Page 36 of Lyrical

“When Perry first started seeing Stephen, Daniel was reserved with her. He was only”—I tried doing the grade school math in my head but my brain wasn’t fully functioning—“thirteen, fourteen, I believe. They ended up bonding over milkshakes. It became a contest who could suck down the most in the shortest time. It worked, but I just think he was shy in the beginning because he had a little crush on her.”

By the time I’d taken my short trip down memory lane, we were to the rec room. Perry was already inside, of course. I poked my head in to see her behind the small bar area I rarely used. She was leaning forward over the bar top, staring in the direction of the pool table. Daniel was there, stick in one hand, Cassie in the other.Friends, huh?She saw me and smiled. It appeared genuine.Fuck her.

Tony was at the table, sans Val, taking his shot. I surveyed the room. A couple I vaguely recognized on the love seat—they were friends with Stephen, that much I did know—were chatting with my cousin and his wife who had come up from Lake Geneva.

I suddenly wanted everyone gone. I was not in the mood to socialize, and I loved throwing parties. As long as they knew someone I knew well, anyone was welcome. The more the merrier, as they say.

Well,fuck that.

Chase squeezed my hand, and I relaxed. To a point. I was taking this harder than I should. Or maybe I wasn’t taking it hard enough. There was nothing in the mother’s manual explaining how to react when the same woman wanted both your boyfriend and your son.

We went over to Perry who was pulling off a cool look. “Hey, guys,” she said as if she hadn’t just seen us thirty seconds before. “Just waiting until my nephew finishes his game so we can catch up. Said it shouldn’t be long.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Cassie watching us. When I looked her straight on, she smiled again. Then she said something to Daniel, and he laughed. I was about to lose my shit.

“Jillian,” Chase said.

I realized I was crushing his hand. “Oh, sorry.” I loosened my grip, then chuckled to myself. Like he’d felt anything stronger than a tickle. At least I’d found some humor in the situation.

He turned me towards him. “I don’t care about that. I care about you. Don’t do this to yourself. You don’t even know what’s going on yet.”

Oh, I knew. Maybe not the scheming details, but I knew that Daniel and Cassie didn’t add up to anything other than one conniving bitch. How could Chase be so blasé about the whole thing? He knew how she was. He should’ve been wanting to tear her off Daniel the same as—

The soft touch of his lips on mine shut everything up. A small kiss, appropriate for the surroundings, but it meant so much. It told me that no matter what, he was there for me. We were in this together. Cassie could go fuck herself. At least that’s how I wanted to perceive it.

“Ow!” I pulled back from Chase, rubbing my arm. “Why’d you pinch me?”

Perry nodded slightly in their direction.

Oh. That’s why.

“Thanks for having the party, Mom. I wanted to say that before but you, uh, left right away.”

More like hauled away as discreetly as possible. Between me guest starring in a flashbackTwilight Zoneepisode and Perry speaking loud and sweary words, it gave Stephen enough cause to take us by the arms and mumble something about the kitchen burning.

“Yes, thank you, Mrs. Hudson.”

Jesus. “It’s Jillian.” I looked at Daniel, putting on my best smile. “You’re very welcome. I hope you’re having a good time.” I was sure that I’d confused the hell out of him earlier, but not Cassie. Nope. She knewexactlywhy I’d had that reaction, and I was not going to give her any more fucking satisfaction.

“And you remember Chase,” I said, and Daniel nodded.

“Long time no see,” Cassie said to Chase.Cute.

“I wasn’t aware you two knew each other.”

Right after Chase said it, Cassie and Daniel looked at each other. “Oh, we go way back,” Cassie said, smiling big.

“Way back?”What the hell does that mean? If that’s some kind of sexual slang, I’m going to—

“We went to East Shore together,” Daniel said, smiling back at her.

“East Shore… High School?”

“Well, for a little while at least. She transferred in as a senior when I was a sophomore.”

“I….” I was a shit ton of confused, that’s what I was. I sprinted through that time period in my mind, trying to recall if he’d ever mentioned a Cassie. I knew for a fact that I’d never seen her. Despite her claim of going ‘way back,’ she couldn’t have changed that much since then.

Perry slapped her hands on the bar top. “Well, fuck me and rob me blind. Jills, isn’t this something? We should celebrate.” She motioned to Daniel and Cassie. “Have a seat, you two.” They sat on the front stools while the three of us huddled behind it. She opened her bottle of adult milkshake and poured the thick brown sludge into a glass. “I have something special just for you, Daniel.” Perry winked, sliding the glass over as she poured another, I assumed for herself.

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