Page 61 of The Bad Girl List

She shakes her head. “It’s my fault for not coming clean to my parents when Oliver and I first broke up. I wouldn’t be in this position if I’d just been honest.”

I pull up short, briefly touching her elbow to stop her. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Don’t let me off the hook. You don’t have to take the blame for this. This is on me, okay? I should have guessed they’d all lose their shit. I’ve barely left my bungalow since Elle died, except to work. I’m going to do everything I can not to screw things up for you.”

She nods, her mouth tight. “Thanks, Trevor.”

I hate seeing her like this. The relaxed Dom I’d spent last night with is gone, replaced with the uncomfortable, nervous version. This was supposed to be an easy, fun dinner.

“My mom and aunties think you invited us to avoid a lawsuit,” Dom says. “You know, for cutting me with the wine glasses. Maybe they’ll attribute anything weird your family does to that.”

“Let’s hope.” I glance inside through the floor-to-ceiling windows and see my mom in a lively conversation with Dom’s mother and her two aunts. Cindy and Leigh, her two best friends, are also there, along with Aunt Margo.

Shit. Mom has on her charming smile, the one my father taught her. She uses it to get people to sign up for our wine club. She’s clearly on a mission to win these ladies over.

“I think my mom might be waging a political campaign right now in the hopes of impressing your family,” I whisper. “We need to separate them. Come on.”

We hurry inside. I spot Annika and Thomas lounging in chairs at one end of the long dinner table, swirling wine in their glasses as they watch my mother ignite a round of laughter from Dom’s family. The two of them look like they’re enjoying the show.

Thomas gives me an eyebrow raise that clearly says, Good luck with that, bro. Our mother can be a bulldog when she puts her mind to it.

The women are all gathered around the wine table. Mom is in the middle of handing out glasses of Chardonnay while Dom’s family looks down at a framed picture.

Her mom and aunties look adorable with their matching fanny packs. I might have been able to appreciate their warm, open smiles if I hadn’t been so determined to run damage control with my mother.

“Mom, what are you doing?” I ask, positioning myself between her and Dom’s family.

That’s when I see what the ladies have in their hands. It’s a picture of me.

From senior year.

In a Speedo.

“Mom!” Before I can think better of it, I snatch the picture away. “What the hell, Mom?”

Mom’s eyes glint as she meets my gaze. She’s bringing her A game, apparently. If I don’t keep an eye on her, she’s going to haul out my naked baby pictures. I have grossly underestimated the fall-out of bringing a casual date to Sunday dinner.

“I was just telling Dom’s family about your swimming career,” Mom says.

“It wasn’t a career. It was a high school sports team.”

“You could have gotten a scholarship if you’d wanted to. ”

“Maybe, if I didn’t have my hands full with a double major at Davis,” I reply testily.

“And Louise was just telling me how Dom graduated with honors from UC Berkeley,” Mom says, smiling warmly at Dom.

One of the aunties pats me on the arm. “You look very handsome in that picture. Dom, did you see it?”

Dom jerks back. I hadn’t even realized she was leaning over to get a glimpse of me in my Speedo. I might have shown it to her if we weren’t standing in the middle of what feels like a tightening noose.

“That’s okay, Auntie Helen. I don’t want to embarrass Trevor.” She wedges herself beside me, effectively creating a wall between her family and mine. “You are so going to show that to me later,” she says around her rigid smile, voice only loud enough for me to hear.

To everyone else, she says, “This is our friend, Trevor,” leaning on the word friend. “Trevor, this is Dee, Helen, and my mom, Louise.”

“Thank you for inviting us to your family dinner,” Louise says. “We’re honored to be your guests. This is really a treat.”

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