Page 105 of Love You Like This

“Someone caught us kissing yesterday and sold the photos.”

“Fuck.”

“Yep. Darren is freaking out. Jade left without saying anything this morning and isn’t at her Malibu house. I’m on my way to her condo.”

“I’ll ask Hazel if she’s spoken to her.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

I hit end on the call and turn the radio up to drown my thoughts. If she’s not at the condo, I’ll have to hunt down addresses for her friends. Not that it matters, I’ll chase her to the ends of the earth if necessary. We didn’t come this far for the opinions of anyone else to stop us now.

Thirty-Eight

JADE

“Thanks.” I take the mug of coffee Mom slides across the table between my palms.

She was shocked when she walked out into the living room and found me curled up on the couch. But not as I shocked as I was when Stephen walked out of the bedroom with the most obvious I-spent-all-night-fucking-hair I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t even form words as he gave me a sheepish smile, walked over to kiss my forehead, and then left.

“Stephen, huh?” I take a sip, the hazelnut creamer hitting just right. “That’s new. You’ve never gone back for a repeat.”

“I know.” She pulls her robe tight around her slim body and sits down. “But he’s different. I’ve never stopped thinking about him.”

“Yeah.” I relate all too well.

She takes a sip of her coffee and looks me over with the careful attention of mother. “You want to talk about it?”

I pull my phone from my pocket and open it to the article. She glances down as I wordlessly hand it over. Her brow tries valiantly to furrow against the botox she gets regularly injected. Aside from that there’s no reaction, no horrified exclamation. Instead, she gives the phone back to me with a smile on her face.

“About time you two got back together.” She gives me a smug smile and takes another drink of her coffee.

“I—what?” I sputter. I never told her about Xander, and from what I understand, he didn’t tell Stephen. “What do you mean?”

Her head tilts. “Do you really think we didn’t have any idea of what went on between you two that summer?”

“No? Yes?” I’m really at a loss here. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“You were so insistent about never speaking to him again after I told you about the divorce, I just assumed something happened. That if you wanted me to know, I would.”

“Do you want to know?”

She leans forward. “Of course I do. I’ve only wondered for fifteen years.”

“Don’t tell Stephen. I don’t know what he knows or what Xander would want him to know.”

“Okay.”

Over the next couple hours, we cover everything from prom to the shit show I woke up to this morning. At one point we’re interrupted by a delivery of the city’s best cinnamon rolls and flowers from Stephen. I drag in a deep breath and get ready to tell her the biggest secret I’ve ever kept.

“Along with all of that, there’s one more thing I haven’t told you.” I fold my hands together and press them into my lap. “Early on in my first semester at UCLA, I found out I was pregnant.”

Mom’s fork stops in mid-air. She blinks a few times and then sets the utensil down. Her hands reach across the table. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry.” She squeezes both of my hands. “You could have told me, I would have been there for you.”

“I know you would have. I just couldn’t go into the Xander of it all, you know? I was still so hurt.” Tears sting my eyes. There was never any doubt in my mind that she would have supported me regardless of what choice I made.

“I understand. Did you have to have a procedure or?” Her fingers stroke the back of my hands.