27
I’d fallen asleep ratherthan write any songs. When I woke up, disappointment with having lost so many hours in the day was the only thing I felt. I picked up my cell. Shit. Two-thirty.
I supposed I should have been happy I’d accomplished as much as I had today. Making friends with Dixie was no small feat.
I planned to take Maeve away from here this afternoon. It wasn’t that there wasn’t plenty of space in casa de Lewis, just that I wanted to get her alone. Show her that I could still take her on dates and have fun and live like Dixie had said… live your life. I wanted to live our life.
I wandered across the tiled area around the pool, and voices came from the kitchen. I made my way over. Maeve and my mom were facing the fridge, Maeve bent over, her little ass all peachy in her black jeans. Yes. Most definitely we were getting the hell out of here tonight.
“Hey, hey…”
They both turned around. Maeve closed the fridge behind her with a banana in her hand.
“Didn’t you two just get back from lunch?”
My mom replied quickly with an air of nervous energy around her. “Oh, we’re just thirsty.”
“Why are you acting weird?” I asked her.
“What makes you say that?” she said in such a way that it confirmed her weirdness.
“You’re all jumpy or something. What’s up?”
Maeve glanced at my mom, and they shared a knowing look.
Uh-oh. What the hell had happened while I was comatose in the pool house? What could have possibly happened in a few hours since eating bacon? “Did you hear from the doctor or something?”
“Drake…” Maeve came to me, put her arms around me.
She did want a kiss but also felt up to no good. It was a schmoozy kind of cuddle. I craned myself downward to kiss her.
“Babe, we need to talk to you,” she said.
Fuck. Was this national have a heart-to-heart day, or was this what I was in for now that I lived in a house full of women? Not that I didn’t like having real chats with people. I loathed small talk and lived for real conversation. But I still had my limits. And when I reached it, rather than small talk, I wanted no talk. Like watching a show or going to a gig. You didn’t have to just talk through every space in between the big stuff.
“What’s up?” I asked for the second time.
My mom and Maeve made their way to a snug next to the kitchen. My mom sat in an armchair, and Maeve sat on a loveseat, patting the empty space next to her. I took it.
“Why do I feel like something is wrong? Could you two just not keep me waiting anymore? I’ve been sleeping the day away and was hoping you and I could go to dinner somewhere tonight or maybe a jazz café…”
My mom interrupted me. “Drake, we saw your father today.”
Holy shit. What happened in my chest? A tornado? An earthquake? A tsunami? Impossible to tell, but the rumble inside my ribcage was most definitely in the category of a natural disaster. What in the fuck? Maybe this thing going on inside me was actually a volcanic explosion because everything under my skin was as hot as molten lava.
Immediately, I turned away from my mom and toward Maeve. My blood boiled. “You knew I didn’t want to contact him. And you did it anyway behind my back.”
Her eyes had a look in them I’d never seen before. Fear? Maybe. Good. I was livid. Smoking so hot I thought steam would come out of my ears. How dare she?
She defended herself. Of course she would. “Babe, you have to listen. Hear us out.”
“What? You came here with my mom thinking that would make it better? Did you go to lunch so you could figure out your game plaaaa…” It was all coming together. “Wait. Shit. Did you already have this all planned when you spoke to me about this last night?”
Betrayal fanned the flames inside me.
My mom tried to calm me. “Honey, we only got his information today. Maeve just told me about the letter.”
“You told her about the letter!” I roared.