Page 126 of Please Save Me

What could I even say? Just a directHey, I think we should have sex AT LEAST once? Or maybe I should hint at it… but, I also tried to hit on him at the gym, and he seemed completely oblivious! God, why did men have to be so dense?

Sebastian awkwardly cleared his throat before taking a sip of his Americano.

Shoot. I was being weird. Think of something, come on, Sophia. Think of literallyanythingto say to this man. Thankfully, before I could formulate a string of words that had a possibility to humiliate me, my phone buzzed in my purse.

I held up a finger to excuse myself for just a moment as I pulled the device out of my bag. On the screen, one of my moms, Heather to be exact, was FaceTiming me. This was great! I loved my Mom, but I wasn’t the only one who loved her.

I quickly smoothed my hair into place before accepting the call. Mom’s face quickly filled the screen. She was always smiling, full of the energy only someone who dedicated their life to children could have.

“Hiii, Mom,” I gushed.

This time of year was hard for all of my family because of what happened with my sister. But, since Charlotte was gone, that meant I was not only the oldest daughter, but the oldest child in general. That made itmyresponsibility to make sure everyone was okay. And, if I let my mom know I was stressed about not only Mason possibly killing herself once Rosie got here, but whatever was going on with CameronandLucian, she’d worry.

And everyone else had more important things to worry about.

“There’s my Sunshine.” My mom’s raspy New England accent filled the air, and Sebastian arched a brow.

“Heather?” Sebastian mouthed.

“Mhm! Do you want to say hi?”

Sebastian froze for a second. Knowing him, he was probably over analyzing the situation. After a moment, he nodded. The steel legs of his chair scraped against the floor as he pulled it closer before plopping down beside me.

He smelled like summer time. Citrussy, bright, and clean. Sure, there was a hint of stale nicotine clinging to him, but I had full faith he’d quit eventually.

“Hi, Mrs. White.” Sebastian smiled, and my mom’s face lit up.

Despite practically raising Seb, she didn’t see him much anymore. Before he moved down here for his case, he’d go over once a week and do any of the manual labor they couldn’t. My Mom appreciated it… but Momma, well, she thought Sebastian was tryingtoohard.

“Is that my bonus-boy?” Mom gasped. “Oh, look at howhandsomeyou are. I love your hair!”

Sebastian coyly reached up, softly brushing his fingers along the dark strands. He hid his smile under his hand.

“Tori! Come look at how handsome Sebastian is!” My mom’s comment caused blush to creep up Sebby’s neck.

“I havezerointerest in Sebastian Castillo…. but thanks for the concern.” Momma was just as formal as ever.

Mom’s mouth dropped and she lookeddeeplyoffended that her wife had no interest in Sebastian.

“I’m not meaning to cause a fight between you and Victoria. I just wanted to sayhello,” Sebastian explained.

Mom huffed as she raked a weathered hand through her silver pixie cut.

“It’s not a fight. Tori just never learned to be nice.” My mom reassured him.

“I do, indeed, know how to be nice. I just have no interest in being nice to–”

“Don’t you have something else to do?” Mom snapped.

Momma didn’t respond, but I heard her steps as she trotted away, eventually passing through the camera’s line of sight for me to see her black hair swaying behind her.

“So, how’s Masie? And the baby? You didn’t update me after her appointment! I have a whole box of goodies for my new grand baby!” The words fell from Mom’s mouth like they were all racing to be first.

And, that’s when I realized that Imighthave not told her that Mason wasn’t allowed to make the two hour trip to Portland… Or that she needed to be induced because Rosie was just too big for her to cook longer than thirty-seven weeks.

I partially expected Sebastian to spill the beans, but he didn’t.

“We’ve just been busy getting everything ready for Rosemary.” He laughed. “I had no idea someone so small could needso muchstuff.”

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