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“I’m home,” she called out as she walked through the door, a genuine smile stretching across her full lips as Muffin, followed by Pancake and Pickle, ran out of the bedroom. She plopped into the corner of her dark gray, chenille sofa, laughing as they jumped onto her lap. “Missed me, did ya?”
Muffin responded with a huff, while Pickle climbed on Pancake’s back so she could rub her head against Josie’s cheek. A cabinet door creaked open in the kitchen, followed by a loud thud; a moment later a huge white and gray cat lumbered towards her.
“You know you’re not supposed to be in the cabinets, Cupcake.” Cupcake narrowed her eyes, yawned, and then flopped onto her side. “Yeah, yeah. I know. You don’t care.” Josie scratched Muffin’s back before setting her on the empty cushion next to her. She winced as the two calicos on her lap dug their claws in, making it clear they weren’t going to be as easy to move. ‘Come on guys. I need to check on our new friend in the bathroom.’ Plus, she needed to call Louise. If anyone knew how to get through a fake boyfriend debacle, it would be Louise.
‘You busy?’she text. Right away three dots appeared as Louise typed back a response.
‘Scrolling for this weekend’s dinner donor.’
Josie shook her head. Louise and her dinner donors. Poor guys thought they were matching with a sexy redhead who was going to rock their world, only to realize the sexy redhead was only interested in dinner and conversation. The weird part was most of the guys were okay with it.‘I kind of did a thing and might need a regular dinner donor for the next couple of months.’ Her phone started to ring just as someone knocked on her front door. She sent a quick text to Louise telling her that shewould call her later. “I’m coming,” she grumbled when a second knock sounded. She took a deep breath before opening the door.
Her mother stood there, arms crossed over her chest, and one blonde brow arched. “So,” she drawled, “care to explain that little boyfriend stunt you just pulled?”
Chapter Three
Josie
‘Dating is like pushing your tray along in a cafeteria. Nothing looks good, but you know you have to choose something by the time you reach the cashier.’ - Caprice Crane
Well, crap. She should have known her mother would catch on. Ruth had always had a radar when it came to one of her children lying. Josie had hoped her mother would be too fixated on planning Kyle’s engagement party and dreaming about the wedding to put too much thought into whether or not Josie was actually seeing someone.
“What makes you think it was a stunt?” she asked carefully. “Is it because I have no life?” The catty question slipped out before Josie could stop it.
“What?” Frowning, Ruth gave her an odd look. “Why on earth would you... ” her voice trailed off in a sigh. She lowered her petite frame onto the edge of the turquoise and gray print club chair that was near the door. “Kyle shouldn’t have implied that.” Her frown deepened as she studied Josie. “You know that him feeling that way has more to do with him than with you right?” Josie shrugged. “Kyle isn’t like you. He doesn’t know how to be alone. He equates happiness with being in love. And you... ” Josie felt her body tense. Here it came. Jealous Josie. “You know better. You know that there is more to life than being in a relationship. You know how important it is to figure yourselfout. Don’t get me wrong, we love Jonas and I know what your brother has with him is real, but sometimes I wish Kyle was more like you.”
This was a side of her mother that she had never seen before. She didn’t know if she should embrace it, or take Ruth’s temperature. She wanted to embrace it, if for no other reason than she would be able to look back and say there was at least one moment where her mother understood her. It was hard to accept that possibility when ‘jealous Josie’ was always thrown in her face. “Then why do you call me jealous Josie?”
Ruth blinked, her mouth opening and shutting several times before a sigh slipped out. “It’s a joke Josie, that’s all.”
“Maybe to you.” Josie pressed her lips into a thin line. “It’s not for me though. Every time you say it, it feels like that’s how you see me... like that’s how the whole family sees me.” There. She had finally said it. It should have felt like a relief, instead an overwhelming sense of guilt gnawed at her stomach.
“Well that’s just not true.” A v formed between Ruth’s brows.
“It is true,” Josie insisted around the invisible lump that was growing in her throat. This is why she didn’t like having these conversations with her mother. She would voice how she felt, and her mother would contradict her, like she had somehow hurt her own feelings. “Anytime something good happens for Kyle, you call me jealous Josie.” Damn it, she could feel her eyes starting to burn. Ducking her head, she swiped at the tears that had collected on her lashes, and walked over to where she had been sitting before her mother arrived. No sooner had she sat down than Muffin hoped in her lap.
“Josie-”
She shook her head.”Just forget it.Let’s talk about something else.” Anything would be better than hashing out whythe nickname hurt her versus why her mother didn’t think it was such a big deal.
“No.” Ruth scooted forward, her gaze trained on Josie. “This clearly upsets you way more than I thought.” She reached up, tucking a lock of her straight, dark blonde hair behind her ear. “I guess I always thought it was funny... sort of like Cry Baby Kyle and bitchy Beckett.”
There was no stopping the snort of laughter that burst out of Josie. Cry baby Kyle. Bitchy Beckett. “Does dad have any nicknames I should know about?” Wait. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked that.
Her mother glanced toward the door, as though she were afraid her husband were lurking nearby, before leaning forward even more. “Clueless Carl.” It was fitting. Her father really could be clueless at times.
“Does he know,” Josie laughed. The guilt over bringing up how the silly nickname bothered her seemed to be ebbing away. It would seem nobody in the family was safe from an awful nickname.
“Sure.” Her mother’s smile faltered. “I’m sorry, Josie. I should have realized it bothered you.” She leaned back in the chair. “When I worked at the school there was another secretary named Ruth with a husband named Carl. For the longest time they told us apart by calling her Coach Carl’s wife, but when your dad got sick…,” her mouth turned downward, “when your dad got sick I became the Ruth who was married to cancer Carl. I don’t think they intended for it to be cruel, maybe it was just another way to tell us apart in their eyes. I don’t know... but it still hurt.”
Anger, mixed with empathy, swelled in her chest. Without asking, she could pinpoint the day it happened. She’d come home from filming a dance video at the park to find her mother crying at the kitchen table. Her first thought had beensomething had happened to her father, but her mother had shook her head and said work just sucked that day. “Is that why you quit?”
“Partially,” Ruth admitted. “Mostly, I quit because they hired that new principal who was a total nincompoop.” She bent slightly to rub Pancake’s multi-colored head before hauling the squirming cat onto her lap. “So... this fake boyfriend... ”
Letting out a groan, Josie tilt her head backward and stared at the ceiling. “It was stupid, I know.”
“Just a little,” her mother admitted. “I’m guessing it was said out of panic.”
“Would you want Jonas or Kyle setting you up on a blind date?”
