Focus (The Crescent Chronicles, #2) (30 page)

“
I take it you’re rejecting
my offer.”

“
Even if we pretended for a
second that I wanted to sleep with you, which I don’t, I have a
boyfriend.”

“
A boyfriend you didn’t
bring home with you. A boyfriend your mom doesn’t know you plan to
marry. Tell me, why didn’t you bring him home? Why bring the
roommate?”

I hated that he asked. I didn’t want
him to ask. “It’s none of your business.”

He groaned. “That can’t be your answer
to everything.”

“
It is.” We were still in
stopped traffic. I noticed Andrew’s car two ahead of ours. Without
really thinking, I undid my seatbelt. “I gave you your half hour.”
I opened the door.

“
Allie. Are you
nuts?”

I didn’t answer. I knocked on Hailey’s
window and Andrew unlocked the door. He turned and smiled at me as
I slipped in. “Decided to join us?”

“
Well, after Toby asked me
to have sex, I wasn’t interested in sitting in traffic with
him.”

Hailey laughed. “Seriously?”

“
Completely.”

“
You really do attract the
cocky bastards, don’t you?”

“
Unfortunately.” A knock on
my window startled me. Toby peered in with a scowl on his
face.

I couldn’t believe he’d just leave his
car sitting there.

He motioned for me to open my
window.

I shook my head.

Thankfully, the traffic started to
move, and Toby ran back to his car.

“
Unbelievable.”

“
It’s kind of like old
times.” Andrew looked at me in the rearview mirror. “You guys used
to have some pretty crazy fights.”

“
See, just another reason
it’s good we broke up.”

“
You and Levi fight a lot
too.” Hailey turned to look at me. “Maybe it’s just your
thing.”

“
Maybe.” I
grumbled.

Chapter
Twenty-Three

Mom ran out of the house before I’d
even unbuckled. I opened my door, impressed by the exterior of the
condo. It was a step up from where we usually stayed. We’d spent
quite a few weeks skiing in Vermont when I was growing up, but it
had been several years since I’d been back.

“
Allie!” The tears spilling
down Mom’s face reminded me that this had been the longest we’d
ever been apart.

“
Hi, Mom.” I let her pull
me out, holding on to her like she might disappear if I let
go.

After hugging Mom for a full minute, I
finally remembered I wasn’t alone. “Mom, this is
Hailey.”

Hailey smiled, holding out her
hand.

Mom ignored her hand and hugged her
instead. “Hi, Hailey. It’s wonderful to meet such a good friend of
Allie’s. I’m glad you could join us.”

“
Thanks for having me.”
Hailey smiled. “Wow, you two look so alike.” She looked between Mom
and me.

“
They definitely do.”
That’s when I noticed the man behind Mom. “Hi, Allie. It’s great to
see you.”

I wasn’t sure if I’d ever met Andrew’s
dad before. “Hi, Steven.” I needed to use his name and stop
thinking of him as Andrew’s dad. I held out a hand to shake his,
but he hugged me instead. It felt awkward but I went with
it.

“
Hi, Diane. It’s lovely to
see you again.” Toby hugged my very surprised mother.

“
Toby? What are you doing
here?” She was asking him but looking at me.

I shrugged and rolled my
eyes.

“
I thought I’d surprise
Allie.”

“
Oh. I bet she was
surprised.” Mom gave me a sidelong glance.

Toby seemed to have just noticed
Steven. “Hi, I’m not sure if we’ve actually been introduced before.
I’m Toby Henderson.”

“
Hi, Toby. It’s nice to see
you.” He turned to his son. “Andrew, you didn’t mention that you
and Toby were in touch again.”

Andrew sighed. He was probably getting
tired of the accusations. “We’re not. He was at the airport when I
got there.”

Steven looked toward Toby, waiting for
an explanation.

“
I missed Allie so much. I
already knew we’d made a mistake when we broke up, and I hoped I
could talk some sense into her.”

I put a hand on my hip and stared him
down “Are you done trying to talk sense into me?”

“
No. Not by a long
shot.”

“
I’m going to get my stuff
out of your car. Then you can go.”

“
Allie!” Mom snapped at me.
Of course, she’d call me out on being rude. I wonder what she’d
think if she knew what he’d suggested in the car.

Mom turned to Toby. “Where are you
staying?”

“
I haven’t found a place
yet. I think everything’s booked. The only thing on my mind when I
left was seeing Allie.” He reached over and grabbed my hand. I
shrugged him off.

“
You drove up here today?
What time did you leave?” Steven asked.

“
About three-thirty this
morning.”

“
Oh boy. You’re welcome to
stay with us, Toby. We have plenty of room.” Steven looked at Toby
sympathetically. “Now that’s what I call dedication.” He turned his
attention back to me. “Maybe you should give him a
chance.”

Was Mom’s boyfriend, who didn’t know me
from a hole in the wall, trying to give me dating
advice?

“
That’s really generous of
you. I’d love to stay.” He smiled at me. “I’ll go get our stuff,
babe.”

Did he really think he could call me
that again? I tried not to grimace. He went over to his car and
returned a minute later with both of our bags.

Andrew already had Hailey’s bag. He
wasn’t going to let her beat him to the punch again. I had a
feeling watching the two of them would be entertaining.

Steven led the way into the house and
Mom held back and put an arm around me. “How are you holding up?”
she asked quietly.

“
I’m surviving.”

Steven walked into the main room. A
couple of comfortable looking couches and chairs surrounded a large
fireplace that wasn’t currently lit. A kitchen was off to one side
and there were two small hallways. Mom removed her arm and waited
with Steven in the kitchen. The rest of us followed Andrew down the
second hallway. He stopped in front of one of the two
doorways.

“
I guess you’re staying
with me, Toby.” He gestured into a room with a set of bunk
beds.

“
We’re next door?” Hailey
asked.

“
Yup. Diane figured you
guys would rather share a queen than have bunk beds.”

“
She was right.” I walked
into our room and tossed my purse and coat on the
dresser.

Hailey did the same. “This is
nice.”

***

“
Tell me everything.” Mom
put an arm around my shoulder as we curled up with blankets on a
couch in front of the fire. Hailey decided to take a nap while the
guys went to the store to pick up some food for dinner. I was
relieved when Toby accepted Steven’s offer to go. I needed time
with Mom.

“
About…” I knew exactly
what she meant, but I wasn’t ready to face it yet.

“
Let’s start with the
ring.” She picked up my hand, taking a closer look at the ruby
ring.

“
Yeah, the
ring.”

“
It’s from Levi, isn’t
it?”

I wasn’t going to lie. I’d never been
good at lying to my mother. “Yes.”

“
When were you going to
tell me?”

“
It’s not what you think…”
I leaned back against the couch.

“
Then explain
it.”

If only I could. “It’s
complicated.”

“
Complicated, huh? Okay,
let’s start simple. Are you and Levi engaged?” She put a hand on my
arm.

I dared to glance at her. “Kind
of.”

“
Come on, Allie, be
straight with me. How can you be ‘kind of’ engaged?”

I wanted to spill it all out. “It means
we are, but I’m not sure if I want it.”

Those words must have had some magical
quality, because her tough exterior melted and she pulled me into
her arms. “Oh, honey.”

I let her hold me, loving the
comforting feel of her and the familiar scent of her
perfume.

“
This is because of your
father and me, isn’t it?”

I looked up at her. “What?”

“
We didn’t give you a
positive view of marriage, and I spent your entire childhood
telling you how big a mistake it is to get married young. But if
you love Levi—”

“
This isn’t about you and
Dad.” I wasn’t letting her blame herself for any of
this.

“
Do you love
him?”

“
Yes.” At least I could
answer that honestly.

She smiled. “Well, that’s a start.
You’re young. If you’re not ready, you’re not ready. I just don’t
want you making a decision based on what happened to
me.”

“
I’m not.” I looked her
right in the eye.

“
If you weren’t sure, why’d
you take the ring?” She asked it quietly, like she was afraid of
upsetting me.

“
I didn’t have a choice.” I
whispered it, not sure whether I wanted her to hear.

She pursed her lips, and I knew she was
choosing her words carefully. “Because you were afraid you’d lose
Levi otherwise?”

I didn’t say anything.

“
I had no idea he was so
serious about your relationship.” She rubbed my back the way she
always did when I was upset. “Does he make you happy?”

I shrugged. “Most of the
time.”

She laughed. “Fair enough.”

“
I’m not going to tell you
what to do. You’re an adult. I knew you had strong feelings for him
when you decided to stay in New Orleans. You tried to tell me it
wasn’t about him, but obviously I was right.”

I nodded.

“
Did you invite him to come
here with you?”

“
No. He wanted to, but I
needed space to think, you know?”

“
I know. I’ll try not to
push you too much, sweetie, but I just want you to do the best
thing for yourself. When I visited you this summer, I tried to
encourage you to take chances, but don’t confuse that with turning
your back on who you are.”

“
I won’t.” I didn’t know if
I could keep my word, but I’d try.

“
We’re home,” Steven called
from the front hallway.

“
Coming.” Mom patted my leg
before getting up. “You’ll be okay no matter what you
decide.”

“
Thanks, Mom.”

“
Where’s Hailey?” Andrew
asked, coming to sit down next to me on the couch.

“
Sleeping.”

He looked over his shoulder, probably
making sure she wasn’t suddenly coming out of our room. “Is she
single?”

I laughed. “Yes, but don’t get your
hopes up.”

“
Why not?”

I decided to be nice. “Because we’re
only here for a week.”

He visibly relaxed. “It’s a whole
week.”

“
If you say so.”

His expression grew serious. “Are you
really engaged?”

I nodded. “Toby told you?”

“
Yeah. My dad asked why he
didn’t just give you more space.”

“
Oh.” I didn’t know what
else to say.

Andrew didn’t respond right away. Then
he cleared his throat. “Why are you engaged? Don’t you think you’re
too young? This just doesn’t seem like you.”

I turned toward him. “Since when do you
know anything about me?”

“
We’ve gone to school
together forever.”

“
Until this
year.”

“
And you’ve changed that
much in a few months?”

“
Does this conversation
have a purpose?” I didn’t want to start a fight, but I didn’t know
how much more I could take.

“
I just think you should
check out all your options.”

“
My options?”

“
I don’t mean me.
Obviously, that’s out of the question now that we’re probably going
to be family, but there are tons of other guys.”

“
Toby didn’t put you up to
this, did he?”

“
No. You know we’re not
friends. I was glad when I heard you kicked him to the curb. He
never deserved you.”

Maybe I needed to reevaluate my
feelings about Andrew.

“
How long have you known
this other guy, Lyle is it?”

“
Levi.”

“
Levi? Like the
jeans?”

“
I guess. It’s short for
Leviathan. And I’ve known him six months.”

“
So you really just met him
this summer? Doesn’t this seem rushed?” Andrew seemed genuinely
concerned so I didn’t snap at him.