him from his ramblings.
He turns to look over at Mom and me. She’s standing beside me with her hands on her hips, shooting daggers at him with her eyes.
He puts on a fake smile. “I was just teasing. You know I don’t mean a word of it,” he tells Mom, giving her his best flirty smile.
“Mm-hmm, I know. If it wasn’t for me, you’d probably be dead already,” she says as we walk over.
Dad leans in and gives me a hug. “Cancel our subscription to the magazine please,” he whispers low enough so she won’t hear.
I laugh. “You know I can’t do that. She’d figure it out and resubscribe at full price, or download it to her iPad and read it in the bathroom.”
He lets out a sigh as he pulls away. He gives Mom the best puppy-dog eyes he can muster.
I look at the grill. “Well, it looks like it’s coming along nicely. You’re doing a good job, Dad.”
He laughs. “Yeah, but with my luck, this won’t be anything but a decoration. It has to be sealed perfectly to cook right.”
“I’m sure you’ll manage. You’re good at building stuff like this.”
“He really is. Next, I want to do the outdoor fireplace and seating area like what was on the cover of last month’s magazine. I’m thinking right over there,” Mom says, pointing to the opposite side of the yard.
Dad growls and returns to his work.
She giggles as she takes my hand and pulls me toward the house.
“What’s gotten you on the home-improvement kick, Mom?” I ask as I sit at the island in the kitchen, watching as she pulls out a pitcher of lemonade from the fridge and pours three glasses.
“He’s retired, so he needs something to keep him busy. Plus, imagine the parties we could have out there. We have the nice pool and the pool house for any guests who need a place to crash. The pool house has a bar. We could have a cookout followed by a pool party, then end it with a dip in the hot tub with the fire crackling next to it.”
“Hot tub? Does Dad know about that one?”
She giggles. “Not yet. One thing at a time, dear.”
I laugh and shake my head.
“You have plans with Preston tonight?”
I frown. “Why would you think that?” No one knows about my crush on Preston—not even my own mother. Well, I confided in Calvin back in the day, but I’m sure he assumes it was just a high school thing. I’m sure he doesn’t think I’m pathetic enough to pine for someone for over a decade.
She shrugs. “You usually do, don’t you? When you’re both in town at the same time, you usually get together for dinner.”
I nod. “Yeah, we’re going for pizza and beer.”
She shoots me a look. “Better make sure your father doesn’t get a call at 3 a.m. to come bail the two of you out of jail.”
“That was one time, Mom.”
“No, it was only one time when it happened at 3 a.m. I believe we’ve had to bail the two of you out at least four times, and his parents have had their fair share too.”
I smile, knowing it’s completely true. We took turns on whose parents we’d call. And we never did anything truly bad. It was all for stupid stuff like breaking curfew, and breaking and entering on the closed high school football field. We weren’t going to destroy it—we just wanted to hang on the 50-yard line while polishing off a bottle of vodka Preston stole from his dad.
Though one time we did get arrested for starting a bar fight. I’d been dating this jerk and Preston found out he was cheating on me. When he showed up, they got into a fight. The girl he was cheating on me with jumped on Preston to peel him off said jerk, and I couldn’t let that slide. I jumped on her, ending the fight because Preston and Jerkface couldn’t do anything with two girls on top of them clawing and pulling hair. The four of us were thrown into a cell together, where another fight broke out. But Preston and I got out first, so we won. Let’s just say the sheriff learned there are usually separate holding cells for men and women for a reason.
“We won’t get arrested,” I finally agree.
“Mm-hmm, I’ve heard that a time or two,” she says, but smiles because I think she knows it’s as much fun as it looks. She never knows