The Girl of Sand & Fog (11 page)

He pins me in a gaze the color of lush green
grass and I know, from that spot deep inside me, that he’s telling me the truth
about everything. Bobby’s total honesty in every moment is a big part of what I
love about him.

I lie back, turning onto my side to face him. I
keep my mouth shut this time. He’s not finished; I can feel it.

He slowly rolls until we are face-to-face.

“I’d hate Len if he had a clue he was fucking
doing the wrong thing. But he doesn’t. He’s a good guy. Just wrong most of the
time. In his own warped way, what you heard was Len Rowan trying to be a
stand-up man for you.”

I crinkle my nose. “Really?”

A spark of humor flashes in his eyes. “Yep. Sad,
but true.” I smile and he touches my face, causing me to melt into the play of
his fingers. “Please, don’t take this the wrong way. It’s the first thing Len’s
done in a long time that I sort of respect him for. I can’t hate him for
thinking you deserve the best. No way. It’s how I feel. I love you.”

Holy shit.

Now
he says it?

This is so not the way I imagined the first time
a guy would say those words to me.

He starts to brush my jawline with his thumb and
lightly traces my face with his kisses. “I love you, Kaley. Don’t you have
anything to say to me?”

I ease into his mouth. “I love you, too.”

I kiss him in a slow, deep, tongue-swirling way
that makes the heat turn up in me even after our argument. It doesn’t take long
before I’m pushing into him. He’s pushing into me. I grind into him and he’s
hard and straining against his sweatpants. And it’s back inside me, too: that
burning need because I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anything.

I break the kiss, breathing heavily, and rest my
face against his chin. “Since we got that cleared up and we love each other,
does that mean this fight is over and we’re going to Santa Cruz so we can pop
each other’s cherry?”

His eyes go from passion-glazed to wide open. “What
did you say?”

I peek at him.

I try really hard not to.

I can’t help it.

I roll onto my back, laughing uproariously and
hugging my stomach. The laughter is good. It blocks out the pulsing in my sex,
probably better than a cold shower would.

Bobby covers his face with his hand, and from
what I can see between his fingers I’m not sure if he’s laughing or grimacing.

Bang.

“It doesn’t take ten minutes to get your shoes,
boy. Out of there. Now.”

Bobby stands up and grabs the keys from the
nightstand. He looks down at his groin, groans, and plucks at the fabric
covering his dick.

“Fuck. Stop laughing, Kaley. This isn’t funny. If
you loved me you wouldn’t laugh. I’m in pain here.”

CHAPTER 11

I
swipe open my phone and read through the last series of texts from Zoe. This is
either going to work or it’s not. How the fuck did it work for Zoe? She’s already
at the end of the driveway waiting in her car for me.

I click off my phone, lie back on my bed and
groan.

Crap. This is stupid.

It will never work.

But it is the best plan we came up with last
night.

It’s not even my plan.

It’s Zoe’s.

It has to be doomed to failure. That Zoe thought
of this should tell me not to attempt it, but my procrastination in getting
permission for the Santa Cruz trip from Chrissie has made it pretty much
unavoidable if I want to be in the car next to Bobby today.

If I ask Chrissie this morning, straight up, if I
can go the answer is going to be no. Mom hates short notice, and even if I’d
ask two weeks ago like Bobby wanted me to I’m pretty sure she would have said
no anyway.

I take in a deep breath.

Fuck, I’m trying it.

I’ve got nothing to lose.

It’s the only plan I have.

I lug my duffel to the kitchen. Mom is sitting at
the table with her morning coffee. Alone. Perfect. Lourdes would see through
this in half a second. Krystal would, too, but unlike the housekeeper, my sister
wouldn’t keep her mouth shut. She’d call me out on it.

I drop my bag heavily on the floor then quickly
turn to pour a cup of coffee so my back is to Chrissie.

“Good morning, Kaley,”
I hear
my mom say from behind me. “You’re up early. What’s with the suitcase?”

My cheeks heat. Fuck. I hate lying and I’m not
any good at it. I take a moment to stir creamer into my coffee, trying to slow
my heartbeat.

I calmly turn around and face my mom with my best
duh, you’ve got to be kidding
expression. “Big Bear. Snowboarding. With
the Kennedys. Over the holiday. Until Sunday. Remember?”

Chrissie frowns. “No. I don’t. What are you
talking about?”

I groan in frustration. “We talked about this.”

“No, we didn’t.”

I flounce across the kitchen and drop down
heavily on a chair. “I can’t believe you forgot. Are you telling me I can’t go
now? I promised Zoe.”

Chrissie’s eyes widen. “I’m not telling you
anything because I don’t know anything about this.”

I grab my phone. “Fine. I’ll just call Zoe and
tell her I’m not coming.”

I tap in the password. Shit, my mom’s not
stopping me. Good one, Zoe. I should never have listened to her. Oh, a new text
from Zoe opens on the screen.

Zoe:
Make sure if your Mom decides to call to check on things that she calls only my
dad. Only my dad. Don’t forget. This is important.

I quickly close the text box. I change course.
“It’s not fair that I have to stick around just because you forgot about
something I asked you about weeks ago.”

“We never discussed this,” Chrissie repeats more
insistently.

“Well, can I go?”

“Snowboarding.” She frowns, shaking her head as
she folds up her newspaper. “Since when are you into snowboarding?”

“I’m not. Zoe is going to teach me. She doesn’t
want to be stuck on the slopes with her dad alone for the holidays. I promised.
I’m her only friend and now I have to ditch her—”

I cut off dramatically.

OK, that was putting it on a little thick.

Fuck, did I overplay this?

Blue eyes stare unwaveringly into mine. I fight
not to lower my gaze first—a dead giveaway I’m fibbing. Crap, I hope my cheeks
aren’t burnish red. It feels like they’re on freaking fire.

Chrissie tilts her head and holds out her hand.
“Fine. Give me the phone. If it checks out, you can go.”

Really?

I try not to be overly happy. I put my cell in
her palm. “Call Mr. Kennedy.”

Chrissie taps through my contacts and frowns.
“Ian?”

“He’s the one taking us.”

“Why is Zoe going alone with her dad? Where’s
Yotti?”

Crap, suspicious again.

It sucks that all our parents know each other.

I shrug. “Her mom is in Bermuda. Mrs. Kennedy
bailed last minute. I think they had a fight or something. Zoe is really sad.”

“Oh,” my mom says, conveying she’s not at all
surprised by that creative factoid.

Good one, Zoe. That part worked brilliantly.

My mom sets the phone on the table and hits
speaker. Ring. Ring. Ring. My leg wants to jiggle and I won’t let it. Another
tell that I’m lying.

“Hello?”

“Ian, it’s Chrissie Harris—”

“Chrissie Harris, what the hell are you doing
calling me at this hour?”

My mom laughs. “It’s after 10 a.m. Rough night,
Ian?”

“Every night is a rough night. What’s going on,
girl?”

Chrissie smiles and starts fiddling with her
hair. “Do you know that you’re the only one who still calls me ‘girl’? But I
love you for it, Ian.”

“Ah, tell me you love me again and you’ll break
my heart again.”

They both laugh.

Shit—
break my heart again
—did my mom used
to date Mr. Kennedy? Oh yuck. Not that Mr. Kennedy isn’t sort of cute for old
guy, and was probably a total hottie when he was young, but I hate these
unexpected bombs that hit me out of nowhere and say
Chrissie used to have a
life.
She should be so much more of a cool mom than she is.

God, I hate lying.

Fuck, how long is this call going to take?

“I just wanted to thank you for including Kaley
over the holidays,” my mom murmurs into the speaker. “Zoe’s such a sweetheart.
A good friend to my daughter.”

“We feel the same way about Kaley.”

“Well, I just wanted you to know I appreciate your
kindness to her. It’s been hard relocating. Adjusting. I’ve got a lot going on
and your house has become practically Kaley’s second home.”

“You always have a lot going on, girl,” Ian
teases. Gross. Did he just flirt with my mom? They both laugh again. “And we
enjoy having her.”

Enjoy having her?

Really?

I’ve been to Zoe’s only twice, ever.

Maybe this was a good plan.

Hurry up. Hurry up.

I want to know if I’m busted or out of here.

“Well, thank you for letting my girl join you for
the holidays. Have fun. I’m jealous. I could use a holiday.”

Oh crap.

Mom just rambled.

I sink my teeth into my lower lip and tense.

“Any time, Chrissie. We’re here for you always.
We need to do dinner soon and catch up. It’s been too long.”

“We definitely do. Thanks, Ian. Have a wonderful
Thanksgiving.”

“You, too, Chrissie.”

Click.

My mom shoves the phone across the table to me
and sits back in her chair.

Fudge, I can’t tell which way this is going to
go.

I pick up my cell. “Well, can I leave? I don’t
want to keep Zoe hanging.”

Waiting.

Waiting.

Come on, Chrissie, come through for me.

My mom nods. “Do you have everything you need?”

A smile I can’t contain fills my face as I spring
from the chair. “Yep, I have everything. Credit cards. Cash. I’m good.”

Chrissie frowns. “What about snow clothes?”

“I’m borrowing them from Zoe.” Shit. That was
dumb. Zoe is a midget and she’s round. “Mrs. Kennedy has extra snow clothes. I
didn’t want to buy anything. I may not like it. I’m not really into the snow.
I’m like you. Beach girl all the way.”

Chrissie laughs and picks up her coffee cup.
“That was nice of Yotti. I’m not really into the snow either. Jesse tried to
teach me how to snowboard. This may surprise you. I’m not very coordinated. It
wasn’t good.”

I laugh. Jeez, don’t let this turn into an
hour-long conversation down memory lane.

I don’t know what else to do.

I kiss my mom on the head.

“See you Sunday night, Mom.”

I go for my bag.

“Call me when you get there, Kaley. And check in
with me every night and every morning. I worry when you’re gone.”

Well, that’s going to be a buzzkill; spending my
entire five days with Bobby phoning Mom.

I nod. “I will, Mom.”

“Love you.”

“Me, too.”

I hurry out the front door, and find Zoe waiting
at the curb like she said she would be. I toss my bag into the back and climb
into the passenger seat.

She gives me a slightly gloating expression. “I
told you it would work.”

I make a face at her, but then we both laugh.

She pulls away from the curb. “Did she call my
dad?”

“Yep.”

Zoe shakes her head. “My dad never knows what’s
going on and my mom bitches at him so much about it he’s afraid to admit it. I
could tell him anything and he’d just say ‘oh yeah.’”

“Well, there was a moment there I thought
busted
.”

“Nope, wasn’t going to happen. Do you want to
stop for coffee before we go to Jake’s to meet up with everyone?”

“Yep. Make a stop. I need a latte with about six
shots to recover from that call. They flirted with each other. So obvious. So
gross.”

Zoe scrunches up her face. “Yuck. My dad is such
a flirt.”

I think of Alan and I don’t want to. “At least
he’s not in the tabloids every day.”

She gives me a sharp look. “Nope, you’re not
doing it on this trip, Kaley. We’re not talking about Alan Manzone
.
You
are not cyberstalking the online tabloids or anything else. Google him even
once and I’m taking your phone away.”

My cheeks redden.

“You’ve been really happy lately,” Zoe adds
intensely. “Since Bobby. It’s nice. And Bobby is a great guy. You’re so lucky.
Can’t you see that? Don’t you think he deserves some time with you just about
him? When you don’t Google you’re more fun. And I want to have big fun this
trip.”

Oh crap.

She’s right.

I arch a brow. “Big fun, huh? How do you know
it’s big? I thought you and Jake weren’t doing it yet.”

She shrugs and pulls into the Starbucks
drive-thru. “I know the same way you know Bobby’s is. Always wise to check out
the package first. Better than being disappointed at the moment it matters.
That’s what my mom told me.”

“Oh God. Yotti didn’t.”

“Yep, she did.”

We both burst out laughing.