Night Road

“That I haven’t been to practice in five days. ”

“You’re injured, I hear. Funny that I haven’t noticed a limp. ”

His rounded shoulders answered her question.

“You’ve lied to me. ”

“Technically, I didn’t say—”

“Don’t go there, Zach. It won’t help you. Why have you missed practice?”

Mia came back in the room and sat down next to her brother. She held his hand. “Tell her,” she said quietly. “We were going to tell you when you got home tonight, Mom. Honest. ”

Jude crossed her arms and leaned back, waiting. There was no point in dismissing Mia. Jude shouldn’t have bothered with that. “Yes, please, Zach. Enlighten me. ”

“I’ve been with Lexi. ”

“What do you mean?” Jude asked.

“I’m in love with her,” he said.

Love. Lexi.

Of all the excuses she’d imagined, that hadn’t even made the list. Zach was in love with his sister’s best friend.

Jude looked at Mia, who wasn’t smiling but didn’t look angry, either. “Mia?”

“It’s cool, Madre,” she said.

Jude wasn’t quite sure how to respond, and here were her mirror-image kids, so alike they seemed to breathe in tandem, sitting slanted together, looking somehow both worried and defiant, waiting to hear her reaction to this news. They had hidden this from her, and it stung a little. “How long?”

“A couple of weeks,” Zach said.

Mia flinched at that, and Jude knew she’d been hurt by this, a little at least.

Jude let out her breath. This could be ruinous. What would happen if—when—Zach broke up with Lexi? What if Lexi stopped coming around? Mia would be heartbroken.

She chose her words carefully. “Obviously, Zach, I’m not going to tell you who to date and who not to. But Lexi is important to all of us. You need to remember that she was Mia’s best friend before you started dating her and she’ll be Mia’s best friend after it’s over. And we don’t keep secrets in this family. You know that. Okay?”

“Okay. ” He smiled brightly. As usual, he expected to get his way.

“And about football practice. You will be on time to every practice from here on, and you will be without a car for the next week. I don’t appreciate being lied to. ”

Zach’s smile fell. “That’s bogus. ”

“As is lying,” Jude said.

Headlights flashed through the living room window, illuminating Zach and Mia for a moment.

The front door opened and Miles walked into the house, with a jacket slung over his shoulder and a novel under his arm. He came around the fireplace and saw them standing there in silence. He recognized trouble and frowned. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Zach said. He looked at Mia and hitched his head. They ran upstairs and disappeared.

“What was that all about?” Miles asked, tossing his sport coat onto the sofa. He went to the elegant mirrored bar in the corner of the room. A moment later he handed Jude a white wine.

“Zach’s dating,” Jude said, thankful for the wine.

“Again?” Miles said. “That was quick. ”