The Do-Over (The Rooftop Crew #5) - Piper Rayne Page 0,56

Mrs. Whelan, it’s nice to meet you.”

I slide my arm around Kamea’s waist and tuck her against my side.

My mom shakes her hand. “Peggy, please. It’s nice to meet you.” Mom looks around the bar. “Johnny.”

“Hey, Mrs. Whelan.”

“You need to clean up this bar.” She scans the area, her lips straightening as she takes in more men slumped over on the bar top.

“Yes, ma’am.” Johnny is such a kiss-ass. He fooled a lot of parents growing up, but never my mom.

“Come on, everyone, you’re coming to our house so I can feed you.” Mom ushers us all outside.

“Awesome.” Jax fist-pumps. “This trip just became worth it.”

“Bye, Johnny,” I say. “Thanks for the… beer.”

He nods. We both know this bar is a dead-end to finding Leilani, and part of me feels at this point, we need to stop looking for her.

Walking out of the bar, I shouldn’t be—but I am—surprised to see my dad talking to Dylan and Rian. He’s going on and on about the neighborhood and how this place isn’t making it any better. Says how smart we all were to move to Cliffton Heights. I wish they would’ve followed me, but their jobs are here.

“So, sweetie, tell me about yourself.” My mom links her arm through Kamea’s and walks ahead with her.

Kamea gives me a fleeting look over her shoulder, but she’s safe with my mom.

“Son, why the hell are you hanging around that bar?” Dad puts one arm around me, pulling me into his body. Since he’s about the same height as me and bigger in width now that he’s got more of a desk job, I feel like a kid for the first time in a long time.

“Just looking for someone.”

He stops and lets the others walk ahead. “Again?”

I love my friends and they’ve all been there for me, but it’s my dad who knows every facet of my relationship with Leilani. He said he’d never tell my mom, but I can’t say for sure that he’s kept everything to himself. But he’s my confidant.

I glance up before lowering my voice. “Kamea bailed her out and now it looks like she might skip out on bail. Kamea needs to get the money.”

He nods. “I thought she was out of your life?”

“So did I,” I say.

“So Kamea is friends with Leilani?”

I nod.

“Why can’t you just find a no-drama girlfriend? I swear.” He slaps me on the back.

I’m with him—why can’t my love life be drama free?

We walk a few feet in silence.

“She’s very pretty though. You really like her?” he asks.

“I do.”

“Good.”

All my dad wants is for me to be happy. My mom too, but she can be judgmental. She never liked my college girlfriend, nor did she like Leilani. My mom has a certain vision of the woman I should end up with and neither of them were it. I’m not sure she’ll be happy no matter who I choose.

We walk toward my parents’ two-bedroom apartment. My mom uses her key to open the door for the building, and we walk up the stained linoleum steps. Part of me is ashamed that Kamea will see how poor my parents are. I grew up without any money, but I was still seen as fortunate because I had two parents. Hell, Dylan and Jax didn’t even have one. They had a foster mom.

My mom is asking them if they like galumpkis while she inserts the key into their apartment door.

“Mom, Kamea is a vegetarian.” The last thing she wants to eat is cabbage leaves stuffed with ground meat and rice.

“Oh. Well, that’s very environmentally-friendly of you.”

I shake my head because my mom just doesn’t get it. My dad smacks me over the head for embarrassing my mother.

Kamea glances at me. “It’s fine, I’m not hungry.”

“Nonsense, everyone eats at the Whelans’. I’m sure I have vegetables. But you are going to challenge me.” Mom laughs as we file into my parents’ apartment.

Jax falls onto the couch and grabs the remote. My dad kicks Jax’s legs to get his feet off the coffee table and takes the remote from his hand.

“You didn’t warp back to being sixteen, Jax.” Dad sits in his armchair and pulls back the recliner to rest his feet.

Jax groans. “You’re still watching black and white movies.”

Rian sits at the kitchen table with Kamea on her right. Dylan sits down next to Jax, talking to my dad about the neighborhood and if he thinks things will ever turn around. I head into the kitchen with my mom.