Trouble's Brewing (Stirring Up Trouble Trilogy 2)

“Yes, Mom, but—”

Milo’s parents appeared in the doorway, looking confused and concerned.

“How could you, Zoe? This is so humiliating! Do you have any idea how embarrassed I am?”

She was way more upset than I thought she would be.

Milo stood too. He put his hand on my arm in a gesture of support.

“Mom, it isn’t that bad. Everybody does it. I didn’t think it would embarrass you.”

“You probably didn’t think Paulette at K’town in the Afternoon would see it and ask to feature my Internet dating experience on the show!”

Uh oh.

“You probably didn’t think I’d be blindsided and embarrassed in front of a colleague. You probably didn’t think about what the network will think when they see it or about the damage you could do to my career!”

“Mom—”

“You probably didn’t think about the dangers inherent in hosting a television show and the exponential increase in creepy fan mail that I am going to face!”

Danger? My mother had creepy fan mail? “I didn’t… I didn’t know.”

“Annie,” Milo’s mother said, coming into the room and putting an arm around my mother. “It’s going to be okay. I’m sure Zoe meant well.”

“I didn’t think you’d be embarrassed,” I stammered. “I thought you might not want to do it.”

“You are grounded, Zoe.”

“Mom!” I motioned to Milo and his family. “Hardly anybody could have seen it yet. I just put it up.”

“When?”

“We—Wednesday,” I said. “After midnight.”

“So only a day, really,” Milo’s dad said, pulling out his iPad. “Annie, it’s only been up for a day.”

My mother pulled away from Marjorie and covered her eyes with her hands. Her chest rose as she took a deep breath.

“Mom, I’m so sorry. I never meant to embarrass you. I didn’t know about the mail.”

My mother nodded. “I know,” she said in a steady voice. “I know you meant well.”

I lowered my eyes in shame. I hadn’t done this for her. Sure, I’d told myself it would be good for her, but the reality was I had done this for me.

“Let’s sit down and talk this out,” Marjorie said. “Bill, bring Annie a glass of tea.”

Mom and Marjorie pulled out chairs, and Milo and I sat back down.

Once the five of us were seated around the table, Mom spoke. “One of Paulette’s production assistants saw my profile in the featured new members section.” She shook her head. “She must think I’m an idiot. I didn’t believe her until I clicked the link she texted me.”

“I’m sorry,” I said again.

“Give me the login info, Zoe, and I can take this down right away,” Bill said.

I told him the password and user ID I had used.

“Zoe, I don’t understand why you felt the need to do this.”

I didn’t want to share my fears about Dr. Finnegan. It would embarrass her even worse.

“I think she just wants you to be happy,” Milo said, allowing me to sidestep a direct lie.

“I do, Mom.”

Mom let out a sigh. “I know, Zoe. I know you’ve been worried about me with your father dating Sheree. I’m fine though. I’m open to dating, but I don’t need to date. I’m fine. I like my life.”

“It’s down,” Bill said, looking up from his iPad. “Nobody can see your profile now.”

“Thank you, Bill,” Mom said.

“Are you ready for something to eat, Annie?” Bill asked. “I’ll be glad to fix you a plate.”

“No. Thank you, though.”

“What about you, Marjorie? Should I get your plate?”

Marjorie rolled her eyes. “Bill, you can eat. Get your lunch. It’s fine.”

“Oh goodness.” My mother looked at Bill. “I’m sorry. Of course you should eat.”

Bill was out of his chair and out of the room in seconds.

My mother and Marjorie shared a look and then laughed.

“The man loves his leftovers,” Marjorie said.

“I didn’t mean to hold up his lunch,” Mom said. Then she turned her attention to Milo. “You too, honey. Go ahead and eat before it gets cold.”

Milo picked up his fork. Then he tentatively took a bite of stuffing.

I’d lost my appetite.

Bill returned with his plate and Marjorie’s.

Marjorie took hers but she didn’t dig in like her husband. Instead, she said, “Annie, it sounds like the production assistant stumbled across the profile by accident. I doubt many people have seen it. The profile is down now. Let’s figure this out.” She turned to her husband. “Were you able to see any kind of stats on the profile? Can we tell how many people have viewed it?”

Bill finished chewing his turkey and swallowed. “They don’t show the views, but she has four messages from men who want to get to know her better. Since we all know Annie’s beautiful and talented, I’m confident that not many more than those four have seen her profile.”

Tears pooled in my mother’s eyes again. “Bill, that’s so sweet.”

“He’s right,” Marjorie said. “You’re a catch, and any man who saw the profile would pursue you.”

“Do you want me to pull up the profiles of those four?” Bill asked.

“Well,” Mom said, her voice lighter, “I suppose we should. Just to be safe.”

“It couldn’t hurt. Could it?” Marjorie said.

Mom’s smile was fleeting, but it was a smile.

Chapter Thirteen

Milo and I escaped to my room as soon as we could.

“That was intense,” Milo said.

“You think? I thought she was going to strangle me.”

“She wouldn’t hurt you.” He was quiet for a moment.

“I messed up.”

“I thought she’d be annoyed. I didn’t think she’d be mortified.”

“I know.” I hated having embarrassed my mother. “I probably should have thought about the safety thing, too. She is kind of a celebrity.”

“So Operation Find Mom a Date is on hold?”

“Definitely.” I glanced down at my cell. Jake had called twice, and I had ignored his calls. “I need to call Jake soon. I’m not sure if I’m grounded though.”

“We already have the tickets,” Milo said. “For both movies.”

“Would you mind to—”

“I’ll go down and ask your mother if we can still go to the movies.”

“I love you, Milo,” I called after him as he ran to do my errand. I was so lucky to have a friend like Milo.

I texted Jake. Finding out about the movie plans now. Will call in a minute.

Bill drove us by Sheree’s house to pick up Jake and drop us off at the theater. My dad came out to say hello and to introduce Bill to Sheree. Those were an awkward five minutes.

Jake climbed into the middle seat of the van to sit next to me. After the emotionally draining afternoon, I wanted to lay my head on his shoulder and let him hold me. Unfortunately, doing so would make all four of us uncomfortable, and I didn’t want to prompt Bill to scold me. I’d already done enough to disappoint everyone today.

“You okay?” Jake asked.

“Rough day,” I said, but my heart warmed at his concern. He’d noticed something wasn’t quite right with me.

“So, Jake,” Bill said, “I’m glad to have this opportunity to get to know you.”

Uh oh. Bill was almost as protective of me as my dad was.

“Dad, I’m sure John has already done the whole ‘scare the boyfriend’ thing,” Milo said.

“I’m just being friendly,” Bill said. “Plus, John may be biased in this situation.”

Next to me, Jake squirmed. “I’m pretty sure he’s got it covered, sir.”

“Dad…” Milo coaxed.

“Okay then. I’ll leave the boy alone,” Bill said.

Jake relaxed.

“Thank you,

Bill,” I said. “And Milo.”

“We should have gotten you a ticket too,” Milo said. “The movie looks good.”

“I’ll be fine,” Bill said. “I need to work on the social media outreach for the youth program.”