Tempting Janey by Mary Lynn Baxter

Author:Mary Lynn Baxter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2012-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty-One

“Robin, I’m not sure about this.”

“Oh, Mom, you worry too much.”

Janey frowned up at her daughter, who was dressed in a pair of jeans and a stretchy light blue blouse that hugged her lithe figure to perfection.

Worry? That was mild in comparison with the agony Janey went through every time Robin went out that door. But she refused to smother her child. She wanted Robin to have friends, to have fun, to be popular. On the other side of that coin, Janey continued to expect Robin to hold to the values she’d been taught, not always fall in with the crowd.

Although she trusted her child, she didn’t trust many of Robin’s friends.

“So where will you be now?”

“At Sally Parrish’s house,” Robin said, her exasperation obvious, but Janey ignored it.

“I don’t much like you going to a house where I don’t know the parents. They are going to be home, right?” Janey’s gaze and words were pointed.

“Oh, Mom, we’ve already been through this,” Robin wailed. “And you already said I could go.”

“I’m not reneging, but—”

“Good, because Ralph’s picking me up in about ten minutes.”

Janey’s eyebrows rose. “Ralph? What about Chad?”

“He’s coming to the party, only later.”

“Why later?” Janey asked.

Robin lifted her thin shoulders in a shrug. “Something he has to do first. I don’t really know. Anyway, Ralph’s taking several girls, Beverly included.”

“Well, that makes me feel better, anyway.”

“So what about you? Do you have any plans?”

A ripple of uneasiness went through Janey. Rarely did Robin enquire about her plans, always seeming too wrapped up in her own busy social life. However, ever since Janey had gone out to dinner with Dillon that one time, Robin had kept closer tabs on her mother.

“Why?” Janey cocked her head, smiling. “You worried about your mother?”

Robin looked awkward. “Nah. Just wondered if you were going out with D—uh, Mr. Reed.”

In spite of herself, Janey felt her face turn red, much to her chagrin. Hopefully Robin wouldn’t notice. “No, but I’m curious why you would ask that.”

Robin shrugged again. “I saw you two talking at the car wash, that’s all.”

“Oh,” Janey said. She hadn’t realized Robin had even noticed. Who else had?

“Is that all you have to say?” Robin’s tone was a bit put out.

Janey didn’t want to lie to her daughter. But she didn’t like being put on the spot by her teenager, either. “He asked me out again. Is that what you wanted to know?”

Robin’s glazed lips thinned. “Are you going?”

“No.”

“Do you want to?”

“Robin, drop it, okay?”

Robin’s lower lip rounded out in a pout. “That’s the way you talk to me.”

“I’m the adult here, remember? Your parent. I’m supposed to be nosy.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Maybe not, but that’s the way it is.” A horn honked, and Janey looked beyond her daughter’s shoulder toward the window. “Your friend is here.”

“Cool.” Robin leaned over and pecked Janey on the cheek, then dashed for the door.

“Hey,” Janey said.

Robin halted, then swung around, an anxious expression on her face.

Janey forced a smile. “Keep in mind that eleven’s the magical hour.

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