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Mom nodded as the hostess guided us to our booth. “That wouldn’t have anything to do with that rock star who’s been hanging around?”
I froze, hovering just over the opposite side of the booth. “What do you mean?”
She slid in, giving the hostess a polite smile as she sat down two menus. The moment the hostess slipped out of earshot, she gave me a knowing look and continued. “I saw the pictures.”
I hesitated, suddenly very confused. “What pictures?”
“The ones from last night—and the ones from the night before. You don’t have to be secretive about it…” Her voice trailed off. “I just…you know that I want you to be with a good man.”
My jaw dropped. “I am not with him, Mom. We might be friends, at best. I haven’t really hung out with him either…but what pictures are you talking about?” My heart began to beat senselessly in my chest.
“I don’t…I don’t know.” Mom’s brow furrowed. “Let me see if I can find them on the internet again. It wasn’t anything bad, but it just looked like a whole lot more than just friends.”
Oh my gosh. What is out there?
I watched, my knee bouncing anxiously under the table. I had no idea what pictures were floating around out there—and I hadn’t even bothered to look into anything about Jackson recently. I knew that if I continued to dig into him, I might actually find myself feeling something beyond indifference…or friendliness.
Whatever the two of us were right now.
“Here,” Mom finally said, sliding her phone across the table. “It’s these.”
I swooped up her phone, narrowing my eyes at the pictures. Oh. “Yeah, this is just when he took me home after I went to see Mason play.” I scrutinized the picture of him helping me into the black SUV. She didn’t need to know that it had led to a complicated one-night stand—and then being truly ghosted.
“What about this one?” Mom reached over and scrolled to the next picture.
What the hell?
“I…” My voice trailed off as I took in the secretive shot of the two of us in the Florida room at Tyson’s party. Jackson’s hand was on my face, brushing away my loose strands of hair. “This is not what it looks like. I wasn’t…he was just getting my hair out of my face. We were talking about Maeve and Tyson.”
“I see…” Mom’s voice was full of disbelief, and honestly, I understood. It looked like it was a lot more than what it really was.
“Nothing happened,” I reassured her, giving her a smile. “I don’t think Jackson is my type, either.”
She nodded, just as the waitress showed up to take our order. We both got waters, but as we ordered our food, suddenly nothing felt very appetizing. The last thing I needed was my mom worried about a love interest that didn’t even exist.
“The media will manipulate things to be whatever they want it to be,” I said as the waitress walked away. “You can’t believe what you see or read.”
“I know that,” she said with a sigh. “I just…I just want you to find someone who’s going to treat you the way you deserve. I was just worried that you and he had gotten involved—and if you have, it’s not that I don’t support you. I just don’t want to see your heart get broken.”
“Well, no worries about that,” I grunted, my eyes falling to the table. “I’m not involved with Jackson Whiss. I don’t know that I’ll ever see him again—other than with Maeve and her new fiancé.”
“Yeah…” Mom’s serious façade broke as she began to laugh. “I really thought that article was a lie…but then I saw on Facebook that it wasn’t! That’s just crazy.”
“I know,” I agreed. “But I guess there’s nothing I can do other than be happy for her—and find a roommate.”
Her smile faded. “But she’s paying until you find one, so that’s helpful.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I just hope I can find one soon—and that they’re nice.”
“And clean.”
“Yeah, that too.” I shrunk back in my chair. I’d honestly been putting off the roommate search, limiting it to just word of mouth to people I knew. However, it hadn’t been fruitful, and I knew it wouldn’t last forever.
Just like my master’s class dilemma.
“I’m sorry that you’re having to find a roommate at all,” Mom said, reaching across the table and squeezing my hand. “The cost of living in this city is through the roof. Will any of your scholarship money help cover rent? It would be nice if you could wait for the right roommate—not just take whoever is willing to move in.”
I let out a sigh and pulled my hand away. “Mom…” Here goes. “I…I probably won’t be taking those scholarships for this fall.”
