Up to Me by M. Leighton

Author:M. Leighton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: M. Leighton Books
Published: 2013-01-03T13:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN- Olivia

With only about twenty minutes left before we get to her house, I brainstorm some sort of believable reason I’d be showing up on my mother’s doorstep in the middle of the night. With a strange guy in tow.

It’s been so long since I’ve called her, it takes me three tries to get the number right. It’s programmed into my phone, but my phone is at Cash’s apartment. I’m using one of the little cheapies that Cash wants me to toss in the trash every day or two.

My stepfather Lyle’s sleepy voice sounds on the other end of the line. I breathe a sigh of relief. I didn’t know any other number combinations to try, so I’d have been up the creek if this one hadn’t been right.

“Lyle, it’s Olivia. I’m sorry to call so late. Can I speak to Mom?”

I hear an exasperated sigh and some muffled sounds as he covers the mouthpiece with his hand. A few seconds later, my mother’s voice comes on the line.

“Olivia, do you know what time it is, young lady?”

Leave it to my mother to be more concerned with propriety than the fact that her daughter is calling out of the blue at an ungodly hour.

“Mom, there was a gas leak at my place in town. Can I come stay the night with you?”

I hear a variety of noises before she speaks, none of which sound pleased. “Why aren’t you staying with your father? Don’t you have a key?”

“Dad broke his leg. It’s hard for him to get around. Calling him in the middle of the night might cause him to hurt himself. So would just showing up.”

Everything I’m telling her is true except the gas leak. “And I’m bringing someone with me. He’s…well, he’s a friend. I hope that’s okay.”

It’s funny that I couldn’t even force the lie that Gavin means something more to me. It seems that even my tongue is tied to Cash, which is freakin’ ridiculous. But, knowing my mother, she’ll make something else of it anyway. She’ll see and hear and perceive what she wants to and make all her judgments based on what’s in her head. That’s the way it’s always been with her.

“If you think you’re sleeping in the same room with this ‘friend,’ you can think again, Olivia.”

I can almost see her lips thinning into a self-righteous pucker.

“I wasn’t even going to ask, Mom. We just need a safe place. For tonight.” Gavin pokes me, looking meaningfully at me. “A couple days at the most.”

“A couple of days?” Oh yeah, she’s outraged now. Inconveniencing my mother is a huge no-no.

“We won’t interfere with any plans you’ve got. You won’t even know we’re there.”

“I doubt that,” she mumbles. “All right. When will you be here?”

“We’re about fifteen minutes out now.”

“All right.”

With a click, the line goes dead. I sigh and hang up on my end. I look to Gavin and he grins.

“Sounds like a gem.”

“Oh, she is.”

Perceptive guy.

Just under twenty minutes later, Gavin is carrying my bag and following me up the long, curving, lighted walkway to my mother’s front door.

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