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“I understand. I can come over to see her myself, if you’d like?”
My eyes light up. “You would?”
Her expression softens as she gazes at me. “Of course. I’ll do my best to help her. I promise.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“Okay, let’s talk about me for a bit,” CJ says, lightening the mood.
I laugh, dropping my head on his shoulder. “We’re always talking about you.”
“Yeah, cause I’m awesome.”
“That you are, dear, that you are,” his mother snickers.
He rolls his eyes and gets up from his chair. “I’m going to find some dessert.”
We watch him go, and for the first time since arriving, I’m alone with his mum. I’m not as nervous as I thought I would be; she’s easy to talk to. CJ was right about her.
“How is school? CJ says you work at the library?”
“I do. I love it there. It’s become a second home. And school is great. I actually take English Lit with CJ.”
She giggles, and on any other woman her age, she’d have looked stupid, but Milly doesn’t. “He told me. I remember when he called me not long after you moved in. He told me an angel who would be his future wife had moved in across the hall and smelled like cupcakes. Then he told me how he argued with her about literature, just to see her eyes light up.”
I blush because I really did smell like cupcakes. I had eaten twelve on the car ride from home to Whithall. And I remember the argument well. I’d been so surprised to see him enter the class with Cole—neither seemed like the sort to study English Lit—and then he argued some good, valid points over some of the books we were going to be reading. Because of my crush, and the way he infuriated me constantly, I argued back.
“He didn’t?”
Her gaze turns to her son who is rummaging through the cupboards before coming back to me, her eyes alight with something. “I’ve never heard him speak so fondly about a girl before. He’s had girlfriends, but none he’s ever told me about or introduced me to. Ever since he met you, every phone call has been a surprise, because he always has a new story to tell me about you.”
I chuckle at that. “Did he tell you I wouldn’t write my English paper on him?”
She throws her head back, laughing. “Yes, he did. Five times, if I remember correctly.”
“He really was devastated I wouldn’t do it.”
“I’m glad you keep him on his toes.”
“He’s a lot to handle at times. I’ve never met anyone like him, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I’d never admit it to him, but he’s nearly kind of perfect.”
Her grin is wide.
“Nearly?” CJ scoffs from somewhere, but I don’t look away from Milly.
I sigh, my shoulders slumping. I should have known his big ears would hear me. I swear, they have their own satellite frequency.
“He eats all my sweets; it’s kind a deal-breaker for me. If he were anyone else, I’d have unfriended him.”
From the corner of my eye, I notice CJ’s head pop up from the freezer he was searching through. “You love me, and secretly, you like that I eat your sweets. Plus, sharing is caring.”
“You didn’t get the sweet packages he got for you?”
I turn back to Milly, hearing CJ’s grunt. “I did. I’ve already gone through three boxes. But CJ owes me more because he still keeps eating them.”
She grins before glancing over at her son. “You should get your own.”
He groans, throwing his hands up in the air. “I did, and she claimed those, too.”
