Page 42 of Perfect Enough

Pulling my tie loose, I replied, “As long as you don’t mind me taking off this tie.”

She smiled up at me. “You can go change if you’d like.”

“I’m okay.”

She took the whiskey from me and stared at it briefly. “I don’t think I’ve ever had whiskey.”

I held up my glass. “To trying something new!”

She gently tapped her glass to mine, took a small drink…and started coughing. “Holy shit!”

Laughing, I took the glass she was shoving back at me.

“That is vile! Please take it!”

“We discovered you’re not a fan of whiskey.”

She looked at me. “And you are?”

I shrugged. “I had my first drink of it when I was fifteen. My cousin let me have some, and I admit I didn’t care for it either. I hardly ever drink it, but sometimes the occasion calls for the hard stuff.”

“Then why on God’s green Earth do you have it?”

“My cousins like it. And my father. And to be honest, Ihaveused it a time or two to get shit-faced.”

Her head tilted slightly. “Why did you want to get shit-faced?”

I thought about it for a moment. “I don’t remember.”

She chuckled.

“Are you feeling better?”

Sophia let out a long breath. “I think so.”

At that very moment, her cell phone started to ring.

“It’s my mother.”

She declined the call and put the phone beside her on the sofa. We both waited for the notification that she’d left a voicemail, and when it finally came, Sophia groaned.

She pulled up her messages, sighed, and then hit play. The message was on speaker, and I wasn’t sure if she meant for me to hear it.

“Sophia Grace Montgomery!”

“Not the full name!” I said, as she rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t text me that you made it to Josh’s house. Are you okay? Can we trust this boy? I know, I know. David knows his father and you’ve been dating him, but you didn’t look like you felt good at all. Will he know what to do for your headache?”

“Boy?” I asked, jerking my head back.

Sophia giggled.

“Please text me, or better yet, call, sweetheart. I want to make sure your head is feeling better. I do hope you stayed and didn’t attempt to drive home. We need to talk about Life360. That way I can tell when you’ve arrived somewhere safe.”

“No,” Sophia whispered, as I attempted to keep the smile off my face.

“Maybe I should just call you. I’m going to call you if I don’t hear back from you in five minutes. I love you! By the way, this is your mother.”