My mother.
“Oh shit,” I hiss, leaping away from Jackson.
“Who is that?” Jackson asks from the couch.
I want to die. I want to literally drop dead on this very spot. “My mom,” I mutter, as I pull my camisole back on, and dash to the door, and throw myself against it to get the chain latch in place before the key can do its job.
I can’t imagine what Jackson must be thinking. Yeah, I guess I forgot to mention when describing her that she doesn’t just bake well. She’s also an expert at killing the mood, butting in where she doesn’t belong and inserting herself into situations which have nothing to do with her.
“Lauren? Sweetheart? Why can’t I get the door open? And why is it so dark in there?”
This can’t be happening. It’s a nightmare. It’s got to be. I’m half-undressed, flushed and breathless with two dogs running circles around me, barking their little heads off. I pat down my hair, trying to compose myself and open the door as far as the chain will allow.
I peer out through the gap. I’m annoyed, but I don’t want to upset my mother. “Mom, what are you doing here? You know I gave you that key for emergencies.”
“I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t think you’d mind. I wanted to know how you got on with your sister and since you’ve been busy recently, I decided to make a batch of your favorite red velvet cupcakes and bring it over.” And damned if she’s not carrying a Tupperware cake saver full of red velvet cupcakes.
I exhale. It is almost useless trying to talk to my mother. “Didn’t you get my text?”
“Oh,” she says blankly, “I don’t think I did. Was it something important?”
“Uh, Mom… now’s not the best time for you to come in.”
“What? Are you locking the door against your own mother?”
“Of course not, but I have company,” I announce, standing between her and the rest of the house. The dogs are going nuts now, probably because they can smell the sweets my mother’s carrying. Draco tries to wriggle his way out through the gap in the door.
“No, Draco!” I bend down to grab him before he can run out into the hall, and Tyrion buries his nose between my boobs. Oh, my God, this is madness.
“Would you just let me in already? I won’t stay long and Draco obviously wants to see me even if you don’t,” she sniffs in that voice that is designed to make me feel guilty. “And since when do you have a second dog? Do I have a new grand-puppy you didn’t tell me about?”
I hate it when she treats Draco like her grandkid—a not-so-subtle reminder of the fact that I’m childless, like being single in my mid-twenties is a crime. “He isn’t mine,” I bite out as I get the dogs under control. “Here. Just come in, I guess.”
She’s already practically sticking her face through the opening, anyway. She breezes into the house the moment I get the chain off the door.
“So why didn’t you call first?”
“I tried to call, sweetheart, but you didn’t answer.”
I find that hard to believe—or maybe she’s telling the truth, since I’ve been a little too wrapped up in my guest to notice anything like the phone.
“Oh. Well. That still doesn’t mean you can just show up and use the key,” I complain when we reach the kitchen, where she leaves the carrier of cupcakes on the counter.
She takes in my state of undress with one quick glance, sighing and shaking her head. “I’ll never understand fashion nowadays,” she grumbles. “Look at you. You’re practically undressed, and with company. In my day that would have been considered underwear.”
“Mom, stop, please,” I whisper with my cheeks burning like they’re on fire. I can just imagine what Jackson must be thinking. “This is… the new style.”
“It’s very pretty though. And very flattering. Where did you buy it from?”
Oh Jeez, give it a rest! She’s got a twinkle in her eye and I can’t tell if she’s just winding me up. “I can’t remember, really, I bought it ages ago.” I’m not going to tell her it’s from Victoria’s Secret.
She unwinds the scarf from around her neck and my heart sinks because this means she thinks she’s sticking around. I do not want her to stick around.
“And who’s this?” she demands, her eyes lighting up as she spots Jackson on the sofa.
He’s sitting there clutching a cushion to his lap.
I just about manage to stifle a giggle. My heart is still racing. “This is Jackson,” I say, “He’s my neighbor. He—um, just came over for dinner.”
“It’s lovely to meet you!” she gushes.
“It’s good to meet you too, Mrs. Appleton,” he says, all charm and warmth now that his erection has gone down. “I understand you’re an accomplished baker.”
Boy, does he know just the right thing to say. She just about melts with pleasure—and I could kiss him for being so thoughtful. Or just in general, because I’d kiss him again for pretty much any reason because whoa—the man can kiss.
“Why, I am. I see my daughter’s been bragging about me.” She beams in my general direction.
I can only shrug with a grin.
“And if your red velvet cupcakes are any indication, I can see why,” he adds. He’s really laying on the charm thick. Like with a trowel.
Meanwhile, I’m biting the side of my tongue to keep from laughing hysterically. This is all a joke, right? It has to be. He’s praising my mother’s cupcakes when I slipped a freaking potion into his, while I’m standing here half-undressed with a dog that won’t stop trying to hump my damn leg.
Mom doesn’t notice my discomfort. She’s too involved with eating up the attention—to the point where she hurries into the kitchen and comes back with another cupcake from the batch she brought. “I keep telling Lauren that she should find a nice man like you. Are you single?”
I nearly die in horror. Will the humiliation ever stop? Has anyone ever died from it?
This really should be enough to negate any effect of the magic potion. It is certainly enough to cause Jackson to remove the cushion from his crotch and stand. “Yes, I am,” he confirms.
“Mom you should go,” I say quickly.
“Yes, yes, I don’t want to interrupt you young people, but maybe I can persuade your new...” She pauses and I give her a look. “…friend,” she says.
I breathe a sigh of relief.
“To try one of my red velvet cupcakes.”
“Um…no. I’d better be going,” Jackson says instantly.
“Oh, I hope I didn’t interrupt your nice evening!” Mom says. “Please don’t go because of me. I can put the kettle on and we can all have a cup of tea if you like? Keep you warm Lauren in that little top of yours.”
I’m pretty much dying of embarrassment as the situation sinks in. I’m standing here in my underwear with my gorgeous neighbor who I couldn’t believe even agreed to come over. I’ve given him some strange potion that I have no idea is even safe! And my Mom is here!!
“I really need to go,” Jackson says, “But thank you so much for dinner and everything.” He smiles and kisses me on the cheek.
“You’re welcome.” What else can I say? Mom’s still standing right here in the room with us.
“Goodbye, Mrs. Appleton,” he says, offering his hand to Mom.
“Sally! Just call me Sally.” Ignoring his hand, she throws her tentacles around him in a bear hug.
As soon, she removes them he practically runs out of my house.
Great! I guess I’m not the first person to ever be cockblocked by my mother.
Chapter Sixteen
Lauren
I took Danny’s advice and walked into the office with my head held up high. At first, I could feel people staring at me, then as the morning went on and I went about my business as if nothing was amiss they started looking at me with a mixture of confusion and astonishment. Was I too stupid to realize how monumental my screw up was, or did I know something they didn’t.
I enjoyed the feeling of having confoun
ded them.
“You’re never going to believe this,” I say to Nina over my cell phone. My eyes dart from side to side as I huddle over my desk.
“What happened? Oh, my God, did you use the potion? I knew you would. What happened?”
“Could you let me talk? How can I get to the juicy stuff if you won’t let me get a word in?”
“Sorry, sorry. Hurry up.”
“I didn’t use the potion, but Danny did,” I whisper.
“He did what?” she screams in my ear.
“He realized he had done wrong and apologized,” I add quickly. I don’t want Nina to hate Danny. That would never do because I love them both.
“And he ate it?”
“Every bite. There were hardly any crumbs left, even.” I can’t help but smile as I do, even though I feel more than a little wicked when I think about it.
“And? Did anything happen?”
“You could say that…” I trail off with a giggle.
“Oh, my God, I swear, I’m gonna come there and kill you if you don’t stop playing games and tell me everything.”
“We maybe made out. A lot.”
Her squeal is ear-splitting. “I’m so happy. I’m so happy I hate you a little but I’m so happy!”
I cover my mouth to quiet my laugh so no one else hears. “It was amazing, Nina.”
“You stopped at making out, though?” she asks, and she doesn’t sound like she believes me.
“I did, but even if we didn’t, so what?”
“I was just wondering. The way you describe him, I’m not sure I could’ve stopped at just making out, is all.”
Memories from last night flash back in my mind when she says that. Oh, who am I kidding? I haven’t been able to top thinking about it. It’s amazing that I even managed to get out of bed this morning. I almost forgot to feed the dog. I was that out of it.
“Between you and me? I probably wouldn’t have stopped if we weren’t interrupted by my mother.”
“Your mother? No effing way,” she hisses.
“Yes, effing way…and believe me, we had a long talk once he left. All about boundaries. I might have eaten maybe five red velvet cupcakes that I detest after she left, I was so stressed out. And the punchline is, we’ll just end up having the same conversation the next time she does it again.”
“You poor thing.” Nina sighs.
“I wanted to go over and apologize to him, but I didn’t want to come off as being too clingy or like I was overthinking what happened before Mom showed up. You know? I want him to think I’m cool.”
“But you’re not cool.”
“I know, but is it so bad to want him to think so?”
“Hey, how do you know the potion worked and it was just not natural? Like maybe he really wanted you anyway and the potion had nothing to do with it.”
“It had to be the potion.”
“Why?” she asks.
“Well, I guess because it was so sudden. He was actually yawning and asking for coffee to keep awake, then he eats the cupcake, and suddenly he’s fully awake and can’t get enough of me. I’d call that a pretty abrupt change of heart. Actually, I still can’t believe how fast it worked!”
“Right,” she says slowly. “I guess in a way that sucks, but hey!” she continues, and there’s sunshine in her voice again. “That means last night wasn’t the only chance you’ll get. I mean, the world is your oyster now. I bet he’d have thought you were cool even if you went over last night to pick up where you left off. You don’t have to follow the whole three-day rule thingy. You can break all the rules now. Oh, my God, just think. You can do anything you want, and he will still want you desperately!”
“I don’t know about that,” I fret in a tight whisper. At the back of my mind, something niggles. You didn’t get him fair and square. You’ll never know whether he would have wanted you without the potion. Damn you Danny for taking that away from me.
“It’s magic, babe. He’ll be like your fuck-slave from now on,” she says cheerfully.
I frown. “I meant, who knows how long this is going to last?”
“You’re impossible. Did I ever tell you that?” she growls.
“What?”
“I’m just saying, why don’t you try being happy that things went great and he was super into you? I mean, what’s the point of always looking at the negative side of things? I don’t know if it lasts forever, but it lasted for the girl I told you about.”
“Hmm. And do you think it eventually turns into, you know, real love?”
The line goes quiet and I’m about to say something else, to dismiss my silly question.
Nina gets there first, “I don’t know what you mean,” she says in a confused voice. And then, “Of course it’s real love, silly. What other kind is there?”
“The kind that only happens when you take a potion.”
There’s silence again and I feel like I should be having this conversation with Danny, not Nina. “Right, I better get going. Thanks for the chat.”
“No worries, babe,” she replies, back to her chirpy self. “And chill. I just know he’ll be aching to ask you out after that steamy kiss you told me about.”
I smile and hang up. I go to the vending machine. Get myself a bar of chocolate. Walk back to my desk.
The little ringer symbol flashes silent on my phone and I slip it into my handbag, vowing to myself that I won’t look at it until the end of the day.
I savor each mouthful of dark chocolate as I shut off the critical voice in my head and let my imagination take me on a trip back to the previous evening… and what might have happened if Mom hadn’t come back. I think about the warm smoothness of his tanned skin against my fingertips.
Chapter Seventeen
Lauren
My heart thuds like a bass drum as I walk toward my front door. Is he home yet? Probably not. He has his own firm, after all. When I look back, I don’t remember ever hearing him get home before seven or eight o’clock.
It makes me wonder if I should offer to walk Tyrion for him. Poor guy probably hates being left alone until all hours, and he did seem to like me last night. Maybe even a little too much.
I notice the note on my door right away. It’s the sort of thing that sticks out. My hand shakes as I reach for it. I pull it from the door and unfold it.
Movie tonight? 7:30?
Under that, two boxes. One’s labeled Yes and the other, much smaller, almost minuscule box is labeled No.
My heart soars.
Is it possible that he really thinks I’d say no? Evidently not, seeing as how he barely gave me the space to reject him. I giggle all the way through finding a pen in my purse, through making an X through the Yes box, and sliding the note under his door.
I love his sense of humor.
It isn’t until I’m leashing up Draco that doubt starts creeping up on me again like the pesky five pounds I’m always trying to get rid of for good. I can’t shake it, no matter how completely out of my mind with happiness I am at the thought of Jackson wanting to see me again.
THIS ISN'T FAIR TO HIM.
Damn it, I wish I had never bought that love potion. It’s heavy guilt too, the sort that makes me drag my feet along the sidewalk even as Draco prances around in front of me.
He has no idea why he likes me so much, and that’s unfair to a nice guy like him.
I should tell him.
But if I tell him, he won’t want to be around me anymore. I don’t know if I could handle that. Besides, he’s a terrific guy and not just the gorgeous heartthrob I already knew he was when I visited Zelda. Now I know why she was so unhappy when I admitted to not knowing Jackson. What if I had slipped him the potion without knowing anything about him, and he’d turned out to be a real asshole? I could have sentenced myself to life with a wacko. So yeah, I got lucky.
Now that I know it works, and how fast it works, the thought of how bad this could’ve turned out chills me even more than the cool, late-winter breeze.<
br />
That doesn’t make me feel any better though. If anything, it makes me feel worse. Because in this scenario, I’m the wacko. I bought a love potion! This is the 21st century. Who does that?
But hey—who’s to say he won’t fall for you for real? You’re not exactly a monster.
I feel so confused, and slightly depressed. Nina would slap me upside the head if she could hear my thoughts right now. But I can’t help it. I’m not Nina.
Draco looks up at me at just that moment, like he can read my thoughts. “Well, I’m not,” I whisper as we continue our walk. Jackson could do much, much worse than me. I’m not clingy, I’m not vapid. I’m a darn good cook, I love to read and my musical tastes are vast. I would never begrudge a boyfriend his time with the guys, just like I would expect him to encourage my girl time.
I’m a catch, damn it. He could do a hell of a lot worse.
So I’m not going to feel bad for him.
And I’m not going to blame myself, either. I didn’t use the potion. Danny did. Besides, I would be a terrific girlfriend for him. The best. Eating that cupcake might just be the luckiest thing he’s ever done.
I just wish my heart didn’t ache when I think that. I can imagine people asking us years from now how we met. Sure, we’re next-door neighbors, so I could always use that as my explanation and it wouldn’t be a lie.
But I would know, deep down inside, that it was more than that. How long could I handle the truth weighing on me?
I’m afraid I bought a lot more than just a love potion from a gypsy named Zelda.
Chapter Eighteen
Jackson
I can’t believe I’m this excited to take a girl to the movies. Who am I?
Tyrion’s picking up the vibes off me and bouncing off the walls.
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