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“Are you sure, Kenz?”
I sighed. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’ll talk to you soon.”
After hanging up the phone, I went into my bedroom and let the tears fall. How could my mom, the woman who was supposed to love me more than anything, not listen to what I wanted to do with my life? Then to insinuate I somehow owed her, and needed to come home in order to pay up was unfair. The thing that upset me the most was that she’d threatened my trust fund, the one set up by my father’s parents. It was fighting dirty, and I didn’t understand why her motivation was so unwavering.
Not bothering to take off my beautiful dress, I sank to the floor against the wall, put my head on my knees, and cried tears of frustration.
Colby found me in the same position forty minutes later. I must’ve dozed because I didn’t hear him come into the apartment until he called my name as he walked through my bedroom door.
“Sweetheart, talk to me.” He sat beside me, his body beside mine against the wall.
“I’m not very good company tonight.”
“So we won’t have our date, but I want to be here for you as your friend. I brought snacks.” He opened the bag in his hand, revealing pink snowballs.
I smiled at his thoughtfulness, wiping my eyes on my sleeve. “I didn’t want you to see me ugly cry, but this is kind of taking my mind off it. The pink ones are my favorite.”
“There’s nothing ugly about you, I promise.” He unwrapped a package and handed me one, popping the other one in his mouth. “Wow, these are—just Jesus—pure sugar, aren’t they?”
I laughed at his expression and then took a bite of my own with a sigh. “How did you get in?”
“Your brother left your extra set of keys with me in case I needed to pick anything up for you. What happened?”
“I was all ready to go and thought maybe the knock meant it was you coming early. But when I opened the door with a big goofy grin on my face, it was only to see my mother’s pissed-off one on the other side.”
“I wish it had been me. Why was she here?”
“She received the insurance bills from the surgery and was pretty wounded I hadn’t told her about the accident.” I revealed the rest of the conversation, waiting on his reaction. I didn’t expect his anger.
“Would it kill her to be supportive of you? I know there’s the saying that no one else can talk ill about your relatives, but dammit, how hard is it to listen? Hell, if she doesn’t wish to finance this decision, then so be it. However to make you feel like you owe her as your parent is pure manipulative bullshit. You’ve been nothing but grateful your entire life, Kenz.”
I leaned into him, laying my head on his shoulder and wrapping my arms around his bicep. My fingers squeezed, enjoying the feel of his defined muscle. “Have I? Maybe I should’ve been more thankful for my expensive graduation party or for her allowing me to go to school across country. Stayed in touch with her more often and, obviously, picked up the phone to let her know I’d been hit by a car.” Great, now she had me questioning myself.
“You told her thank you for the party, but how much are you supposed to gush for something you didn’t ask for to begin with? You attended UCLA on a full scholarship, relieving them of having to pay for your school for four years while they funded Harvard, for Christ’s sake, for both of your brothers. As for calling her more often or telling her about the accident, maybe if she didn’t put these types of guilt trips on you, you’d be more inclined to do so.”
He stopped and then sighed. “Sorry, I don’t mean to speak out of turn as I know she’s still your mom.”
“It’s okay. I appreciate you being on my side.” Hell, he’d technically known her longer than I had as he and his family had been neighbors of my mother way before I was born.
He tilted up my chin so we were face to face, kissing me softly until the sound of his phone disrupted. Reaching in his pocket, he took it out and looked at the screen. “This is your brother calling again.”
“I’ll text him.” I grabbed my phone and typed out a quick note to let Brian know I’d talk to him tomorrow and not to worry. Afterwards, I leaned back, putting my head on Colby’s shoulder again. “It sucks you always seem to see me hit by a car, either literally or figuratively, but thanks for the snowballs. I only wish they were a cure for weakness.”
“You’re anything but weak. And if you ever doubt it, think about how you are on the lacrosse field.”
“How would you know?” He’d never seen me play.
“I came to watch your last game, the week before your graduation. You were playing USC, I think. You were fierce, physical, and you scored twice. It was impressive.”
I met his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Or that he’d been there at all.
He looked slightly uneasy, as if he would rather not have confessed to it. “I was late, and you were busy with your teammates afterwards. Then I forgot to mention it. Anyhow, my point is: confidence allowed you to play college lacrosse for four years and become the team captain. I’ve seen you absolutely fearless, Kenz, and you’ll get there with this, eventually, too. Maybe, you simply need to practice telling her how you feel and today was your trial run.”
I moved over his thighs, straddling his lap and putting us inches apart, face to face, both of us grinning. His hands settled comfortably on my hips. “Could it be you had a thing for me, and that’s why you went to my game but didn’t mention it?”
“Your legs did look incredible in those shorts, although I’m a bit on the fence when it comes to the mouth guard being hot.”
