Page 57 of No Summer Hotter than You

Her unnecessary reminder cut to the bone as I looked anywhere other than at her. “Yeah,” I breathed shakily.

“I don’t know, Anthony . . . maybe we should just stop all doing this.”

Her clear and unwavering voice sucker punched me in the face. It came out of nowhere, draining all the air from my chest. I could hardly breathe as my lungs burned from the hit of her statement.

“What?” I rasped.

“Maybe we should just call off our master plan to deceive Evelyn and Kelvin. If she’s already hot on our trail, then she’s bound to expose us anyways. I don’t know what she gains from it, but I guess we can give it to her for lying these past two weeks.”

“No, if we want to tell anyone the truth, then it’s on our terms. Not because she’s backed us into a corner.” Frustration was apparent in my voice as Shoua’s expression turned neutral.

She nodded when her phone started to vibrate ferociously on the table. One glance at it and she let out a low, frustrated groan.

“It’s my mom.” She quickly picked it up and answered with a short, “Hello?”

Her mom’s loud voice sounded furious and whatever she was saying was coming out in rapid fire. I heard my name several times, and the heated tone of her voice made my mouth dry. The blood coloring Shoua’s face immediately drained as the conversation continued, and her neck became stiff.

“Okay,” she said simply and then hung up.

“What’s wrong?”

Shoua blinked and then swallowed before saying, “My mom heard about us being together.”

I wasn’t sure what kind of gossip Shoua was worried her mom would be up to if she knew about us. But with the way she captured her bottom lip between her teeth with apprehension, I knew this wasn’t a good thing.

“It seems that your mom and Aunt Sue went out to the farmers market yesterday. They bumped into my mom there. Aunt Sue and my mom swapped numbers and started talking,” Shoua explained. “Apparently she told my mom all about our relationship, and she’s furious that I’ve been lying to her the whole time about us.”

My stomach dropped. I thought the only people we had to worry about were Evelyn and Kelvin. I was so blinded by them that I didn’t even realize that we had the moms to worry about.

Aunt Sue was easier to deal with. But I couldn’t say the same about Shoua’s mom.

CHAPTER 24

shoua

There was always a nagging thought at the back of my mind that my mom was going to find out about my fake relationship with Anthony. I wasn’t sure how, but my gut kept telling me it was going to happen sooner or later.

Although my mom catching wind of us being “together” wouldn’t necessarily complicate our lies or cause the demise of it, that wasn’t what I was worried about. What stressed me out the most was her love for gossip and dramatizing details.

I was worried about the kind of lies she may spew about us. Or, more specifically, I was stressed over what she could say about Anthony. I could handle the things she’d say about me, but I couldn’t allow her to just say whatever she wanted about him. I needed to protect him from her.

The only way for me to do that was to head over to my parents’ place and talk to them in person. I needed to gauge the situation since I could never do it over the phone with my mom. She could be an enigma over calls.

“Anthony, can you please pull over?” I asked. “I need a moment to calm down.”

I buried my face in my palms and blew out a long and exasperated sigh as he pulled over to the curb. “I’m so sorry, but you’re going to be pulled into my family drama,” I said.

All my exes had always stood far away from the drama surrounding my family, especially considering how volatile my relationship was with my mom. They never wanted to get caught in whatever my mom would conjure up. I never blamed them since most of them had a lot of crap that they had to deal with regarding their own families, and I gladly stood on the sidelines for that. But Anthony was different.

He had a loving and supportive family. His parents were great people. They strived for healthy, adult relationships with their adult children. They were the kind people who cared for and loved Julie and Jonathan essentially as their own kids. They cared a lot about them and my Aunt Yee greatly.

Both Auntie Gao and my aunt had been friends for decades ever since meeting in the refugee camps in Thailand after their families escaped there after Laos fell into the communist takeover. But, despite their decades-long friendship, the Hughes never had to move next door to Auntie Yee after my uncle passed away years ago. They still did it because they loved my aunt and her children.

I could always see the warmth they gave the people they love. Although I knew they loved me just as much as Julie or Jonathan as well, I couldn’t help but wish I had parents like Auntie Gao and Uncle Gary.

“Hey,” he said softly. “It’ll be all right.”

I looked up at him, ready to counter. Instead, I was met with warm eyes and a gentle expression. Anthony hardly looked worried at all even though we were heading straight into the dragon’s den. He was so relaxed without a single bit of stress on his face. Seeing him like that caused all the worry lodged in my throat and heavy in my chest to dissipate slowly but surely into thin air.

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