Page 124 of Promise Me Nothing
And then he does the gentlemanly thing and goes down on me before he takes me home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Wyatt
“Who was that girl?”
My mother’s question sends an uncomfortable thread of unease down my spine.
I turn to look in her direction, finding her standing at the door to my office, leaning against the doorjamb, a glass of clear liquid in her hands.
My shoulders droop slightly. If my mother’s drunk, this conversation will be a lot easier to handle.
“What girl?”
She waves her hand around, the one holding the glass, spilling a drop onto the carpet. “The one that was talking so much to Ivy today.”
I can’t help the little bit of joy that shoots through my chest, remembering Hannah and Ivy together today.
It was Ivy’s thirteenth birthday party.
Originally, we’d planned on having a party at the house. Something big and fun to make sure my little sister feels overwhelmed with affection and love.
But as the day got closer and closer, I realized that a big party is what my mother wanted for her, not what Ivy wanted.
So I changed it.
Of course, Vivian Calloway wasnotpleased when she started to get phone calls asking her why the ‘event’ was cancelled. She gave me quite a bit of shit about it, actually. But I was quick to remind her that Ivy’s medications make her tired, and that beingtoooverwhelmed wouldn’t be good for her health.
She begrudgingly gave in.
So today, we did what Ivy wanted to do.
We had dinner at Bennie’s at the Pier.
Hannah was supposed to be a guest at the table, of course, instead of a waitress. I’d offered to call in a favor to get her the Saturday night off, with her permission. But she said she needed to keep working, assuring me that she would be the one to serve our table.
And there she was, with a big smile and so much attention for the birthday girl.
My mother sat at the opposite end from where I sat with Ivy and Ben, who left the dinner table as soon as he could come up with an excuse for why he needed to head to the kitchen for some non-existent emergency.
Lucas came too, though he steered clear of me the entire evening, offering just a hello and a handshake when he arrived.
I assumed that Lucas’ presence would distract my mother. She, of course, knows that Lucas and Ivy share a father. And she knows that Lucas knows.
There’s a bit of fear, I think, in my mother that Lucas will tell Ivy, even though he already assured my mother that he has no plans to do so.
So she watched him like a hawk.
Which I thought would mean she didn’t reallyseethe girl that kept talking in sign language with Ivy.
Apparently, that isn’t the case.
A little bit of anxiety creeps under my shirt as I consider how to answer my mother’s question.
“She’s my girlfriend,” I say, knowing full well that I haven’t said as much to Hannah. “She loves chatting with Ivy since she knows how to sign.”
I watch my mother’s eyes widen. She’s never heard me call someone a girlfriend before.
