Page 73 of Cabin Fever Baby
Then my mom sat down next to me, flipping her long silver dusted braid over her shoulder. “Tell me about this girl.”
“Ma. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You came in with Callum last night and barely said a word. Only a woman can put that kind of look on a man’s face. Or a man, I don’t judge.”
I huffed out a hollow laugh. “She’s female.” A flash of her wide dark blue eyes hit me like a fist. First, with the squinty way they crinkled when she smiled and then filled with tears because of me.
No, because she’d gotten caught in her lies.
I threaded my two fingers into the handle of the mug and lifted it to my mouth. The nostalgia and comfort mug with Dwight’s iconic glasses fromThe Officeon it eased the riot in my stomach.
My mom reached over to grip my forearm. “I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt.” Then she lifted her fingers to the little mark left on my forehead. “She saved you, so I can’t hate her unless you tell me she’s awful and then I’ll try.”
I laughed and caught her hand to bring it to my lips for a quick kiss. “She was a mistake, that’s all.”
“A mistake wouldn’t haunt your eyes like that.”
“She lied to me.”
“About what?”
I hunched over the mug, letting the chocolatey steam fill my nose. I hesitated before I opened my mouth. The kind of information I had was heavy. Not because I didn’t trust my family, but because it was the kind of thing that would excite them too much.
My mom’s book club would live on this kind of information for ages.
And the small itch at the back of my neck grew. That Ocean had to live with knowing that her brother was more famous than most actors in Hollywood. To guard that kind of information…
But it was different.
It wasn’t like I was going to use the information. I worked in advertising, for God’s sake. Half of my portfolio of clients included an NDA.
She wouldn’t know that.
I tamped down that voice. She lied right to my face about not one, but two of her brothers.
She also knew who Eden Advertising was. The memory of her eyes widening made my head throb. I was so freaking stupid. There had been so many chances for her to tell me.
“Hudson.”
I blinked out of my spinning thoughts. “Sorry. It doesn’t matter.”
“Obviously, it does, but if you can’t tell me something to protect her, I understand.”
The timer on the oven beeped. She popped up and squeezed my shoulder before she headed back into the kitchen. The familiar scent of roasted chicken was like a cattle call to everyone.
My dad came up the stairs with a pile of presents that he set under the Christmas tree near the front window. It was far more modest than the beast at Ocean’s place. Instead of the classic ornaments, it was a mishmash of handmade ones from us and new ones from Cara and Faith.
“Cal is on his way. Finn, set the table.”
“Make the mope do it. He’s just sitting there.”
“I didn’t ask him to, I asked you.” Diane MacGregor was a force and so was her mom voice.
I pushed up. “I’ll do it.”
The clatter of dishes and the mixer for mashed potatoes were homey sounds that settled me.Thiswas what was important. My family’s chatter and the everyday bickering between kids.
I didn’t eat much, but my dad saved me from pushing food around my plate any longer.