Page 100 of Freshmeet
TWENTY
THE MCCORMICKS
CONNOR
“Mom, have you seen my red heels?” I yelled from inside my overstuffed closet.
“Should be in your room,” Mom shouted from the kitchen, where she was making Sunday dinner.
Where the hell did they go?
“Looking for these?” Jamie said from the door, tossing two huge heels at me.
I caught one, and the other hit me square between the eyes. “Fucker.”
Jamie smiled, but it was weird. “Con, I need to talk to you about something.”
“Sarah just pulled up,” Mom said, passing by the doorway.
Jamie’s shoulders slumped, and he shuffled away.
As much as I wanted to figure out what was going on with him, I had enough on my plate.
When Mom asked me to bring Sarah to dinner, my lack of apprehension freaked me out. I mean, we’d only been together for couple of weeks, most of which we’d spent apart. I shouldn’t have been so cool with the idea of her coming to family dinner.
Too bad the night before, her best friend came back to town, and they had partied like they hadn’t seen each other in yearsinstead of just weeks. I’d offered to raincheck, but Sarah was determined to keep the dinner plans.
The closer it got to six thirty, the more nervous I felt. I knew my mom would love Sarah, and Jamie already worshiped the ground she walked on, but I’d been burned in the past. My childhood home wasn’t as nice as hers—I’d seen pictures on social media. And my mom’s cooking was good, but definitely of the down-home variety. So, while Sarah had given me no reason to believe she would suddenly go all snob on me, my Laura baggage had me waiting for the other shoe to drop.
All I could think about was my disastrous senior year prom. Laura’s parents invited us to their mini-mansion for pictures as an afterthought. When Mom showed up in scrubs after working a twelve-hour shift, Laura’s parents were weird when she wanted a picture with me and Laura.
“Wouldn’t you like to change into something else?”
Mom waved them off and jumped in between us. She didn’t give a shit about their prissy attitude, but I was pissed.
I wouldn’t be able to handle it if Sarah ended up being the same way.
I jogged out to her little car to meet her. When she stepped out of the driver’s side, I was taken aback by how beautiful she looked despite being in the throes of a serious hangover. Her shiny blonde hair was woven into an intricate braid, and her rosy complexion was flawless. But her eyes gave away her sorry state.
“Right on time.”
She nodded and started to walk past me, but I caught her hand and brought her into a hug. “You look beautiful.”
She let out a pitiful laugh. “I look like hot trash, but thank you.”
“Let‘s get you a glass of water.”
Sighing, she let me go. “Bless you.” She walked to the house stiffly, like one wrong move would shatter the delicate illusionshe’d created. On the porch, she stopped and sat on the bench with a groan.
“It’s not too late for you to go home. I was serious when I said we could do this next week.”
“No. I put on makeup and real clothes. We’re doing this.”
As I opened my mouth to argue, Jamie bounded through the screen door. “Why are you guys sitting out here?” He saw Sarah and started laughing. “You look like shit.”
She raised the hand not holding her purse and slowly gave him the least passionate middle finger I’d ever seen.
A slow-mo fuck you.
