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Drew exhaled a long, pent up breath. Oh, thank you. His suspicions about Mia’s roommate were wrong. Jeff wasn’t a cheating jerk and life could return to normal. "What’s the deal with the flowers then?"
His sister paused.
He frowned. "Mandy?"
"I … I didn’t ask."
"You didn’t—Amanda!"
He gritted his teeth and reached forward to turn on the ignition. As the truck’s engine hummed under him, he sent one last regretful look toward the front door and pulled away from the curb.
"I thought about what you said. He didn’t act weird around you. And he’s having a lot of stress. I’m going to just … let it go at that. Yeah … I’m just going to believe him."
"Well … Good." Though, good was very opposite of what he meant.
Mandy didn’t sound at all like she believed Jeff was innocent. Frowning, he reached the end of the block, braked at the intersection and waited for a truck to pass. All the while, his gut twisted into knots.
He had more ammunition for her and she was giving up on her quest. Not sure what to do, he listened to her depressed tone as she said, "So … just forget I ever said anything. Okay. Please don’t mention this to Jeffrey … or tell him about how I tried to confront his mistress. Okay?"
He clenched his fingers around the steering wheel. "Ah … okay."
"Thanks, Drew. You’re the best." She started to hang up. And he almost let her go.
Just let it be, his mind warned him, even as he rushed out the words, "Mandy, wait."
There was a pause. He told himself if she’d already hung up, he’d let it go.
But she said, "Yeah?"
He swallowed, still deliberating. Should he tell her? He pondered briefly, then turned into a gas station and muttered, "Will you go to Dad’s with me next Saturday? He just called and wants me to take Evie’s senior picture."
He closed his eyes briefly, disappointed with himself for being such a coward. Since the first winter break of his freshman year at college when he’d come home to find his room taken over by his six-year old stepbrother, Jack, Drew hadn’t been comfortable with his father. Or maybe it had started before that. They’d never been close since his dad had never been home. He just hadn’t realized the lack of affection until he’d seen the man give Candace’s children so much of it.
"Of course I’ll come," Mandy sounded insulted he even had to ask. She’d always been there for him, even that first semester break when he’d had nowhere to go. She might’ve been a newlywed and pregnant with her first baby, but she and Jeff had made room for him in their home, and there he’d felt wanted.
"Thanks," he said.
Now if only he’d give her the support she’d always given him. Gritting his teeth, he blurted out, "She has a roommate."
"What?" Mandy said.
"Mia," he mumbled, telling himself to shut up already. Let Mandy think what she wanted to think. "She has a roommate." He parked in front of a pump and squeezed his eyes closed, calling himself every kind of idiot for stirring the pot.
Silence reigned over the satellite connection. Then, "Excuse me?"
He could actually picture the frozen horror on his sister’s face. Man, what did he think he was doing? She was ready to move past this, and he’d just bulldozed right over that idea.
"Tell me everything," she demanded.
He swallowed convulsively. It was
too late to shut his trap now. The barn door was swinging wide open; the cows were wandering everywhere.
"I went over to her place today," he confessed. "To, you know, talk to her." Because he couldn’t stay away. "And … and her roommate answered the door."
"Roommate?" Mandy repeated breathlessly. "Are … are you sure it was a roommate, not just some friend visiting."
"They introduced her to me as a roommate. Her name’s Piper. Piper Holliday."
