Page 97 of Sweet on You
My doorbell rang and I glanced at the time. It was only eight-thirty, but after these last few weeks of being on Lex’s early schedule, it felt like it was midnight. I turned off the TV and headed to the door to find Callie standing there with two bags of takeout in hand and a large backpack strapped to her.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Your phone is off,” she said. “And we had a date.”
My eyes fell closed. “I forgot. I’m so sorry.” I grabbed my phone from my pocket and turned it on, seeing several missed calls and texts.
Meow. I froze.Frost?“Is that…?”
Meow.Penny came charging to the door, hopping onto his hind legs, trying to get to Frost. “I stopped by Lex’s first,” Callie said, “thinking you had blown me off for him. But as it turns out, you were here sulking.”
Guilt gnawed inside me as I squeezed my eyes shut. “I’m sorry, Cal. I’ll make it up to you.”
She stepped inside, kicking the door closed behind her. After setting the food down on the counter, she slipped the bag off her shoulders and unzipped it for Frost to come out. The white cat immediately nuzzled against Penny’s chin, purring, and Penny dropped to his back, submitting to her and showing her his belly.
“Wow,” Callie said. “Lex wasn’t kidding. They really are best friends.”
I sniffled, trying to disguise it with a cough. They were best friends. And who knew if Lex and I could make it work. Who knew if we could stay together. If we couldn’t, not only would I lose my best friend, but Penny would lose his, too.
“Lex thought Frost could stay here tomorrow so that Penny doesn’t destroy your house while you’re at the gym.”
Shit. Here come the tears. I dipped my face to my shoulder, trying to wipe the stray tear on my sleeve. But Callie saw right through me—she grabbed my hand, tugged me into the kitchen, and started rifling through my cabinets. “Don’t you have any wine?”
I shook my head, sniffling again. “I usually only drink wine if I’m out for dinner. It’s got so much sugar.”
Callie grumbled something I couldn’t make out. “What do you normally drink then?”
“Vodka sodas,” I said, grabbing the Titos from the freezer and the bottle of carbonated water from my Soda Stream.
Callie poured us each a glass and set out the Chinese food on my kitchen table. “Eat,” she said, nudging the cashew chicken sans rice toward me. “A few bites first and then I’ll give you this to drink.” She shook the glass, the ice clinking against the edges.
I rolled my eyes, stabbing a few pieces of chicken with my fork. “Yes, Mom.”
Callie scrunched her nose. “Mom? Does Mom force feed you chicken and Titos? If so, we had very different childhoods.”
I laughed, but it felt rusty. Like a creaky, old hinge in need of oil.
“So…” Callie said after we’d each had a few silent bites. “What’s going on with Lex?”
“Nothing,” I answered quickly. Too quickly.
“It didn’t seem like nothing when I was at his house,” she said.
“He wants to go visit Sarah in prison,” I said.
Callie paused. “Okay. So?”
“So… she was paying a guy to frame us… him, I mean, as being a bad parent. She didn’t care that the photos weren’t an accurate portrayal, she just wanted to get Olivia away from Lex. And now he wants to go talk to her? Like she’s some sort of reasonable person?”
Callie winced. “It sounds like you’re jealous.”
“Jealous?” My gut wrenched. “Jealous of a convict/herione addict? Not likely.”
“Not… jealous of her life, necessarily. But maybe, are you jealous that she gets to be Olivia’s biological mother?”
I swallowed against the searing pain that pierced my heart. That statement was like a fist hitting a barely healing bruise.
“And maybe a little scared that, if she cleans up her act, Lex will want the family and the white picket fence with her, not you?”
