Page 69 of Allure

“With a friend?” she interrupts.

“Mom, it’s two in the afternoon here.”

"Yes, I realize that. I can convert time, dear. No matter what you think, I'm not an idiot. It's just… Were you ever going to tell me about the muggings? That is happening right near your campus, isn’t it?”

I close my eyes and try to count to ten, so I won't mutter something she doesn't want to hear under my breath.

“Mom, I’m fine. I don’t go out alone at night—”

“What about karate?” she asks. “What time are your classes?”

“I’ve been carpooling with a friend,” I lie.

“Oh, that’s good. Good, good. I’m so worried! You’re so far away, and you are everything to me, baby girl. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you too.”

She sounds like she’s going to cry, and I feel a flash of guilt.

“Mom, I am fine. Seriously. There’s nothing to be worried about.”

“So you haven’t been mugged?”

My heart skips a beat. How many times do I want to continue to lie to her? But if I tell her the truth, she’s going to hop a flight and try to drag me onto the plane with her back to Florida.

No way in hell am I returning to my father’s state.

And that's when I realize a possible subconscious reason to explain why I hadn't talked to the police right away to file a report.

Because I know my mom and her crazy paranoid mind, and I wouldn’t put it past her to try to Google me all the time and see what hits come up, and if she saw in the news and learned there about the mugging instead of from me directly, there would be hell to pay.

“Mom, do you really think I would not tell you if I were mugged?” I ask.

“Honestly, Brooke, that’s exactly what I think you would do because you wouldn’t want me to worry.”

“Is that proof that I was mugged?”

“No, which is why I’m calling and asking and hoping that my daughter won’t lie to me.”

“How often have I lied to you?”

“More times than I care for.”

“Less than the fingers on one hand!” I exclaim.

Which is, in and of itself, a lie, but there's only been three or four times when she's caught me in a lie, so as far as she knows, that's the truth.

"If you think I don't know that there were times in high school when you pretended to be sick, so you didn't have to go…"

“Yeah, well, one of those times, I actually did end up throwing up,” I mutter.

Now that’s a true story.

“Karma’s a bitch, so don’t lie to me. Were you mugged?”

“Why would you think that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you had all of the credit cards canceled and had to get a new driver’s license?”

Holy shit. She should be the detective working the case instead of Detective Rivera!

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