Page 55 of After Tonight

Ah.

But I will see you later?

Hope so.

She did want to get out of here, but she was also aware that if she left in the middle of this conversation, it would look like she didn’t really care about the topic. And God only knew what her family would come up with without her. They’d have the entire program planned. And very likely she’d be left out of it completely.

Ten minutes later, Riley had put her foot down twice—about a program and event that she’d only just begun having the tiniest inkling about yesterday—and she had four pages of written notes that she planned to run past Peyton. She wasn’t sure how this whole thing had snowballed on her, but that would teach her to open her mouth to try to impress her mother.

Then again, some of these ideas were really good.

But she was now really ready for some pizza. Or some Derek. She wasn’t sure which, but pizza seemed like a safer thing to be craving.

The doorbell rang, and she nearly sagged with relief at the interruption. “Okay, this is all good, but I have to talk to Scott,” she said. Scott, who hadn’t exactly hired her for the job. The job that she wasn’t even sure technically existed. But she was going to have to make it exist. Or maybe she’d do this all voluntarily. But either way, she was going to do it.

“I’ll get it,” Jake said, pushing his chair back.

Riley took the opportunity to get up too. She was going to get pizza. This was enough family time for now.

But as she gathered her papers and her mom started picking up the dishes from the table, her dad came back into the room. “Hey, everyone, Derek’s here.”

Riley’s head came up fast, and her gaze collided with Derek’s the moment he rounded the corner. As if he’d been looking for her first.

“Derek.” Erika was clearly thrilled to see him. “Hi, honey. Do you want some cake?”

“Hi, Erika.” He crossed to her and dropped a quick kiss on her cheek. “Nope, I just dropped by to pick Riley up.”

Riley felt surprise jolt through her. He looked over at her and winked, and she covered her shock. “Oh, is it time already?”

“Pick Riley up?” Erika asked.

“Yeah, she’s taste testing some of my pizzas tonight for me.”

Erika looked at Riley. “You didn’t say anything. You didn’t have to eat with us if you promised to help Derek.”

Which Riley decoded to mean, “If you have a chance to hang out with Derek, you should take it because he’s amazing.” And he kind of was.

“I’m always happy to taste pizza,” Riley’s dad joked.

Derek laughed easily. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be asking you all what you think. But I have to start with Riley.”

“Oh?” Erika asked.

“Yep,” Derek said. “I haven’t quite been able to convince Riley that I can do no wrong like I have you.” Derek put an arm around Erika’s shoulders and gave her a smile. “I need her brutal honestly here at the start.”

Erika squeezed him. “Well, it’s hard not to think that.” She returned his smile, then focused on Riley. “You’ll be nice though, right?”

And it suddenly hit Riley that she could not date Derek. No matter what. Not that it was on the table or even the remotest possibility, but she couldn’t date him. Her mother would never think she was doing that right. If Riley couldn’t even become a sex trafficking victim’s advocate without her mom thinking she needed help, there was no way she could be in a relationship—something she was not all that great at to date—with one of her mother’s favorite people in the world without her thinking Riley wasn’t doing it right. God forbid they ever have an argument. Or break up.

“I’ll be honest,” Riley said. But good Lord, at this moment, she loved him for showing up like this. “But yes, I’ll be nice.”

“You just have a tendency to be a little blunt,” Erika said.

Riley opened her mouth to reply, but Derek beat her to it. “That’s one thing I love about her.”

Whoa. That was…what?

“I also love that she’s always up for trying new stuff, that she can hack the shit out of any computer system, and that she never apologizes for just being her.” He gave her a grin, and Riley felt her panties get a little warm. “If Riley likes something, you know it and can truly bet on it being awesome.”

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