Page 33 of Well Played

After about a minute, she texted back.

Presley: Aw, nice. Okay. Thanks again.

Levi: Anytime.

I turned to Alex. “That was your mom. She’s having a good time, so she’s heading out to dinner now. I told her we were all good here.”

Fern stirred the pot. “Dinner and hopefully somedessert.”

She was enjoying this way too much. But since she seemed to see my weird, territorial feelings toward Presley, I had to ignore her and not engage. The last thing I needed was for her to say something Alex picked up on. He was sharper than she realized.

After I cleaned up our bowls, Alex and I turned on a movie in the living room. He fell asleep before the ending, so after the credits rolled, I carried him to his room and tucked him in.

I took a few moments to look down at his sleeping face, once again marveling at how much he looked like me. The fact that he’d wanted to go to Iggy’s really had touched me. And our conversations tonight only added to that. It had been an emotional evening. I just wished one of the emotions wasn’t anxiousness over the fact that Presley still wasn’t home.

Finally, the door opened around 10PM.

I was watching TV in the living room when she walked in. I started to chastise her about how late she’d stayed out, but then stopped myself. “How was it?” I asked instead.

She threw her purse down on a chair. “It was…nice.”

I gritted my teeth. “Just nice?”

“Yeah. You know, about what I expected.”

As she sat across from me, I felt a sharp jolt of pain in my bad knee. I started to massage it.

She looked at it. “Is your knee still hurting you?”

“I reinjured it tonight.”

Her mouth dropped. “How?”

“I banged it against the damn leg of the table.”

“Seriously? That’s crazy. At least I can’t take credit for it this time.”

“Actually, itwaskind of your fault.”

Presley’s nose wrinkled. “What?”

“When you texted me, nosy-ass Fern was looking at my phone and tried to grab it. I jumped to take it from her, and that’s when I hit my knee.”

“That’smyfault?”

“No. I’m teasing. It was my fault. I was on edge about you being out, so I overreacted.”Why did I just admit that?“But tell me about tonight.”

She looked a bit confused before she answered. “Jeremy is really nice. Likereally, reallynice. And smart and funny…”

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I said, “Okay…”

“But honestly, after I texted and you told me what you guys had done tonight—going to Iggy’s and reminiscing—I sort of lost focus. All I wanted was to be home. Which is weird, you know? That shouldn’t have happened so easily.”

My heart began to beat faster. “I wished you were with us too,” I admitted.

She rubbed her palms together. “So, you said you were on edge tonight…because of me?”

I nodded, but it took several seconds before I could respond. “I can’t properly explain it. But yeah.” I shook my head, not wanting to elaborate. “Anyway, I apologize for trying to make you feel guilty about things this morning.”

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