"Hungry?”
"Starving. I had to walk back from the diner last night, my car was broken down..."
"I thought you got it fixed?" she replied, a furrow in her brow. I shrugged.
"I thought I did," I admitted. "But it broke down again."
"Already?” she gasped. "And you had to walk back all by yourself? You should have given me a call, Dina, I would have come to pick you up…"
"I didn’t walk back by myself, Felix was with me."
I blurted it out before I could think about how it would sound, and my mother’s eyebrows nearly vanished into her hairline as she took in what I had said. I winced instantly, wishing I could take it back, already sensing that she was going to start interrogating me for more.
"Felix? The one who paid for the groceries?"
I nodded, fiddling with a sticker on the latte I had picked up for myself and wishing I could take it back. I knew that Mom only wanted the best for me, and she was clearly pretty taken with this man who had already shown us so much generosity. But she didn’t know about the aching hole in my chest, how easy it would be for him to walk away when the end of summer came, and I didn’t really want to have that conversation with her, if I could avoid it.
"He was just coming back from a hike and we ran into each other," I replied, with a shrug, trying to keep my voice as casual as possible so she wouldn’t dive in to thinking that there was something more going on here than there was. The kiss flashed through my mind again, and I pushed it away, hoping that my red cheeks didn’t give away what was going on in my mind.
"Still, that’s very kind of him, walking you home," she added, as she flipped the bacon over in the pan and pressed it down to the skillet, a sizzling sound filling the entire kitchen.
"Sure, I guess."
She flicked a look at me, and I could tell that she could sense there was something more going on inside my head. That was the thing about my mother, she knew me too well for me to be able to hide anything from her.
"You’ve been spending quite a bit of time with him, haven’t you?" she remarked, casually, though I could hear the slight edge to her voice. I nodded.
"I guess so."
"Is there something going on between the two of you?”
I looked down at the notch taken out of the chair, focusing on it as best I could.
"Uh, no."
She cocked an eyebrow.
"Because, you know, he seems very nice," she continued. "And generous. And…"
"And I doubt he’s going to stick around here past the end of the month," I pointed out, before I could stop myself. I sighed, wishing at once that I could take it back, but all too aware that my mother would jump on that to delve into even more.
"You think so?"
"I know so."
"How?"
"He...he was talking to me last night about travelling," I explained. "And he said he didn’t want to stick around in one place for too long. Even if he did, I doubt he would pick somewhere like Whisper Falls, given that he’s got enough money to pick anywhere in the world..."
"Well, maybe you could give him a reason to stay," she pointed out. I shook my head.
"I don’t want to be someone’s reason to stay," I replied, sighing slightly. "It’s too much pressure..."
"You’re a catch, Dina," she told me, leaning up against the kitchen counter and turning to face me with a slight frown on her face. "He would be lucky to stick around for you. You know that, don’t you?"
I shrugged.
"I just don’t want to get involved with someone who’s going to take off the first chance he gets."
