Page 43 of Chasing Amanda

“I know, I know.” He pushed himself up. “You can probably kill me without getting off the couch.”

Mark didn’t bother to respond.

“But as your oldest friend, I have to say this.” Justin returned to the living room and sat in the chair opposite him. “Your mother…”

Mark lifted one eyebrow.

“She isn’t what I would call a warm woman.”

Mark resisted the urge to smile. His mother was warm like Hitler.

Justin’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “She’s…”

“What?” Never satisfied? Never happy? Never forgotten a mistake? Never noticed an accomplishment?

“Not every woman is your mother.”

Mark rubbed the back of his neck. “I heard once that men tend to marry women like their mothers. I’d rather be alone than be saddled with…” He wasn’t going to finish that. “Why am I talking to you about this? I should pummel you.”

“You’re talking to me because I know how she treated you. I know how she treats your father. Maybe if she were my mother, I wouldn’t want to get married, either.”

“Not everybody had Donna Reed for a mother.”

“You had Mommy Dearest.”

Mark stood. “Seriously. Shut up.”

“There are a lot of good women out there.”

Mark was leaving. And her father didn’t want him making her promises. And…and he’d made a stupid pact when he was eleven.

No. He wasn’t changing his mind. He’d be better off without her. And she’d be better off without him. End of story. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I’m guessing it matters to her.”

“She’s barely old enough to drink. How can she understand what it would be like to be stuck with a Marine? With a veteran, assuming I make it home.”

“So you dumped her for her own good.”

“You can’t dump someone you’re not with. We just met.”

“And you don’t have any feelings for her?”

Mark didn’t answer that. He didn’t want to lie.

“Of course you don’t.” Justin reclined in the chair. “She’s just some brainless bimbo.”

The words weren’t out of his mouth before Mark grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked him to his feet.

His friend smiled. “Yeah, it’s really obvious you don’t care about her.”

“Shut up.” He pushed him back into the chair and walked out.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Amanda stepped out of the red brick building, stopping to zip up her jacket and tug on her gloves. It was a cold, overcast day.

She wished she’d asked a friend to come to the police station with her, but anyone she’d asked would’ve had to miss class to join her. Anyway, it was Mark’s company she craved, and he was long gone.