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"What are you looking at?" I asked more forcefully.
Jake didn't take his eyes off the road, but they shrank. "Traffic."
"Who are you looking at?"
"Angel." My name was a warning. "Don't start this again."
"Tell me. Who are you trying to scope out back there?"
Jake shook his head and scoffed as he guided the van to the roadside. He parked and turned to face me, pinning me with his undivided irritation.
"Are you trying to start a fight? Because I thought we were going to having a nice time. I thought you finally agreed to meet my mother. If picking a fight is your way of trying to get out of it again, you let me know. The way I'm feeling right now, I will fucking fight." His lips thinned and his voice was stern.
The sliding door of the van slammed. I looked into the back and Avery was gone. I turned to look out my door and found her face in my open window.
"I'm not fighting with anyone." She snapped, before taking off down the sidewalk.
I jumped out after her. She stopped when she heard my door close and turned around, stalking back to me.
"Angel, dammit, would you get back in the car?" Jakes' voice sailed from inside the van.
I ignored him. "Ave-"
"Go, Angel." She told me. "I'm only a few blocks from my mom's store. She'll give me ride home."
"Angel!" Jake called, sounding more upset.
I was torn. "I'm sorry," I told her.
"Angel, you're really pissing him off right now. Over nothing. Just get in the van and go meet his family. It's important to him." She turned and started down the block again.
A second later, Jake was behind me. "Well? Are we fighting or what?"
I turned to face him, but kept my eyes on the ground. "Let's go."
He opened the vans passenger door for me and I hopped inside.
Jake's temper vanished as we drove down the road. My mood improved considerably as I watched him repeatedly checking the rearview mirror.
The ease of his hand on my knee didn't last long. Once we got to his moms place, I was nervous all over again.
I stood in her pale yellow kitchen, fidgeting as she stared me down. Mrs. Haddon collected ceramic roosters. There was a high shelf on the back kitchen wall that was covered with them. The pale yellow curtains over the sink had little white outlines of roosters crowing. Jake had gone off to the bathroom or something and I felt helpless, trapped under her searching stare.
She lifted her Snoopy coffee cup and took a sip. "My son tells me that he loves you."
My stomach dropped at the blatant honesty, but I couldn't hide my smile. I cleared my throat, staring at the faded yellow and white linoleum floor. "He tells me the same thing."
"Well?" Both her eyebrows lifted.
A moment passed before I managed to answer. "I love him, too, ma'am. He's very special."
She nodded. "I thought so. You know, you're the first one he's brought home in a long while."
My smile grew. "I didn't know that."
She grinned and then asked about "my people." When I told her I didn't have any to speak of, her soft demeanor became tender. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Well you do, now."
I liked his mother. She was so warm-hearted and open. I think that's where Jake got it from. He looked like his dad, but he was sweet like his mother.
