Page 13 of Never Less

Nate rolls his eyes. “You’ll be fine. The attention won’t be on you, anyway.”

“Nate! That’s so disrespectful. They’ve been married for a quarter of a century. I’m not showing up to their celebration under-dressed.”

“Fine.” Nate waves a dismissive hand at her. “Take the Jeep and go shopping. You’ve got plenty of time to find something.”

She glances at the oven clock. “I’ll have to grab you something, too, won’t I?”

“Sure, I guess. I really don’t think they’ll care, though.”

“They wouldn’t, especially since you both came from out of town and this is on such short notice,” I chime in. “But there’s nothing wrong with wanting to put in the extra effort. And, I mean, come on. Fashion is Liliana’s job. Of course she’s going to want to look nice. And it wouldn’t hurt for you to put in an effort, too, bud.”

“Jesus, I get it. You don’t need to gang up on me. I already said you could take the Jeep, Lily.”

She twists her fingers together. “Could you… come with me? And drive?”

That earns her an annoyed look. “Seriously?”

“I’m still not that familiar with the area down here, and I did so much of the driving yesterday, and you know I don’t like navigating roads I don’t—”

“Babe. Love you, but I’m not spending hours dress shopping with you. You can handle it.”

Her eyes turn pleading. “I can be quick. I can—”

“No! I’m not driving you. You’ll be fine.”

“I’ll take you,” I say quickly, flashing them both a bright smile. If my idiot son can’t find it within himself to prioritize his girlfriend on their trip to reconnect, then I will. And dammit, I’ll do it ten times better than he ever could.

“What?” Liliana sputters. “No, you don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine. Like Nate said, I—I can drive. I’m probably making it out to be worse in my head.”

“Mmm, I don’t know about that. A summer weekend in one of the most popular vacation towns on the East Coast? Traffic is likely to be a mess.”

Liliana pales.

“I don’t mind,” I tell her. “Really.”

She pauses for a few seconds, and just as I’m formulating a new argument in my head, she nods. “Okay. Thank you.”

I’m relieved that she doesn’t try to fight me more. After what she’s been through—is currently going through—she doesn’t need more stress. In fact, she deserves a nice afternoon in which she’s treated like goddamn royalty. And since my son won’t do it, he leaves me no choice.

I will.

Chapter five

Liliana

“You really didn’t have to get me that.”

Marcus shrugs. He’s sitting in a plush chair right outside the dressing rooms and holding the smoothie he bought me. I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or if he remembers me gushing about the smoothie place I discovered one of the last times Nate and I were in town.

“Don’t mind,” he says. “What do you think?” He nods to the dress I’m wearing.

“I like it.” I do a little twirl, and the skirt flares out. It’s a cute sundress that stops mid-thigh. Perfect for this weather, and it’s the exact blend of elegant yet flirty that I’m looking for.

“It’s a pretty… blue-green?” Marcus says.

“Hmm.” I turn to the mirror and eye the dress. “I’d probably call it dark mint.”

“Dark mint,” he repeats. He gets up and comes to stand right behind me, and our eyes lock in the mirror. “I can see it.”

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