All-American Princess - Maggie Dallen Page 0,46

heart. Maybe I just didn’t want to hear her answer because I knew that Lila wasn’t lying.

Don’t ask me how, I just knew. My mom had so many secrets. The older I grew, the more I realized how little I knew about my mother, about my father—how little I knew about their marriage.

I remembered that they loved each other. But I also knew that I’d been a child when I saw them together. Would I have been able to recognize it if they’d had problems?

Probably not.

But Lila’s words had unlocked something. Some memory, maybe. Remnants of whispered gossip, of long-forgotten fights, snippets of conversations… and the overwhelming stench of guilt in the wake of my father’s funeral.

My mom had always been religious, but after we’d returned to Pinedale, it was like she’d thrown herself into church with a vengeance. Like she was trying to repent or something.

Like she was seeking forgiveness.

Lila’s words made it all click into place. It didn’t solve every mystery, but it helped shift the puzzle pieces surrounding my father and his death.

It made sense. The sudden turn to booze and drugs. The change in his temperament and the sudden issues at home.

Days went by. Nearly a week. The entire time, I avoided my mother. I went home to work, but other than that I steered clear. I wanted answers, but I also… didn’t, if that made any sense.

Amber kept coming over to check on me, and Jack was always there to help me with the work and be the strong, silent shoulder to lean on like always. Neither of them asked questions, and for that, I was grateful.

Well, that wasn’t totally true. Amber had asked a question, but her request that I be her date to the Sadie Hawkins Dance the next weekend had been filled with her typical good humor. She’d made a joke out of it and teased me about being such a loner.

I’d said yes, mainly to have an excuse to stay away from my house for one more night. I hadn’t gone out of my way to avoid Lila, but she hadn’t tried to track me down either. We’d passed in the halls and sat next to each other in class, and one could almost believe that she hadn’t just thrown a grenade into my home life, quietly upturning everything I thought I knew.

If anything, she was nice to me when I ran into her, almost like she knew. She’d done her job and anything more would be overkill.

The girl was smart. Tactical. Maybe even manipulative… just like her father. That was how I’d heard him described, at least. Manipulative and cruel.

A full week had passed when I spotted Lila alone near my locker during sixth period. The Sadie Hawkins Day dance was that night, and I found her standing in front of one of the homemade signs, a funny little frown puckering her lips and creasing her brow.

I had a hard time believing this girl was cruel. Manipulative, maybe, but that was what would make her a good ally in Hollywood, right?

She knew how to play the game.

I stood there staring at her for several seconds as my heart pounded in my chest. I wasn’t really contemplating leaving this town, was I? Of course not. I couldn’t do that to my mom or to my friends. Lila spotted me, and she glanced over with a teasing smile. “Don’t tell me the great Brandon MacMillan is skipping class.”

I closed the distance between us slowly. Oddly enough, I was relieved to see her. I loved my friends, but they seemed to be on eggshells around me lately. And my mom… well, she was another story altogether. Then there were the guys on the team who expected me to fit in, to play my role of guy’s guy in the locker room. And then there were other friends like Ryan…

Lila looked over at me, and I gave her a genuine smile. This girl might want something from me, but at the moment, she was the only person who didn’t hide that fact. Not only that, she might have wanted something from me, but she didn’t expect anything, and right now that was refreshing.

I came to a stop at her side and faced the poster she’d been reading, at ease for the first time in days. “You going to the dance?”

“Are you?” she shot back.

I nodded. “Amber asked me.”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course she did.”

I got the feeling Lila’s eye roll was more out