The last couple mornings have been ice-cold showers and promises to take her shopping for more clothes. Not that it’ll help. I think I’d still be burning for this woman if she walked in wearing a trash bag for a dress.
“I hate asking you to lie for me,” I growl, raking a hand through my hair.
“Flint. It’s nothing. Just a couple hours, right? How bad could it be?” She breaks into an honest smile.
“You haven’t met my ma,” I tell her, shaking my head.
I can’t believe this shit.
The days haven’t been much kinder than the nights.
That animal magnetism I keep fighting tooth and nail just grows between us. Ever since the game of water tag, I can’t forget having her pressed up to me, almost naked except for that tight little swimsuit I could shear off her in half a second flat.
Worst part is, we’ve reached such an impasse with this Cornaro fuckery, I have no choice in what’s coming down next. Davis and Cash need more, they’ve exhausted their leads.
Soon, I have to tell her what we need to do, and it won’t be pleasant.
I’ve been putting it off because I don’t want to see her back in pain. She hasn’t mentioned her family since the fallout with Ray. But last night, Davis confirmed another suspicious cargo shipment leaving Pearl City on a King Heron vessel.
We can’t delay the inevitable. Not much longer.
Nor can I hold up seeing the woman who gave birth to me.
“Flint?” Val asks.
“Whatever, we’ll live,” I tell her, lying through my teeth. “Let’s go.”
We walk into the house and hear voices. Bryce and my mother’s, both upstairs.
Valerie looks at me questioningly, and I gesture to the steps. We might as well join them. Maybe the new decorating job will be a big enough distraction to make this less awkward.
Ma spins around the second we arrive at the door to Val’s room.
Then she throws out her arms and crosses the room, the smile she was beaming at Bryce two seconds ago getting so wide it shouldn’t be humanly possible.
“Finally, the infamous Valerie! Bryce has been singing your praises since I walked in. Hi, I’m Beverly, Flint’s mom, and let me tell you, dearie, this room is drop dead gorgeous!”
Poor Val.
Ma stops just short of squeezing the life out of her as she wraps her in a super hug.
“My pleasure, Beverly. I had a lot of fun redecorating and—”
“Oh, darling, you’re exactly what this stuffy place needed! It’s felt more like a museum than a home since the day they moved in.” My mother doesn’t skip a beat. She doesn’t stop gushing either.
I side-eye Val while Ma blabs on for several minutes, pouring her heart out like she’s already part of the family.
“Thank you again,” Val says. Then, realizing she’s still wearing the gloves she’d borrowed to weed the flowers, she pulls them off.
A second ago, I told myself it can’t get worse.
Then it fucking does.
Ma notices the ring on Valerie’s finger.
“Oh, oh, oh! Oh, darling!”
Oh, hell.
She’s practically jumping. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my mother jump in almost four decades on this earth.
Then she turns to me, hurls her arms around my neck, smothering me with kisses so rapid-fire it’s a wonder I can breathe. “You devil of a boy! How long have you been hiding the news? I’m so happy for you, my Little Arrow!”
I return her hug but don’t say anything.
I’m also a grown man pushing forty. Hardly her little anything but…shit, you know moms and their nicknames. Like it or lump it, they stick for life.
Plus, she’s still talking. “I’m so glad I came home early. I kept thinking about how you wanted me to keep Bryce a little longer, and I just couldn’t stay away. These summers are so short. Before you know it, he’ll be off to school again. So, ta-da, I’m back!”
“What would I do without you?” I wonder out loud. “We’re fine, though. Didn’t need you to—”
“Nonsense! I get it now, you two want to celebrate your engagement. It won’t take Bryce long at all to pack. I’ll take him to a movie and then up to the North Shore. We’ll go horseback riding at that place he loves. Maybe I can book one of those cute little bungalows where you can watch the whales right out your window. They even do turtle tours!”
Val looks up at me and pinches her lips tight, but that doesn’t hide the wicked grin forming on her face.
Turtle tours.
Fuck me.
Yeah, that was one of my finer moments. No one makes up a lie so ridiculous. No one should.
“But first, I have to see the rest of the house,” Ma says, hooking Valerie’s arm with hers. “Bryce told me you’ve moved things around.”
“Not much. I mostly just spaced things differently,” Val says, walking out the door with Ma’s arm glued to her, glancing back at me.