Secret Girlfriend (13 page)

“You sound like you know her pretty well.”

Justin cleared his throat.
“Uh, yeah.”

"So, she's staying until her parents show up?"

He tugged me around to look up at him. “Amy, he didn’t know
she was coming. I saw him the day he broke up with her. Even from a distance
anyone could tell that was what was going on. She's nuts."

"Well, he should have been up front with her from the
beginning. She may have painted him into a corner, but he didn't have to hand
her the brush."

"I'm just saying
,
he isn't a
bad guy."

I stopped, slid out from under his arm and faced him.

"Justin, you've been at this from the first day I met
you. You aren't listening. It doesn't matter if he's dating someone."

"Yeah, Luke's told me about him. That guy sounds like
he’s about as good a friend as he is a boyfriend.” He threw his arm around my
shoulder again and started us down the street. “You should be with someone who
respects you. Not leaves you on your own. Who doesn't let his friends know
you’re his girlfriend."

"Oh?" I laughed at him, knowing he was teasing
again. "Like you?"

"Like Luke."

Okay, maybe not in teasing mode.

"We're just friends."

"I don't think that's true. You don’t either. I've
never seen two people hit it off like you guys. When he showed up with you for
lunch… It just worked, you know?"

I jerked my head toward his brother and Rachel.

"I amend that.
Two sane people."
He gave me that lopsided Parker grin. "Think about it."

"I don't need to think about it. I could never date a
guy who treated someone the way he treated Katie."

“Trust me. The Katie thing, not what it appears. And anyway,
a guy who pretends he doesn't even know you
isn't
so
bad? "

"Hey, guys. Wait up,” Luke shouted as he hurried down
the sidewalk behind us, Katie clinging to his arm.

"Yeah, Justin.
I can see he's
really fighting her off."

Justin's eyes narrowed as they neared. "I think he just
needs a little incentive to step up."

The arm about my shoulder tightened and he pulled me into
his side. "Even if you aren't interested, you can't blame me for wanting
to irk him. A little temper fit wouldn't be such a bad thing, would it?"

The idea of Luke losing his temper in public flitted through
my head and was so ridiculous I couldn't even really contemplate it.

“We thought we'd walk with you guys." Katie studied me,
her gaze stopping on where Justin's arm rested on my shoulder, his hand toying
with my hair. Her smile brightened, a perfect little sunbeam smile. “Luke says
there's a shopping plaza down the corner and I forgot my cell charger."

“Well if Luke says—”

I elbowed Justin in the gut. It was becoming abundantly
clear he did
not
like Katie—whether
she was Luke’s girlfriend or not.

“Justin, there’s no need to be rude.” She was actually
stroking Luke’s arm as she spoke. “It isn’t like
you
need to entertain me. You aren’t the one I came to see.”

“Thank God.”

Luke shut his eyes and tilted his head back. A maneuver I’d
never seen him do.

Justin tugged me away from the nauseating pair. “Come on,
Amy. Let’s catch up with the phone-buying duo.”

As we hurried away, I glanced at Justin. “What was that?
Don’t like her much, huh?”

“You could say that.”

“Because she’s Luke’s girlfriend?”

“Because she used to be my girlfriend.”

I stopped short, forcing him to grind to a halt. “Whoa. Luke
stole your girlfriend?”

I glanced to where we’d left Luke and Katie. Some type of
argument beyond the norm had obviously erupted as soon as we’d escaped.

“Luke didn’t steal anything. Katie used me to get to him.”
Justin’s scowl aimed at Katie told me he wasn’t just a little put out by her
being here. “He wasn’t much of a dater. He had a girl he’d kind of dated since
junior high but it was more of a best friend thing. Katie used every excuse to
come over to the house and only wanted to do stuff if we’d see him.”

 
“I figured out
what she was doing pretty quickly and broke things off,” he continued. “But she
stuck around, pretending we were all buddy-buddy. When she started throwing
herself at him in public, Luke didn’t want to embarrass her. The more she did
it, the more she acted like the perfect girlfriend, the more he had no
clue
what to do about it. He’d try to break it off, but she
was like psycho-girl. Then my parents told us we were moving and the whole
family was relieved.”

I shook my head, trying to clear it, trying to put it back
the way it was that morning. It wasn’t fair of Justin to come along and make
everything shift again. I thought about Luke working to do the right thing with
Katie. I thought about Chris and me.
And Chris and Cheryl.
A tremor skidded around my heart. I wasn’t some type of weird Katie, was I?
Chasing after a guy who didn’t want me but let himself
get
caught… for whatever reason.

Justin looked toward them as if his story might summon her
to a perky-attack.

“When he showed up at the house with you in tow, I think we
all did this internal groan thing. Afraid he’d gotten himself sucked into
another bad situation because he didn’t know how to be rude.
Especially
to a girl.
But then you hung out and we all liked you. You know. Like,
it was all cool.”

Wow. That was a lot of words.

“Amy, you may not want to believe it, but I’d place
everything I have on the fact that he’s into you. Not her.
Definitely
not her.”

Justin glanced toward the pair again. This time my gaze
followed his. Luke was shaking his head while Katie
bubbled
words up at him. While we watched, her expression shifted to Tinker Bell-like
fury, her pint-sized hands balling into perfect little fists.

It was funny, watching the kitten pretend she was a tigress.
That was, until she slammed that tiny fist into Luke’s chest not once, but
twice. Justin’s arm dropped from my shoulder, but before he could move toward
them, Luke wrapped his hand around her wrist and pulled her back into the
restaurant. A moment later, he stormed out and glanced around. At the sight of
us watching he stilled, his face going slack before he strode down the street
in the opposite direction.

We watched Luke go until he rounded the corner.

Taking my arm again, Justin dragged me into the phone store.
It was weird to just watch Luke storm out then go shopping. But, I figured the
Parkers had to have this family-dynamic thing down to a science by now. Plus,
Rachel was an impulsive dater. It looked like Jared was too. Whatever we found
in that shop, it was at least going to be interesting.

Jared looked up when the bell over the door clanged and
waved us over, taking charge, not even knowing drama had just happened.

“Check this out.” He picked up a phone that cost more than I
made in a week at the
Rec
Center. “Press that
button.”

On the back, a protective strip flipped out of the way. I
pushed it aside and pressed the nearly hidden button.

“911. What is your emergency?”

“Oh crap.” Justin punched his brother in the shoulder as I
tried to figure out how to answer the phone.

“I’m sorry. There’s no emergency. We’re just fine here.
Promise.
Sorry.”

By the time my rambling apology had run out of steam, Jared
was holding his sides laughing. “It’s a panic button. Isn’t that cool?
Scares the underworld crime types.”

Justin hit him again and looked at me with an apologetic
expression. “I often wonder how it is
there’s
still
two of us. Shocking that someone hasn’t killed him yet, isn’t it?”

Jared’s distracted gaze followed Rachel and the college-age
sales guy discussing the importance of pink versus hot pink phones.

Jared tossed the panic-inducing phone down and picked up a
more reasonably priced, less Go-Go-Gadget one. “We’re having a celebration tomorrow.
Katie should be on the road and gone for good by dinner. Come over and we’ll
barbeque you a Hallelujah Burger.”

Yeah, that’s really what I wanted to do. Not. “I don’t know.
I think we may be doing something.”

“Hey, Rachel,” Jared called to get her attention. “You doing
something tomorrow or are you up for our Katie-has-been-vanquished barbeque?”

“Barbeque.
Tomorrow.
Got it.”

And with that, my day was planned and she’d moved on. I know
we were used to following whatever cue she wanted, but would it have hurt to
ask what I wanted to do?

“Excellent.” Jared grinned and headed toward the pair at the
counter.

“It will be good to see Luke freed from the crazy princess’s
clutches.”

Justin looked so sincerely worried at the thought of his
brother dealing with the evil pixie, that I reconsidered Luke’s maybe-stalker
maybe-girlfriend guest. I mean, when I’d fallen he’d taken the time to get me
home and clean me up. Maybe he wasn’t the one who needed to have the “what
makes a good friend” discussion. Maybe it was me.

The sales guy rang-up Rachel’s new Hot Sugar Pink phone as
we joined them at the counter.

“If you need any help setting that up, here’s my card.” He
handed her a business card. I didn’t even know anyone with a business card. “My
cell number’s on the back. Feel free to use that.”

Jared slid up beside her, wrapping his arm around her waist.
“Sorry, she’s spoken for.”

Rachel’s head cocked up at him, and then she smiled at the
sales guy.
“Yup.
Spoken for.”

And that was that.

Seriously.

Forty minutes.

How did I make everything so hard?

Chapter
19

All that Parker Family Fun Time had me missing my mom more
than usual.

Okay, so not true. I still missed her every day. But between
the
Parkerness
going on and the fact that school was starting,
the missing became epic.

On the way home I had Rachel drop me off at the school so I
could break back into the art room. When I missed my mom the most, I just
wanted to paint. It’s how I’d started that hazy portrait of her that just kept
calling me back.

Sometimes as I painted, I talked as if she were there. And
talked and talked. This was one of those times. I talked about everything.
Chris and Luke.
Rachel being away and
coming home.
Running and Art.

And Dad.
I talked a lot about Dad
and how there were days I missed him even more than my mom in a weird way.

Closing my eyes, I lifted the brush from the canvas. I could
see her there with me in my mind.

“I wish you were here, Mom. I could really use a parent
right now.” I tried not to picture the look she would have given me.
The cocked eyebrow.
The quirked lip.
“I know. But Dad’s never here. I miss him almost as much as I miss you.”

I could almost hear her response.
Well, Amy Nicole, wait up for him. Don’t let him hide. Try talking to
him instead of just listening to him shuffle through the house.
Tears stung
my eyes as the voice I never forgot whispered through my heart.
And don’t forget, he loves you. He loves you
so much.

When I left, I felt the keen reminder that I still had a
parent, even if he’d gone AWOL. And, the new and improved,
comes-out-of-the-shadows Amy was going to try to get him back.

That night, heavy footfalls trudged up the stairs outside my
bedroom door. I’d been waiting and it was time to spring… in a completely
loving way, of course.

“Hey, Dad?”

He stopped, his body turned away toward his room. I saw the
moment he wished he’d kept going before his shoulders kind of drooped—like
defeat or something—before he lowered his briefcase to the floor and turned to
face me.

“Yes?”

Okay.
So.
Yeah,
not so promising.

“I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute.”

A shoulder hitched up before he turned to face me. It’s not
my fault he was coming in so late. If he wanted to look at his watch, go ahead.
Whatever.

“What about?”

Here we go. I needed a parent. Not just any parent, but the
one that was here. I needed my dad.

“I wanted to talk about Mom—”

He paled and his gaze turned out, past me. Not only was he
not looking at me, but he didn’t even see me there. A big curtain of
invisibility had fallen between us before I could even make my plea.

“Amy, you know how I feel about that.”

I did know. Mom was off limits.
A
non-topic.
The day she died it was like a switch flicked in my dad.
Like he had to make as if she’d almost never been… while I had to
hold on tighter to her memory.

“I just wanted to talk to you about—”

His hand cut through the air.
“Stop.
We’re not going to rehash the past. There are things that are just—” The word
died on his lips. He sucked in a breath. “Amy. It’s late. Some of us have to go
to work tomorrow.”

I almost said,
Some
of us
choose
to go to work and not talk to our daughters
,
but he was already edging away.

 
He picked up his
briefcase. “Go to bed.” His voice had softened, but his tone hadn’t.

“But, Dad—”

“Amy. Go to bed.”

Before I could say another word, his door was closing. I
should never have mentioned Mom, but I hadn’t known how else to start.
How to get him to talk to me.
How to make
him love me again without her.

I turned away from my own room, knowing I wouldn’t be
sleeping for a while.

Wandering downstairs, I headed toward the back porch where
my paints were. But, as I turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs, the
moon shining in the front window caught my attention and pulled me into the
front room.
Mom’s room.
All the homey knick-knacks and
comfy furniture still sprawled about in measured shambles of a well-loved,
well-used room.

The light illuminated the overstuffed loveseat in the corner
where she used to read each afternoon as she waited for me to get home. Missing
her more now and knowing I’d never get to my dad, I shuffled in and curled up
on the chair. Pulling the hand-knitted afghan over my shoulders, I wrapped it
around me, almost smelling her there with me—and tried to fall asleep.

I guess there really is something to being with your mom,
because just when I thought I’d never sleep again, I was dreaming about oil
colors blending on canvas.