Page 79 of Tangled Up In You

She let out a breath as he walked away.Had he told her the complete truth? Had her mother lied to her about the reason for their breakup, the reason why they'd left Whisper Lake?Only one of them was telling the truth.

She'd put her money on Neil. He'd never lied to her, and while she'd thought her mom had been mostly honest with her, she also knew that her mother had a way of shading the truth to her benefit.

Taking the trash into the store, she threw it away, then returned to finish the last of her cleanup. When that was done, she pulled out her phone, debating whether or not she should call her mom.

Maybe Neil was the reason her mother hadn't wanted her to come back to Whisper Lake. Her mom hadn't wanted her to find out she'd lied to her.

She stared at her phone for a long minute and then put it back in her pocket. This was her life, her relationships, and they had nothing to do with her mom. She could see Neil again or not. She could stay or go. She could do whatever she wanted.

She just had to figure out what that was.

ChapterNineteen

Sunday morning,Adam hopped on the stationary bike in his garage and put in a good five miles. He would have rather been running outside in the mountains. That was his favorite thing to do on the weekends, but with his foot, he was still non-weight-bearing, so biking was his best option.

As he finished his workout, the door opened, and Drew came in.

"Hey," he said, grabbing a nearby towel. He let the bike slow down as he mopped the sweat off his face. "What are you up to today? Do you want some breakfast?"

"I'm going to meet Cassie."

"That seems to be going well."

Drew shrugged as he dug his hands into his pockets. But he didn't leave, and Adam found that surprising since Drew didn't seem to like to spend much time in his company.

"Something else on your mind?" Adam asked.

"I was just thinking…" Drew paused. "I mean I don't know for sure, but…"

"You're going to have to finish one of those sentences."

"What if I wanted to stay until after Christmas, or maybe even until June or next fall?"

"Well, you've only been here a week, and I guess I'd have to ask why you think you'd want to stay?" He actually already knew why, but he needed Drew to talk to him.

"It's better here than I thought it would be," Drew said. "I like the job."

"And you like Cassie."

"She has to stay here 'til June to finish her second year of community college. Then she's going to transfer, probably to California. And it's not like I need to rush back. I'm thinking I could just take this year off. I can stay out of my dad's hair and decide what I want to do next year."

He thought about what Drew was asking, fighting back the urge to tell him he was out of his mind to make decisions about his life based on a girl he'd met a week ago. But he sensed that wasn't the right approach. He thought about how Gina would have reacted. As her smiling face filled his mind, he knew exactly what she would have said. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you want," he told Drew.

Relief filled the kid's gaze. "Really?"

"Sure. As long as you keep working and don't break any laws, I'm happy to have you. You probably should talk to your dad, though."

"I'm saving him tuition for a year, and he won't have to worry about me, so I don't think he'll be a problem."

"Your dad does worry about you, Drew."

"How would you know?" he challenged.

"He told me."

"Because he wanted you to take me in."

"Actually, he told me after your mom's funeral. He couldn't fathom how you were going to handle all the losses you'd had to suffer, and he knew he'd been distant, that he'd been so distracted taking care of your mom that he hadn't been there for you."

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