Page 3 of Blue Moon Love

“I saw that you just crossed the county line; are you on your way to dinner?”

“Yep.”

Most thirty-somethings probably didn’t share their location with their parents, but those thirty-somethings didn’t have Marcella Lucia Hale as a mother. She was the reason my brothers had never had to be overprotective of me; my mom had it covered. If it were up to her, I’d never leave my house without a chaperone or bodyguard. Oh, and I’d be covered in bubble wrap to ensure I never even stubbed my toe.

“What dress did you end up wearing?” she asked.

“The navy blue with the corset back.”

“Oh, that’s pretty. It looks good with your hair.”

As a redhead with fair skin, I tended to stay away from pastels and bright colors. Except when I indulged in my favorite fashion trends from the 80s, that is. My 80s wardrobe was full of neon and muted shades.

“And you’re going to RH?”

“Yes, Ma.” Andrew had invited me to The RH Rooftop restaurant, which I’d never been to before but heard it had amazing views, and the food was supposed to be incredible.

“Is your location shared with me?”

“You just said you saw I passed the county line.”

“I know! But what if you turned it off?!”

In the few seconds we’d been on the phone?

“I won’t.” I never did. I never had any reason to. As much as I wished I had some secret personal life that my mother, knowing my location, would violate, that wasn’t the case. And it made her feel better to know where I was.

“Text me when you’re on your way home.”

“I will.”

“Text me when you get home.”

“I will.”

“Have fun! But don’t drink; you have to drive.”

“I won’t. Love you, Ma.”

“Love you, Amorina.”

The phone disconnected, and thanks to the podcast, before I knew it, I was pulling into the parking garage for the rooftop restaurant. When I checked the time, I saw that, surprise-surprise, I was ten minutes late. Still, I pulled down my visor and did a quick check of my makeup because, come on, that was a necessity. As I closed it and grabbed my purse and jacket, my phone buzzed with a text.

My first thought was that it was my mom checking to see why my car stopped and if I had arrived safely at my destination; my second thought was that it was Andrew canceling our date or asking where I was. I turned out to be wrong on both counts.

It was a text from Sam. He’d screenshotted the security footage from his house, which showed my dress in the air, and put a peach emoji over my butt, with the words ‘nice moon tonight’ below it.

Before heading inside, I snapped a selfie with my middle finger raised in the air, then sent it back to Sam. When I got out of the car, I found myself smiling. Even when he was being an idiot, he always made me laugh.

I wished things could be different between us, either that he felt the same way I did or that I didn’t feel the way I did. But on the list of things that were wrong in the world, my crush on my best friend didn’t even make the top thousand.

2

SAM

“Apples don’t fall from my family tree; nuts do.” ~ Archie “Witty” Whitlock

I closed my eyes, and the image from my security camera appeared behind my lids like it was being projected on a big screen. Kenna’s bare ass bent over with a pink thong on. After texting her, I’d erased the footage immediately, but I’d taken a mental screenshot that was deposited right into the good ol’ spank bank. I’d definitely be taking it out for withdrawals tonight.

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