Page 53 of Betting on You

“I’m gonna take off,” Charlie said, and when I turned around, the expression on his face surprised me. His cheeks were a little pink, and he looked uncomfortable.

Not at all like his usual cocky self.

Almost as if Scott’s attitude toward him had bothered him.

I felt oddly protective of Charlie at that moment, and I offhandedly wondered why that kept happening. He was cocky and obnoxious and surely didn’t need my protection, yet when I saw his face at the party—and now in my living room—he seemed vulnerable. And it tugged away at me.

“Thank you for the ride, Charlie,” I said, wanting to addAND FOR BEING THE KIND OF GUY TO INSIST ON GIVING CLIO A RIDE HOMEbut knowing that wouldn’t help the situation.

After he left, I went to bed, livid that Scott (a) thought he had any business worrying about my life, (b) was a jerk to Charlie, and (c) was obviously sleeping over every night indefinitely. I was so mad, and also so sad, because it felt like I had zero control. I felt like everything was changing—yet again—and there was nothing I could do.

But then I heard it.

I was lying in my bed, buried in the worn old quilt I’d had since Alaska, when I heard them. Scott and my mother were arguing aboutme, and Scotty didn’t sound happy.

Holy shit, is it actually working?

“If you don’t put your foot down, she’s going to start walking all over you.”

Oh, no, I’m not.I snuggled deeper into my pillow and thought,But it isn’t your business if I do.

“No, she’s not,” my mom said, sounding irritated and tired. Ifelt bad for the last part, for having a hand in making her tired. She was my favorite human in the universe, and I didn’t want her to be anything but wide awake and happy.

“I know it seems like she won’t, but look at Kristy. She’s an out-of-control snot, but she wasn’t always.”

Holy shit, he talked about his daughter that way?

“Bailey isnotlike Kristy,” my mother snapped, sounding insulted. “They couldn’t be more different.”

So my mom knew Kristy…?

“I know, Em,” Scott said, sounding apologetic, “but trust me—she was a sweetheart until she hit middle school, when Neal and Laura totally lost control and let her run wild.”

“But your brother’s a slacker, come on,” my mom said. “Not the same thing.”

Wait. What?

“True. But I’m telling you, guys like that Charlie—”

“Will not turn Bailey into your bratty niece,” she interrupted.

His niece? Kristy was hisniece? Relief washed over me as I lay there, smiling in the dark and wanting to screech like a happy… well, animal who screeched when they were happy.

Kristy wasn’t his daughter—holy shit!

Yes, I was screaming into my pillow and kicking my feet.

“He’s a good kid,” I heard my mom say, and I felt lucky that she was the nonjudgmental person that she was. “You just got a bad first impression. You’ll see.”

Strangely enough, she’d hit it right on the head. Charliewasactually a decent person.

You just had to get through a hell of a lot of bullshit to see it.

Yes, I’d been wholly convinced that Mr. Nothing was an irredeemable ass. I would’ve bet money on the fact that he was trouble with a capitalT, yet the more time I spent with him, the more I realized that he wasn’t.

At all.

I still wasn’t sure what exactly hewas, but I was definitely starting to see what hewasn’t.

---