Popcorn Love (23 page)

“Heck yeah he is.” Allison turned in her seat again
and faced the back. “Hey Lucas!”

“Hey!” Lucas’s gaze snapped away from the window and
back to Allison in the front seat.

“Sing me the dinosaur song. Please?”

Lucas didn’t hesitate to nod. “Okay!”

He kicked his legs in an absentminded way against the
front of his car seat as he began to sing loudly, and Allison had
to cup a hand over her mouth in order to keep from laughing or
squealing or some strange combination of the two. The song came out
in shifting rhythms with no set pattern, and none of the lines
rhymed. Lucas didn’t seem to notice, though, bopping his head as if
the rhythm never altered and made perfect sense.

“
Dinosaurs are big.

Dinosaurs are green.

They eat plants and other dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs have big teeth.

And big claws too.

Dinosaurs are my friends.

Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs.”

Lucas held out the last word for a long time, raising
his voice an octave and throwing a small fist into the air
dramatically, and Allison just completely lost it. She had been
biting her lip behind her hand the entire time, trying her best not
to ruin the moment, but she couldn’t hold it in anymore. She burst
into laughter as she clapped her hands and cheered for Lucas. Elena
joined in the cheering and Lucas beamed from the backseat, clapping
his hands as well.

“That was a great song, little man!” Allison reached
back to pat his exposed knee. Elena had let him choose his outfit
for the day, and he had chosen khaki shorts, a green-and-white
striped polo, green socks, and solid white tennis shoes. There was
no denying that the kid had style, much like his mother.

“And a superb singing voice,” Elena added as she
glanced at her son in the rearview mirror.

Allison nodded enthusiastically. “Totally!”

“Want me teach you?” Lucas offered.

“Do I want you to teach it to me?” Allison raised her
brows and bugged out her eyes. “Well
yeah
! Of course!”

“Perhaps next time, munchkin,” Elena said before
Lucas could begin another loud round of the dinosaur song. “We are
here.”

Allison whirled around in her seat and her jaw
instantly dropped.

“Holy Cracker Jack!” Her eyes widened as she leaned
forward in the passenger seat of Elena’s car and stared up through
the windshield at the massive home looming in front of them. “This
is where your parents
live?
”

Elena glanced up as well as she parked the car. “Yes.
It is rather ostentatious, I know.”

A teasing smile painted Allison’s lips. “Like you
have any room to talk about
other
people having ostentatious
houses.”

“Ah-ah,” Elena said, clucking her tongue. “You forget
that my home first belonged to my parents before it belonged to
me.”

“You’re right. I forgot. Fair enough.”

“Thank you.” Elena unlatched her seatbelt and exited
the car.

“You want me to help?” Allison asked, unlatching her
own seatbelt. “I can get Lucas.”

“No, that’s all right dear. I only have the munchkin
to carry, since he has duplicates of nearly everything here. There
is rarely a need for me to pack anything for him.”

“Oh.” Allison pouted. “Well, you want me to walk with
you to the door?”

“You
could
. But only if you wish to subject
yourself to my mother’s interrogations.”

“Interrogations?” Allison asked. “What about?”

Elena opened the back door and went to work
unbuckling Lucas from his car seat. “Oh, a variety of topics, I’m
sure.”

“Ow, Momma,” Lucas squeaked and lifted his leg.
“Don’t pinch.”

“I’m sorry, baby,” Elena cooed, readjusting her hand
around the base buckle. “It was an accident.”

Allison’s hand shot to the door handle. “Need some
help?” she asked, ready to exit the car and run around to assist
Elena.

“No, it’s fine.” Elena shook her head. “This one is
frequently a hassle, but if I can just get enough pressure on th—”
A click sounded as the buckle released, and Elena glanced up at
Allison with a smile. “There.”

Lucas threw his arms out for his mother to pick him
up. She propped him on her right hip and bent to look back into the
car at Allison. “I’ll just be a moment.”

“No big.” Allison shrugged and watched Elena close
the door and make her way up the walkway. She didn’t get very far,
though, before Allison heard Lucas shout through Elena’s cracked
open window.

“Momma wait!”

Elena stopped and patted his thigh. “What is it,
Lucas?”

“Alson!”

“Yes.” Elena nodded, and Allison waved from the car.
“Allison is waiting in the car.”

“No,” Lucas told her, shaking his head. He started
waving his arm wildly, motioning for Allison to join them. “She has
to say bye.”

Elena sighed and freed her left arm to mimic Lucas’s
beckoning motion.

Allison reached out and turned the key back in the
ignition to shut the car entirely off. She pulled the key out and
stuck it in her pocket as she jumped out of the car and jogged over
to where Elena and Lucas waited.

“Apparently, your presence is required.” Elena
chuckled as Allison stepped up to them and Lucas dove toward
her.

She caught him mid-dive and transferred the small boy
from Elena’s hip to her own. “Well, I’m cool with that,” she said,
shrugging her shoulders and bouncing Lucas atop her hip.

When they turned to continue their short trek up the
walkway, the door opened and out stepped an older brunette woman
that Allison had seen in several pictures around Elena’s house. The
resemblance was striking if you knew what to look for, and Allison
had spent plenty of time studying Elena’s features, whether
consciously or not, so she could definitely see the similarities.
This woman was most certainly Elena’s mother.

“
Gram!
”

“Hello, my sweet boy!” Nora called to him from the
porch, but she wasn’t looking at Lucas. Her gaze was locked onto
Allison. Her eyes narrowed as she stood in the doorway with her
arms crossed over her silken robe.

As Elena, Allison, and Lucas reached the door, Lucas
dove forward again without warning, practically leaping from
Allison’s arms to Nora’s. His grandmother caught him easily. She
kissed his cheek as she held him at her side before leaning forward
to kiss Elena’s cheek as well. “Good morning, darling.” Her
narrowed gaze never left Allison as she greeted her daughter. It
made Allison squirm.

“Good morning, Mother,” Elena replied, pressing her
lips to her mother’s cheek as well. “He is rather excitable today,
so he may be a handful.”

“Oh, he’s fine, dear.” Nora waved a hand
dismissively. She then pointed at Allison. “Who’s this?”

“Mother, this is Allison. Allison, this is my
mother.”

“Allison,” Nora repeated, smiling at Allison as she
held out her hand. “Lovely to meet you.”

Allison shook her hand firmly. “You too, Mrs.
Vega.”

“Oh dear, please call me Nora.”

“Okay, Nora,” Allison replied. That was a good sign,
right? Allison relaxed a bit and smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

“Allison is the babysitter that I told you about,”
Elena said.

“Of course. Of course,” Nora said, nodding. “I knew
the name sounded familiar. Lucas goes on and on about you. So, how
do you like our darling boy?”

Shuffling in place, Allison’s shoulder brushed gently
against Elena’s. “He’s the best kid I’ve ever worked with,” she
said.

Elena beamed, as did Lucas, who was now twirling
Nora’s hair around his fingers. “Alson likes green, Gram.”

“She does?” Nora asked, bouncing the boy on her
hip.

“Yup!”

“Well then I suppose Allison is a keeper, isn’t
she?”

Lucas nodded.

“So,” Nora said after a beat, “why might the
babysitter be needed this morning? Am I being replaced?”

Allison felt her face flush with heat as the boy
exclaimed, “Alson had a sleepover!”

One of Nora’s eyebrows arched impossibly high, much
as Allison had seen Elena’s do countless times. The resemblance
between them in that moment was almost uncanny. “Is that so?” Nora
asked.

“Yeah,” Lucas told her, “but she didn’t sleep with
me.”

“She didn’t sleep with me either!” Elena added in one
long, frenzied stream of words. She then cleared her throat and
straightened her back. Her mother’s face erupted into a knowing
smirk, and Allison was fairly certain they were screwed. She
glanced to Elena and noticed that her face was as red hot as
Allison’s felt.

“I see.” Nora hummed. “And were you disappointed by
this?”

“Mother!” Elena hissed.

Nora completely ignored Elena. Her eyes locked onto
Allison and she asked, “So, I take it your position has surpassed
babysitter then?”

“Uh.” Allison glanced back and forth between Nora and
Elena. “Uh, y—”

Elena subtly shook her head, and Allison quickly
changed her course of speech. “…No. I mean, uh, nope. Just a
babysitter.”

“And a poor liar.” Nora chuckled. “So, may I
ask—”

“No, you may not, Mother.” Elena snapped at her. “We
have neither the time nor the desire to endure a classic Nora Vega
Inquisition.”

“Inquisition is a bit harsh, don’t you think,
Elena?”

“Not at all,” Elena said, moving in to press a kiss
to Lucas’s cheek. “I stand by my word choice. Have a good day,
munchkin, and I will see you this evening.”

“Lickstick, Momma.” Lucas stuck out his tongue as he
wiped at his cheek where a perfect imprint of Elena’s lips
remained. He giggled as she stuck her tongue back out at him.

“I love you.” Elena ran a hand through his hair
lovingly.

“Love you,” he said right back.

Elena shot her mother a glare even as she leaned in
to kiss Nora’s cheek. “Bye Mother.”

“Have a good day at work, dear.” Nora smiled smugly.
“Lovely to meet you, Allison. I look forward to our next
visit.”

“Uh, yes ma’am,” Allison said with what she was sure
was an awkwardly lopsided smile. She reached out and patted Lucas’s
back. “See ya, bud.”

He waved at her as he laid his forehead against his
grandmother’s temple. “Bye Alson!”

Elena hooked her hand around Allison’s elbow and
tugged her along. “Come, Allison,” she implored, leading them
hurriedly back toward the car.

“Holy shit,” Allison muttered but managed to hold in
her laughter until they made it back inside the car.

* * *

“It wasn’t that bad,” Allison said as Elena drove
them through the busy New York streets.

“Yes,” Elena agreed, “and that is
only
because
I put an end to it before it even began.”

“Would she really have interrogated me?”

“Oh, most certainly.” Elena nodded. “Ranging a number
of topics, I’m sure.”

“Well, I guess we dodged a bullet then, though I’m
wondering if…” She hesitated, drumming her fingers on the console
as she stared at Elena. “Nah,” she said after a minute, shaking her
head. “Never mind.”

“What is it?” Elena asked, glancing over at her.

“It’s nothing. Never mind.”

“No, tell me,” Elena said. “Please.”

Allison sighed as she picked at the frayed parts of
her holey jeans, her head ducking down a bit. “Fine,” she muttered.
“It seemed like you
really
didn’t want your mom to know
about us, not that I think that there is an
us
, but I guess
that’s kinda what I’m hoping for. Anyway, I’m just wondering if you
want me to deny it too, because—”

Confident in where this was headed, Elena laid a hand
on Allison’s knee. Her voice was soft and quiet as she filled in
the gaps. “You were wondering if it was because I am ashamed of
you?” she asked.

Allison nodded without looking at her. “I mean, it
would make sense.”

“Absolutely not.” When she stopped at a red light,
she reached over and tucked her index finger beneath Allison’s
chin. She lifted Allison’s head and turned it to face her. “Please
believe me.”

When she felt Allison nod into her hand, Elena
offered her another small smile before dropping her hold and
turning back toward the road. As she drove them nearer and nearer
to Allison’s dormitory, Elena explained, “I simply did not want my
mother drilling us for answers that we have yet to even possess.
This, whatever this is between us, is very new.”

“Yeah. You’re right. Sorry I asked.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, Allison,” Elena told
her, driving around the block from Allison’s dorm to find parking.
“I can understand why you would ask, but I will have you know that
status and wealth have never mattered to me. They are unimportant
where my love life is concerned.”

“Really?” Allison asked. “Because it was pretty
obvious that all the dates Vivian set you up on were hella
rich.”

Sighing, Elena pulled into an open spot and shut off
the engine. She and Allison relaxed back into their seats, turning
to face one another. “Yes, well, that was Vivian. She gave me no
say in the matter, though she does know my feelings on that
particular issue. It is simply that she and I have little extended
or personal exposure to people outside of our own social class. She
likely chose people from her daily life and work.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Allison said.

A tender silence developed between them as they
continued to stare at one another. Allison’s gaze very obviously
raked slowly up and down Elena’s body, and Elena smiled and shifted
in her seat. She leaned over the console, Allison meeting her
halfway, and nuzzled her nose against Allison’s. “I suppose we
should talk about last night,” she whispered.

“Yeah.” The word was hardly more than breath as it
floated from Allison’s lips and faded in the inch between them.