Did I Mention I Love You? by Estelle Maskame

Author:Estelle Maskame [Maskame, Estelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2015-12-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

I’d like to pretend that I’m staring at Ella’s lasagna. But I’m not. I’m gazing past the food, my eyes boring into those of the guy sitting across from me with his chin resting on his hand. The guy who is quite literally the epitome of nonchalance right now. I bite my lip as I run my eyes over his jaw, over his lips, over his drawn-together eyebrows, over the sparkle within his eyes. Every so often, he smirks when no one is looking.

“So, Eden,” Dad says, raising his voice a little to get my attention. My eyes immediately plummet back down to my plate and my hands fumble anxiously with my cutlery as I fork up another bite of lasagna. “You’re being so quiet tonight.” He wiggles his brows and points his knife at me, a slight chuckle in his throat. “What are you thinking about?”

“I was—um—I was just—I—uhhh.” The words keep on stuttering past my lips like I’m a three-year-old attempting to string sentences together, so I shove the food into my mouth and offer a closed smile instead.

“How’s the lasagna?” Ella asks us all, her eyes widening a little as she hopes for a positive response. I’m just glad that she’s changed the subject. We all nod our heads in appreciation of the dish she’s slaved over. Even Tyler sits up slightly and sends her a small smile. She made a separate lasagna for him—four cheese, and definitely vegetarian.

“It’s great, Mom,” he says, and her face lights up with a warm glow.

My eyes drift between the two of them, watching their eyes soften as they exchange a glance, and I wonder how their relationship is configured. A lot of the time Ella just seems disappointed in him, but there are also brief moments where they seem to share a sense of silent understanding.

“It tastes so great that…” Tyler continues as he pulls the plate toward him, scooping up a large portion and lifting the fork to his lips. He leans forward over the plate as he takes a huge bite, but half of it falls from his mouth and lands on the table. Sheepishly, he laughs and wipes the sauce from his lips with his thumb. “It tastes so great that now I’m totally full,” he says after he swallows.

Dad arches a brow from the opposite end of the table. “You’re in a good mood tonight, Tyler,” he says.

Tyler presses his lips together as he folds his arms on the table, his eyes moving from Dad to me. As he catches my gaze, he tries his hardest to suppress a smile. But I see it. “I guess I am.” He clears his throat and pushes himself up, getting to his feet and carrying his plate over to the dishwasher. When he turns back around, his face is blank. “I’m gonna head out.”

“Where?” Ella immediately looks up, and she turns around to face him. Even Jamie glances up to hear Tyler’s excuse. “You’re grounded.”

“But I’m seeing Tiffani,” he completely lies, and he’s such a good bluffer that even I believe him for a moment.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.