Page 16 of Only Ever You
“We’ll plan on it. Let’s just hope we’re not out at a fire,” Hudson said.
“Let’s hope,” I replied.
Hudson waggled his brows. “Stella tells me your dad is worried about making sure you fall in love.”
I shook my head slowly as I pressed my tongue into my cheek. “I know. Let’s get real. When my dad was my age, he wasn’t serious with anyone, like ever. He was busy selling drugs. No judgment. He had his shit to figure out, and he’s doing well now. I love him, but I think it’s fucking hysterical. He thinks it’s time for me to fall in love and settle down. Of course, you and Stella just did, so there’s that.” I ran a hand through my hair with a sigh.
Hudson clapped me on the shoulder. “I think it’s funny. Your dad’s a lot like mine. I love my dad, and he cracks me up. He’s happy as can be these days with his girlfriend.” Hudson’s gaze sobered. He rested an elbow on the table and took a swallow of beer. “I’m the first to say I never thought falling in love would matter, but it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”
I pondered his observation as I drove home later. Fuzzy would be waiting at home, always happy to see me. And yet, I lived a pretty solitary life. I was also acutely aware of just how impatient I was to see Luna again.
Chapter Ten
LUNA
“Your parents are the Talton’s who have that RV channel?” Maisie stared at me, her eyes wide.
I nodded. “They sure are. I went by Jane on the channel. They didn’t want me to use my real first name, and they straightened my hair.”
She pointed at her own curls and shook her head. “That must’ve been a chore.”
“It was,” I replied dryly.
Stella, who was sitting beside Maisie at the table, slid her gaze to the side. “Are you really into following RV influencers online?”
Maisie shrugged. “I wouldn’t say I follow them, but I watch sometimes. There’s no way I would live a life like that with my kids, but it seems, I don’t know, carefree.”
Madison, who was seated across from Maisie, cleared her throat. “It’s your turn.”
Maisie quickly refocused her attention on her cards. Casey had brought me along for card night with this group of women. I’d known many of them when I was a little girl, but since we’d started traveling when I was still in elementary school, it felt like I was getting to know them all over again. Most of us didn’tactually play cards, but there were a few who took it seriously, including Maisie, who usually won.
Tonight, we were at Tish and Griffin’s house with Griffin out with his friends. We were taking turns cooing over Tish’s little boy, Teddy, a cute little toddler.
He was sound asleep in Tiffany’s lap at the moment. She glanced over to Tish. “Should we just put him to bed?” she whispered.
Tish nodded and scooped him out of Tiffany’s arms. Teddy didn’t even open his eyes as Tish carried him away.
“Babies are so cute,” Tiffany said when she glanced to me.
“Babies are cute,” I agreed. “Is he still a baby? At what age do babies become toddlers? I don’t actually know this.”
Maisie snorted when she looked up from her cards. “I don’t know what the rules are, but I say after they turn one. They’re heavy then,” she pointed out.
“Speaking of age,” Casey chimed in. “How old were you when your parents started doing this RV influencer life? I zigzagged all the way from the coast of North Carolina to Alaska. It was fun and nice to see the views, and I don’t regret doing it, but that’s a lot of driving. I can’t imagine doing that and not having an end date to a trip like that.”
Maisie played another card, nodding as she glanced up. “Yeah, I don’t even know how parents can handle that, to be honest. It would be much harder to create structure for kids.”
“I ended up hating it,” I said, that familiar bitterness lacing my words.
Tiffany’s eyes went wide. “You sound like you really hated it.”
A sigh slipped out. “At first, when my parents told me that was their plan, I thought it would be cool. It was fun for maybe six months. There are cool places that I got to visit. I’ve been to every state, and I’ve seen most of the main parks and places like the Grand Canyon, the Badlands, the Catskills and Adirondacks,the Blue Ridge Mountains, coastal Maine, and more. All of it beautiful. They didn’t tell me at the beginning about their plan to create content.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m the first to say there’s a lot of cool stuff that can happen online. That’s where I go when I need to learn something. That’s how I learned to make donuts. My grandmother used to bake with me when we visited here in Willow Brook and then I would practice by myself. But I got sick of my life being online. I got so tired of having my hair straightened. I got tired of being called Jane. It was just me and my parents all the time. My mom signed me up for online school and I didn’t really have any friends. I had one person who I thought was my friend, and—” I paused as my heart twisted in my chest. “Her parents were also RV influencers. I didn’t know they got a cut from my parents’ ad money every time we did stuff together. Since my parents were more successful, they made sure Margie hung out with me.”
Tiffany curled her arm around my shoulders and squeezed. “Luna! I don’t like that,” she said with feeling.
I returned her side hug. “I didn’t like it either. It hurt. And the stuff you see online are the clips that they make perfect. I got so tired of everything being recorded. I never even had a boyfriend.” My cheeks puffed when I let out a big sigh. “I love my parents even though I didn’t like that. They’re still doing it and they’re pretty upset I’m not there anymore. I think they had this idea, I’m not freaking kidding, that I would stay with them after I became an adult. I think they hoped they’d end up with grandkids on the channel. Although I have no idea how they thought I’d manage to meet someone and have anything resembling a relationship.” I shook my head. “There need to be laws that protect kids from this shit.”
Maisie caught my eye. “Hearing this is so sad. I do watch these short clips, but I don’t want to anymore. I’m so sorry you went through that.”
