Page 16 of To Love the Stars too Fondly

I forced the tea down, then dragged myself to my phone as I pulled out the business card from my purse.

Two unread messages—

One missed call from—

I simply didn’t care.

I stared at the blank message, typed and deleted and typed once more until I managed something at least somewhat coherent. Hey, Alex. It’s Terra. I just wanted to apologize for what happened in the car. I hope I didn’t overstep. Please tell me if I did.

I stared at it, then added: Thanks again for the ride.

Sent.

Before I could rise to make more peppermint tea, my phone screen lit up, showing a message from Alex. It’s okay, I promise. I was going to apologize to you, too. I didn’t mean to just kick you out.

The three little dots revealed that she was still typing. I held my breath, stomach clenched anew until a second message appeared.

I really like you. I meant that.

The clenching turned into fluttering, an unexpected elation filling me. I hadn’t a clue what to say, but thankfully, she was still typing.

I don’t want to keep you up late. We can talk in the morning. I promise everything is okay 😊

How dare she be sweet. It actually kinda pissed me off, intertwining strangely with my insatiable joy. I won’t be in bed for—

The front door lock jostled.

My anxiety spiked. I dropped my phone as I searched for a weapon—something, anything to fight off the intruder. Cliff had finally come—

But the door opened, and I remembered that I had a mother.

Remnants of the rain splattered Mom’s work uniform—similar to mine, though the button-down was black—and her identical blonde hair had started to frizz. “Oh, Terra. Please tell me you didn’t bike home in this rain. I tried to call you.”

When Mom glanced at my phone for emphasis, I remembered there was an open message to Alex. Panicked, I hit send.

I hid it and the business card as nonchalantly as I could behind my back, even as Mom embraced me. “No, I got a ride. Why are you home so early?”

Mom’s exhaustion was clear in her eyes, the perpetual grey hollow beneath what had once been bright blue a condemning glimpse into my own future. Her smile was just as stale as her gaze. “They cut my hours again. Slow season, you know?”

There was no ‘slow season’ at the furniture store, but I nodded regardless. We could lie to ourselves a little longer, pretend we didn’t see the writing on the wall.

Thunder rumbled outside, the downpour still going strong. Mom locked the door and set her wet purse and jacket aside. “Who drove you home? Liam?”

“No, I….” My words faded out. Liam would’ve been the perfect out, dammit. “I-It was someone else.”

Mom’s drained visage suddenly prickled with life, intrigue raising her eyebrow. “Who? Just someone else or someone else?”

Why was I so defensive? I didn’t have to be. My secrets were safe with Mom.

But even I didn’t know what this meant. And I wasn’t about to tell Mom I’d made out with a hot butch in the front seat of a car worth three times her yearly salary.

“I don’t know,” I said, the truth of it causing my heart to sink. “I’m not sure what to call it.”

Probably nothing. Hopefully nothing. Anything else was too much, too soon, too dangerous—

Mom’s expression softened. “Sorry, baby. You just haven’t had any sort of someone since El died, and I…well, I just wondered.”

I’d had plenty of someones—not that she needed to know—but never a someone. “I guess I’m wondering too,” I admitted.