"Okay." I pick up my glass of water and take a drink.
"Hey, we're not done here. You didn't tell me your dream."
I set my glass down. "Um, I guess my dream is to have a place to live that isn't a trailer. And to have a husband." I smile. "One who's really hot and treats me well. And I'd like a couple kids and..." I pause to think. "Oh! It'd be really great to live close to the ocean. Near a beach. I've never been to a beach, or the ocean, but I think I'd like it. I know I would. I used to have a clock that makes ocean sounds and I loved it."
"You don't have it anymore?"
"My mom used it and broke it."
"You've never been to a beach?"
"No. I've never left the state."
The waiter stops by again and drops off our food. It's a great meal, better than I've ever had. Then again, it could be the company more than the food. I love being with Brad. I love talking to him and hearing his stories. And I love that he's funny. He keeps making me laugh, which is what I need after all the stress with Nate.
After dessert, as Brad gets his wallet out to pay, I see him looking behind me.
"Shit," he mutters.
"What?" I ask. "What's wrong?"
He smiles and stands up. "Hey, Aunt Kathy."
Aunt Kathy? Nate's mom is here?
I whip around and see her standing in front of Brad with a man right behind her.
"Brad, what a surprise," she says.
Damn! I knew this would happen. I knew I'd run into someone I knew, but I didn't think it'd be Nate's mom. She never leaves the house. What is she doing here?
"Hi, Kathy," I say, standing up.
Her eyes bounce between Brad and me. "Nate mentioned you two were going out tonight. How was dinner?"
"Good," Brad answers, a big smile on his face. "The food was great. Did you just get here?"
"Yes." She turns to the man behind her. "This is Albert. He's the one who suggested it. I hadn't even heard of it, but he said it's new."
Albert, an older man with gray hair wearing a suit, steps up beside her. "Nice to meet you." He shakes our hands. "Are you friends with Nate?"
"Riley is," Kathy says to him. "Brad is my nephew. The one staying with me this summer."
"Ah, yes." Albert nods and smiles. "The doctor."
"Not yet," Brad says. "Got a few years to go."
"And how about you?" he asks me. "Also in the medical field?"
"Oh, um, no. I work at the hair salon downtown."
"I'll have to tell my daughter. She's been looking for a new stylist."
"I'm not a stylist. I just clean up."
He nods and looks away, like he doesn't know what to say. I get that reaction a lot and it always makes me feel like I'm not good enough.
"Albert, why don't you go get us a table?" Kathy says to him. She seems nervous. She keeps messing with her purse strap and her eyes keep darting around. "I'll be there in a minute."
"Nice meeting you both," he says before walking back to the hostess stand.
"So..." Kathy takes a breath.
"You can relax, Aunt Kathy," Brad says. "I won't tell Nate. I assume he doesn't know?"
"No." She breathes out a sigh of relief. "Thank you for understanding. I know I should tell him, but—"
"Wait," I say, interrupting. "This is a date? You're dating Albert?"
"It's only been a few months," she says.
"Months? You've been dating a guy for months?" I'm beyond shocked. I didn't know Kathy was even interested in dating. She's never talked about it.
"Please don't tell Nate," she says. "I'm not ready for him to know."
"I won't. I'm just surprised. I didn't know you dated. Not that you can't," I rush to say. "I mean, I think it's great. I just didn't know you did that. Dated."
I hear Brad chuckling from beside me. "She's not that old, Riley."
"Oh, no, that's not what I meant," I say to Kathy, shaking my head. "I'm sorry. I'm just surprised. But I think it's great you're dating. Albert seems really nice."
"He is," she says, glancing back at him. "We used to work together, but he recently left for a different firm." She turns back to me. "Don't tell Nate this, but I've been dating for years. As soon as he left for college, I decided it was time to get out there again. I didn't want to tell Nate until I actually found someone I might have a future with."
"Is Albert that someone?" Brad asks.
"I'm not sure yet. We need more time together. I don't see him as much I'd like. His daughter moved back home recently with her child, so he's been adjusting to that. This is the first we've been out in weeks."
"We should get going," I say, glancing at Brad. "Let you get back to your date."
She remains there, her eyes going between Brad and me. "Nate didn't tell me you two were dating."
"We're not," I rush to say. "We just went to a movie and had dinner. Nate knows. We told him all about it."
"Riley, you don't have to pretend," she says. "I saw Brad holding your hand when I walked in. And I've seen how you two look at each other when you're over at the house. I suspected something was going on."
I look at Brad to respond. I don't know what to say.
Is Kathy mad at me? Is she going to tell Nate? I feel like I'm going to be sick. This wasn't supposed to happen. I never in a million years thought I'd run into Nate's mom. On a date with some guy named Albert!
"We decided it'd be best to keep this from Nate," Brad says. "After what happened the other night, we didn't think he'd react too well."
"Yes, I'd have to agree." She purses her lips as her eyes go to me. "I must say I'm surprised you would do this, Riley. You and Nate have been friends for so long. Out of all the boys you could've dated, you had to choose Brad?"
"She didn't plan on this," Brad says. "And neither did I. We're not trying to hurt Nate, and honestly, I'm a little surprised you're taking his side in this. Riley can date whoever she wants."
"Yes, but this is different. Nate's always admired you, Brad. He's always wanted to be like you. He's even a little jealous of you."
"Jealous? Why?"
"Your grades are better. You're more popular. You have money, your parents' connections. I'm not saying it's right, but Nate has always felt like he's had to struggle while you've had it easy."
"I have NOT had it easy," Brad says, getting angry. "You and Nate don't have any idea. All you see is what my mom lets you see. But now, with my dad, you're finally seeing it's not the perfect picture you thought it was."
She puts her hand on his arm. "I know, and I'm sorry about that. And you're right that Sheryl doesn't tell me everything, but even so, you have to at least see where Nate is coming from. You've always excelled, whether it be sports, academics, jobs. And now you're dating Riley, the girl he's always wanted."
"Always?" I say. "He said he just started feeling this way."
Kathy turns to me. "I don't know how long it's been. All I know is he'd rather have you be with anyone but Brad."
"Okay, that's enough. We're going." Brad takes my hand. "Sorry Aunt Kathy, but you don't get a say in who I date. And you need to stop protecting Nate. He's always trying to get everyone to feel sorry for him when things don't work out. He's been doing that forever and you keep letting him. I love him like a brother, but he needs to grow up and realize things aren't always going to go his way." He tugs on my hand. "Let's go."
We leave, and when I look back, I see Kathy watching us as she makes her way over to Albert.
"She's going to tell Nate," I say when we're driving away.
"She won't. She doesn't want her little boy getting hurt."
"He's already hurting. She'll want to tell him now and get it over with. Or maybe she'll tell him because she thinks it'll make us break up."
"She won't tell him. I'll talk with her when I get home."
"She's not going to listen to you."
"Then Nate's going to find out his mom is dating."
"You're going to blackmail your aunt?"
"It's not blackmail. She's no better than us if she's keeping a secret from Nate. I don't even want to keep this a secret. I'm doing it for you. I'd rather just tell him so we don't have to sneak around."
"Or so that he'd be jealous," I mutter.
"What?" Brad slows down the car.
"Nothing. Just go." I motion for him to keep driving.
"Did you just say I'm dating you to make him jealous?"
"It's just that when his mom said that I—"
"You seriously think that I'd do that?"
"I..." I look out the side window. "I don't know. Maybe."
He huffs. "Great. Here I thought you were the first girl to really understand me. To actually give a shit about who I really am. But it turns out you have no idea. You just think I'm some spoiled rich asshole who takes what he wants just to make people jealous. To make NATE jealous, who I didn't even know was jealous of me until ten minutes ago."
"Brad, I didn't mean to accuse you of that. I didn't even think about that until she said it."
"And that was all it took for you to believe her." He blows out a breath. "I'll just take you home."
I turn to him. "You're not staying?"
"Why would I? This is over, Riley. I thought we had the start of something good here, but you're too hung up on feeling sorry for Nate. You're just like Aunt Kathy that way. You're both so busy trying to protect him that you can't live your own lives. It's completely ridiculous that she can't tell him she's dating. Four years, Riley. She's been hiding it for four years, all because she thinks he won't be okay with it." Brad shakes his head. "I'm not going to be part of it. I like you, Riley. I like you a lot, and I really wanted to get to know you, but not if you think I'm doing this to make Nate jealous. That pisses me off. I can't believe you'd even think that."
"I'm sorry," I mutter.
We don't talk for the rest of the drive, which gives me time to think about what he said. Brad's right. Nate is always feeling sorry for himself and I always go along with it, even when I disagree. I don't want to hurt Nate, but I also don't want to lose Brad. I've never felt this way about a guy and I don't want it to end.
"Don't go," I say when we arrive at the trailer.
"Riley, I'm sorry, but it's just not going to work. You're too worried about Nate, and I get that. I really do. I just can't be part of it. And I can't have you thinking I'm doing this for the wrong reasons."
"I don't. And I'm sorry I said all that stuff about making Nate jealous." I take my seatbelt off and turn to him. "I'm not ready for this to be over. Please. Don't go. Just come in for an hour or two. If you don't want to see me again after tonight, then fine. I just don't want us to end this way. With you angry at me."
"I'm not angry." He reaches over for my hand. "I'm frustrated. I came here to get away from shit and ended up stirring up trouble. I feel like I should just leave here but I don't know where I'd go."
"Then don't. Just come inside. Please?" I give him my sweetest smile.
He smiles back. "Damn, you're hard to resist with that smile. Okay, I'll stay but I don't want to talk about Nate."
"Deal. If I bring up his name, you can get up and leave."
Brad shuts off the car and we go inside. We sit on the couch and I turn the TV on.
"Anything you want to watch?" I ask, flipping through the channels.
He pulls something from the couch. An empty liquor bottle. "Yours?" he asks, holding it up.
"No." I snatch it from him and jump up to take it to the trash.
"Riley, I was kidding." He gets up and meets me by the garbage can.
When I open it up, I see two more bottles that weren't there this morning.
"Dammit," I say, feeling tears forming.
"What is it?"
I point to the empty bottles in the trash.
"That's all from this week?"
"No. Today." I wipe my eyes and walk away. "We're broke. Where did she even get the money to buy it?" I storm down the short hallway to her room and fling open the door.
"Riley, what are you doing?" I hear Brad say.
Opening her drawer, I take out the box where we keep cash for groceries, along with the checkbook we use for bills.
"It's gone," I say.
"What's gone?" Brad asks, standing in the doorway.
"She used all our grocery money." I open the checkbook. "And she didn't pay bills this month. She promised me she would, but she didn't."
I slam the box closed and shove it back in the drawer, then collapse on the floor, my lip quivering as I fight back tears.
Brad sits next to me and takes me in his arms. "I'm sorry. I didn't know things were so bad."
"Nobody does. I—" I take a deep breath, forcing myself to be strong and not cry. I'm so sick of crying about this. "I don't tell anyone."
"Not even Nate?"
"No. I can't. He'd just tell me to forget about her and move out. He doesn't care what happens to her. He says she's an adult and should be treated like one."
"In a way, he's right. You can't help her forever."
"Yeah, but I can't just leave her. I'm afraid she might—" I stop and take a breath. "I don't know what to do."
"You wouldn't have to leave town. You could get an apartment close by."
"I don't have the money. I keep giving it to her to pay bills, and whatever's left I use to buy groceries." I wipe the tears from my eyes. "I don't know what to do, Brad."
He holds me closer and kisses my head. "We're going to get out of here and forget about it. For now. We'll worry about it tomorrow. Right now we're going to continue our night. We're on a date, in case you forgot."
I sniffle and feel a smile forming. "I didn't forget. But I thought it ended when we were fighting."
"We weren't fighting. We just disagreed. It's okay to disagree." He stands up, taking me with him. "You got any snacks?"
"No, but we just ate. I'm not hungry."
"I am." He points to himself. "I'm big. I eat a lot. Let's go to the store."
"I can't. I don't have—" I don't want to say it. Just saying it makes me angry. How could she do this? How could she spend all our money and not pay a single bill?
"I'm buying," he says, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of my mom's room. I'm embarrassed Brad saw it. It's such a mess. She has dirty clothes everywhere and dirty dishes on the floor. But Brad didn't seem bothered by it. I'm not even sure he noticed. He was too focused on me, crumpled on the floor and trying not to cry.
We go to the grocery store and return with three sacks of food. It's way more than we can eat, but Brad insisted on having a variety. I know he only did this so there would be food in the cupboards, which is sweet, but not necessary. I've lived this way long enough to figure out how to survive.
We sit on the couch and watch movies until midnight, kissing and cuddling, but not doing any more than that. I wanted to, and the timing was right since my mom was gone, but Brad didn't make a move, so I didn't either. I think he's out to prove this isn't some short fling but something more. What that is, I'm not sure. I just know I want to keep seeing him.
Everything feels so right with him, while things with Nate have been feeling wrong. How did things change so quickly?
Chapter Fifteen
Nate
My mom knocks on my door. "Nate, are you up?"
"Not really." I shove the covers off my head and rub my eyes. "What time is it?"
"It's after ten." She opens the door. "How was your date last night?"
"It was okay." I sit up, yawning.
"Tell me about it." She comes over to my bed and sits down.
"Mom, I'm not telling you about my date."
"Just tell me what you did. Did you take her to dinner?"
"Yes." I roll my eyes, reminding myself to look for jobs today so I can move out as quickly as possible. My mom's great, but I can't live with her.
"Where'd you go?"
"To the brewery. Then she wanted dessert at this place downtown, so we went there and then cam
e home." I lay down, covering my head with the sheet, hoping she'll get the signal to leave.
"This was Tara, right? The girl from high school?"
"Yes," I groan.
"Do you like her?"
I sit up. "Mom, seriously, why all the questions?"
"I just wanted to know if you had fun. I hate seeing you so upset about Riley."
Riley was on my mind all last night. It should've been on Tara, but I couldn't stop thinking about Riley. I missed her, even more than I did the four years I was at college. I think knowing she was with Brad made me miss her more. As the night went on, I started feeling jealous he was out with her and I wasn't.
"Mom, you need to stop worrying. Riley and I are fine. In fact, I was just about to call her."
"So um..." She stands up. "What if Riley starts dating?"
"Who would she date? She's always telling me she can't find anyone here she'd want to go out with."
"Maybe someone new will move to town. People are always coming and going. In fact, my firm is looking to hire some people from out of town."
"You think Riley's going to date an accountant?" I laugh. "I can't see that happening."
"I'm just saying, when she does find someone, I hope you'll be happy for her, just like she would be for you."
"Yeah, okay, Mom. Can I have my room back now?"
She leaves and I call Riley.
"Hey, Nate. I thought we weren't talking."
"That was only for last night."
"You said you needed a few days."
"Yeah, but I missed talking to you. I don't think I can go another day."
"If you're still angry, then I think it's a good idea. I don't want to fight."
"We won't. I promise. So tell me about last night."
"Didn't you talk to Brad?"
"I haven't seen him. I just woke up. So what'd you guys do?"
"Went to a movie and dinner."
"What movie?"
"Um, just a comedy. Nothing you wanted to see."
"Where'd you go for dinner?"
"That new place. The one Giada told us about?"
"Oh, yeah? How was it?"
"Really good, but expensive."
"You should've told Brad to take you somewhere else."
Better If He Goes (Always You Book 1) Page 15
