“Want me to stop?” I asked, loosening my grasp.
“No,” he said, and hugged me with his one arm. I inhaled the smell of him: spicy, sweet, warm. “It’s just a broken collarbone.”
“How did you manage to drive with that?” Olivia asked.
“Must be painful,” Mom agreed.
“My neighbor brokehiscollarbone slipping on some ice. Painful injury, no, yeah,” Tammy said. “Yet, you managed to drive all the way to the airport yesterday!”
Jude seemed uneasy with all the attention.
“It hurt, but I wasn’t going to let Russo kidnap Ella.”
“You know he’s serious because he even broke the speed limit.” I raised my eyebrows. “Must mean you really care.”
“I’ll only break the law for you,” he said and grinned at me. “The Volvo didn’t like it.”
“I bet it didn’t.” That car was fussier than Jude.
“Well then, you two seem to be friendly now, no, yeah?” Tammy noted as she sauntered back to the front door. “Maybe I won’t need to set you up with my baby boy after all. Ophelia, you should go lie down and rest that leg. You want to put ointment on that scar so it doesn’t scare off your future husband.”
“If I ever get married, which is doubtful, myfuture husbandwill admire the scar as a badge of honor,” I said.
Tammy frowned. “But boys like pretty girls.”
I was about to retort when Mom but a cautionary hand on my forearm.
“I’ll make sure she rests,” Mom promised Tammy.
“Okay then, we’ll see you next season!”
Mom closed the door behind Tammy.
“You should’ve let me tell that old bag off,” I said.
“She saved your life and brought you a hot dish,” Mom scolded. “Can we be polite for once?” Mom sent me a look. “It doesn’t cost us anything to be nice.”
“Just my dignity and core moral values,” I grumbled.
Mom exhaled a frustrated sigh and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Jude? A little help?”
“Sorry, Mama Jenny. Nobody tells Ella what to do.”
I flashed Jude a grateful smile.
Mom exhaled again, but then she just shrugged off her defeat. “Olivia,” Mom said, glancing from me to Jude and back again. “Can you help me strip the bed upstairs? We need to wash those sheets.”
“But, Mom…” Olivia hesitated. Mom shot her a look, and Olivia trailed up the stairs after her.
“Mom’s playing matchmaker,” I told Jude.
“Does she know we already matched on Spark?” Jude joked.
“No, and don’t ever tell her that, or she’ll start thinking you’re a serial killer.”
Jude laughed.
“So…” I toyed with the zipper on my hoodie. “I’ve been thinking about what Oscar said.”
