The Truth About Us

thing.

She had a secret to unveil. The last thing she needed was a boy interfering in her life. Who did he think he was? Inviting himself to dinner. Served him right for being overly confident.

The biggest problem was not her being late so much as her being late meant he had either shown up and gotten angry and left, or he was spending time with her parents. Alone.

Abby wasn’t sure which was worse.

When she pulled into her driveway ten minutes later and hurried out of the car and into the house, she stopped in her tracks as she entered the dining room. Glancing up from the table, plates empty and smeared with remnants of their meal, her mother and father glared at her with barely restrained anger. Kaden sat next to them, and when he turned to her, he flashed her a smile for the briefest of moments before it faded, and he glanced over at her parents with sad eyes.

Abby frowned, as her mother reached out and patted his hand.

“Where were you?” her mother asked. Her eyes turned to steel as she waited for an answer.

Her father crumpled his napkin and threw it onto his plate, glaring at her.

“Um. I, uh, had a project at school I needed to work on, and I totally lost track of time,” she said, thinking it wasn’t entirely a lie.

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” her father asked.

Abby frowned, reached into her purse, and pulled out her phone to reveal five missed calls from her mother. “Oh. I must’ve forgotten I put it on vibrate. You know, library rules and all.” Abby chuckled, then straightened and cleared her throat at her mother’s answering scowl.

“You remember Kaden, right?” Her mother crossed her arms over her chest. “You asked him to come to dinner?”

“Well, I...” She swallowed and ran her hands through her hair, lifting it off her neck out of habit, then let it fall, trying to think of an explanation.

“Don’t even try to deny it. No boy would just randomly invite himself to dinner and lie about it,” her mom said.

Abby quirked a brow at Kaden. If they only knew.

Kaden stood and reached out, placing a hand on her mother’s arm, playing the part of a dejected dinner date like he might win an Oscar. Her mother’s smile warmed, an almost instant response that pricked at Abby’s nerves.

“It’s okay, Mr. and Mrs. Bridges,” Kaden said, frown in place. “I knew Abby asking me to dinner was too good to be true. I guess I shouldn’t have accepted. I can just go.”

“Nonsense.” Her mother turned to Kaden. “You’re such a sweet boy. Clearly, she just lost track of time like she said, but she’s here now. And I’m sure she’s thrilled to have you.” Her mother glanced at her with probing eyes. “Isn’t that right?”

What the heck did he say to them in her absence? Whatever it was, he had won both of them over in record time.

“Uh, yeah. Of course,” Abby said.

“After her grandmother’s passing, she’s been distracted. They were very close, and Abby has trouble processing her feelings. Ever since she was a little girl, she—”

“You want to go up to my room?” Abby’s eyes widened as she glanced at Kaden, imploring him to say yes before her mother could continue to provide him with too much information. Who knew what she already shared with him.

His lips twitched like he was fighting off a smile. “I don’t know. I rather enjoy your mother’s company. Before you came home, she was telling me about the invisible friend you had growing up. What was her name again?” He glanced at her mother, who returned his smile with adoring eyes. “Lilly Lollipop?”

Oh my gosh. Forty minutes late and he already had her mother wrapped around his finger, telling him stories about her childhood.

Abby narrowed her eyes at him, then moved forward and placed her hand under his elbow, pulling him away from the table.

“We’ll be upstairs working on calculus,” she said to her parents with a smile.

When they burst into the hallway, she pinched his arm.

“Ouch! That hurt.”

“Serves you right.” Abby shot daggers at him with her eyes. “Acting like I invited you to dinner, then stood you up, and getting all buddy-buddy with my parents.”

Kaden’s lips curled. “They’re nice people. And you kind of did ask.”