sophia smiles. I see so much of my sweet friend Jan in her. As if Sophia knows what I’m thinking, she winks and follows my mother out of the kitchen.
My mother clearly has it out for Jan’s friend. I should’ve told her right then that I’m not interested in Larissa. But how do I tell Sophia that I don’t want to date her daughter? A part of me fears that Mother picked up on my interest in Journi. Her eyes don’t miss anything, and she usually knows what I’m thinking or planning before I do. Guilt gnaws at me that I might’ve just threw Journi as a meal to a lioness.
Chapter 5
Journi
Jan comes bouncing into the room, effectively breaking whatever trance I’m under from Dr. Cruz Bryce. This guy is trouble; therefore, I’m in trouble. I can’t ruin my longest-lasting friendship over some sexy doctor. He’s gorgeous and endearing, but I refuse to mess up my life any more by jumping into a relationship at the drop of a hat. Cruz gives Jan a sheepish smile and scurries off.
I’d never met him, but I’d heard about her summers spent with this other family whose matriarch was her mother’s childhood friend. The women had wanted their children to also be lifelong friends. Jan failed to mention that her childhood summer playmate was a living, breathing Adonis. She did say he was a doctor, but I imagined…well, I didn’t imagine anything. I never gave him a second thought. He was simply my competition for best-friend status. During the school year Jan was always my savior from the loneliness of being an outcast, but when July came around she was whisked away to the cabin to spend time with her best pal, Cruz. Every now and then a brother was mentioned, but from what I’ve gathered, she and Cruz stuck together, and Larissa and Joshua would do their own thing while the two Sophias reconnected and their husbands hung out. That was their family time, so I never thought anything about not being included. After meeting Cruz’s mother, though, I’m kind of glad I wasn’t. Plus, they would stay a month and my parents wouldn’t have gone for that.
Now here I am…outcast status reactivated.
I feel my anxiety starting to take over. I don’t belong here. This is two families on vacation, and I’m the odd duck. Only disaster can come from me staying. Jan is so happy, though. Now, I’m strong enough to not let some guy come between us. We’ve been friends forever, and survived our teen and young adult years.
