Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 87911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“Fine. Fine. If he irritates me once, he’s gone.”
“It’s your home, honey. I’m just here to make sure you don’t do anything naughty.”
“Mom, that’s not ever going to happen. Trust me.”
“I do. Always.”
They entered the kitchen, and Alfie was in fact standing at the sink, doing the dishes.
“Isn’t that nice of him? Thank you, Alfie. We were going to go to the spa today, but we settled on baking anyway. We’ve been using up the last of my supplies.” Lily went to the small pantry she had, opening it up.
“Smells good.” He finished washing up a dish and dried his hands on a cloth.
“Why don’t you try one? I rarely bake for anyone but Chloe.”
Chloe grabbed a towel and began to dry the dishes.
Her gaze stayed on him because even if her mother trusted him, she didn’t.
Eighteen years they’d known each other, since birth. According to her father, they’d once shared a crib, but that was it. She had no good memories with this guy.
Alfie bit into a cupcake and moaned. “Fuck.”
“Language,” Lily said.
“Sorry, Mrs. Decker. They’re so good.” He took another bite.
“Please, call me Lily. I don’t like the whole Mrs. Decker thing. Not anymore. Excuse me.”
Chloe watched as her mother left the kitchen, her heart breaking for her mother.
“I’m sorry,” Alfie said.
“It’s fine.”
“She’s taking the breakup really hard?”
“Yeah.”
“Didn’t she instigate it?” Alfie asked.
“Doesn’t mean she stopped loving him. She does, but it’s hard for her now because there’s no coming back from it.” She sighed. “Why are you here?”
“I knew you didn’t trust me.”
“Alfie, it’s going to take a lot more than classroom buddies, and scrubbing off insults from my locker for me to believe you’re not up to something.”
“And you think I’m the bad person.”
“What do you want? You’ve never called here before, and yet here you are. What gives?”
“Nothing gives. I figured you didn’t believe me, so I’m here to clear a few things up.”
“Those things being?” she asked.
“I want us to be friends. I want us to start over. Clean slate. From the beginning. We weren’t always enemies.”
Again, she thought back to the time of his spanking.
They’d never talked about what they’d seen or what he’d been through.
She ran fingers through her hair, glancing around the kitchen. This was supposed to be a day with her and her mother.
“I think you should go.”
“I won’t upset her okay. I’ve got nowhere else to be.”
Chloe frowned. “Don’t you have an entire clubhouse full of people?”
“Yeah, and you think they want an eighteen-year-old kid hanging around?”
“Shouldn’t you be jumping through all of their bullshit hoops for them?”
He chuckled. “I only get the pleasure of doing that when I graduate high school.”
She wanted to kick him out, but if she did that, her mother would question her, and then she’d have to go through an entire explanation of why she’d done it.
“Fine. But don’t hurt her again. Call her Lily.”
“Will do.” He put his fingers to his head and saluted her.
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
She left Alfie alone with the cupcakes in the kitchen to find her mother in the bathroom.
“You okay?” Chloe asked.
Lily looked up, swiping away her tears. “Yes and no. I love him so much.”
“Then go and fix this.”
“No. It’s completely over now.”
“It can’t be. Not with the way this is all making you feel.” She knelt down on the floor, putting her hands on her mother’s knees. “Talk to me, Mom.”
“I don’t want you to hate him. Your father and I, we’re through. We’re so through. I don’t want to affect your relationship with him. I will be fine one day. I don’t know if I’m getting all emotional because it’s your father, or because I know I failed.”
“You didn’t fail.”
“I did. I should have seen the moment he ran, the instant they branded him a coward, that it was never going to be the same.” Her mother sniffled. “It hasn’t been the same, you know. Something is missing. It will always be missing.”
She moved up and hugged her. “You’ll always have me.”
“The best part about any friendship.” Lily stroked her hair. “Now, you go downstairs and make sure that boy doesn’t eat all the cupcakes. Ask him if he’s staying for dinner.”
Chloe groaned. “Do I have to?”
“Yes. It’s only fair you do.” Lily cupped her cheeks. “This is a chance for you to have a fresh start.”
She wished she had her mother’s kind of enthusiasm. She didn’t.
Getting to her feet, she found Alfie eating another cupcake in the kitchen. Gathering her hair up into a bun, she secured it with a clip.
“You’re liking the food?” she asked.
“They’re the best.”
“How many have you eaten?”
Alfie looked a little guilty, and it was the cutest sight she’d ever seen.
“Erm, I don’t know. I lost count. Should I not have?”
“No, it’s fine.” Chloe opened the pantry door to find the flour had dropped off the top shelf and spilled to the floor. “Shoot.”