Page 56 of Happy Trails & Honey Pots

AJ started to get out of his chair, and my mother snapped her fingers an inch from his face. He blinked in shock.

“Sit. Down. Now,” she seethed through clenched teeth. “You will not behave like an insolent heathen. That is the devil in you. I will not allow you to turn out like your promiscuous, Jezebel mother. There are rules in this house.”

I took a deep breath and calmly turned to my mother. “AJ and I are going to leave now. I will not allow you to say that my son has the devil in him or say that he is behaving like an insolent heathen because he got excited and wanted to make a phone call. I have no problem with you having rules, but you will never speak to my son like that again.” I looked at AJ. “AJ, we’re leaving.”

AJ and I both stood, and we went to the back room, where my mother insisted we put our shoes, my purse, and our jackets. We got our things, and as we walked past the dining room, mymother was nowhere to be seen. It didn’t surprise me. For being so opinionated, she didn’t like confrontation.

My father was waiting by the door. She probably told him to make sure I didn’t steal anything.

“Bye, Grandpa,” AJ lifted his hand as we walked past him.

“Bye now.” My father smiled weakly as he held the door.

We walked to the car in silence and got in. Relief washed over me as we pulled away from the curb, knowing I wouldn’t have to go back. I had suffered through enough of those dinners. I was surprised it had taken this long for my mother to show her true colors.

AJ turned to me. “Sorry, Mom.”

“Don’t be sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong. And we don’t have to go back there again.”

“We can’t go back?!” I could hear the panic in AJ’s voice. “But I’m sorry. I’ll tell Grandma I’m sorry.”

Okay, I guess it wasn’t over. I had no idea why AJ liked going to the dinners, but I wasn’t going to be the one who took them away from him. His father was gone. I wasn’t going to be the one who took his grandparents away from him.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. So, you don’t have to apologize. If you want to go back, I’ll talk to Grandma.”

It wouldn’t be AJ’s apology. She’d want it to be mine.

When we got home, Walter wasn’t in his chair, which meant he was already in bed or at bingo. AJ went up to his room, and I got a glass of wine and went to mine. I crawled under my sheets and turned my fan on. I opened my laptop and tried to zone out by watching past seasons ofMarried by the Matchmaker. Ashley texted earlier today saying that she’d gotten through to the next round and was going in for the medical and psych evaluation, so I was trying to catch up on the show.

After a few episodes, I found myself clicking over to YouTube, and because I’d been watching interviews with Miles,my entire home page was filled with him. There were montages of him and his love interest from the show he was on,Happy Trails.There were podcasts, paparazzi videos, fan edits, and more. I started by clicking on one and then went down a rabbit hole.

An hour later, I found myself missing him even more than I was before. It was strange because the person in all the YouTube clips wasn’t the person I knew. He looked the same, but he was different somehow. I picked up my phone and listened to his voicemail again. I’d probably listened to it fifty times. For some reason, just hearing his voice made me feel better.

I had the strongest urge to call him and tell him about what had happened at my mom’s house. It was a strange thing for me to want to do since Inevertalked about my family or problems with anyone but Nadia, and I rarely talked about them with her.

But I wanted to tell Miles. I wasn’t sure why. That impulse scared me more than my borderline obsessive crush because that was a side of myself I’d never shared with anyone. Anyone except Austin. He’d gotten past those walls. And when I lost him, I almost hadn’t survived, which was why I hadn’t let anyone else in…and promised myself I never would again.

26

MILES

As I droveacross the causeway, I checked the time; it was six forty-five. I was forty-five minutes late. In Hollywood time, that was considered showing up early to a party. But for a twelve-year-old’s birthday, I was pretty sure it was bad form.

I’d tried to get a flight out this afternoon, but there had been weather delays due to thunderstorms in New York. I really hoped I would make it before it was over. I also felt like shit that I was showing up empty-handed.

My luggage was on a different plane that wasn’t going to arrive for another hour. I didn’t want to wait in the airport because I was afraid if I did, I would miss the party altogether.

The past two days had been a whirlwind of press forLong Way Home.I’d kept all of my commitments but still managed to fit in arriving in Firefly for AJ’s party. I just hoped that he still wanted me here. It had been a few weeks since I’d spoken to Zoe on the phone. I’d continued to message her, just checking in and letting her know I was thinking about her, but she wasn’t great at returning texts. Either that or I wasn’t great at taking a hint.

I got the party info from Harlan and asked him to keep it a surprise that I was coming since I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull it off.

“You have arrived at your destination,” the voice from the navigation system said through the speaker as I pulled up to the Party Palace's parking lot.

The first vehicle I noticed was Zoe’s white Audi. Next to her car, I saw Harlan and Dawson’s trucks. At least I knew they were all still here.

When I got out and started walking up, the nerves that I only ever felt when it came to a certain brunette green-eyed beauty came back to me. I wondered if they would ever go away or if I’d always feel them around her.

I pushed open the glass door and was greeted by a young man with a blue Party Palace ball cap and a mouth full of braces. His name tag read Toby. His eyes widened slightly when he saw me.

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