“I love you, too, Mom.”
She went back to the stove as a rumpled Julian stepped out of the back. He found me with bedroom eyes, a quirk of his lips letting me in on our secret from last night.
“Morning,” he drawled.
“Good morning,” I whispered.
“Eggs?” my mom asked him.
“No, thank you, ma’am. I was thinking of ducking out and getting us Voodoo Doughnuts. Jen, you want to walk with me?”
I shook my head. “I need to shower. Still feel the bar on me from last night.”
He frowned at my words. “All right. Doughnut preference?”
“Whatever you get will be fine.”
“Okay,” he said, drawing out the word. He looked up at my mom. “Anything for you, Mrs. Gibson?”
“Oh, I can’t stomach the calories,” she said, touching her waistline. “Jen probably shouldn’t either.”
My blush moved to the tips of my ears. Yes, I’d gained some weight in the last couple years. My body had changed, too. My hips widening and thighs going with it. Plus, I truly hated working out. Nothing about it was fun. I wanted to be like Annie, who cared about running and soccer and shit, but I just didn’t care. I’d never been coordinated either. The best I’d managed was two years of marching band in high school.
Julian’s gaze narrowed at my mother. I’d never seen him look at anyone but Ashleigh and his father like that. “Jennifer can eat whatever she likes.”
“Oh, of course,” my mom said. She seemed oblivious to his disdain.
“You can jump in the shower. I’ll wait for you to get doughnuts,” he offered.
I bit my lip. Might as well get this over with. Ripping the Band-Aid off wasn’t going to be fun here or in the Jaguar, driving six hours back home.
“Sure,” I said tightly.
I took the quickest shower of my life and didn’t even blow my hair out. Just dropped it into a messy bun on the top of my head, the short strands still wet and slightly curling against the nape of my neck. I pulled on a gray T-shirt, tucked into a flowy floral skirt, and sandals I’d worn last night.
Julian was waiting outside. “That was fast.”
“I thought you’d still be inside.”
He averted his gaze to the door. “It’s a nice day. Want to walk?”
“Yeah, sure.”
The day was about as beautiful as Texas summers ever reached. As if the universe knew how incredible our previous night had been and wanted a sunny spotlight on it.
My mind was still reeling from the conversation with my mom. Like…fuck. She meant well. I knew that much. She really did. But the things that she’d said, whether or not true, were the reason I hadn’t wanted to have that conversation to begin with.
“You’re quiet,” Julian said.
“Just talked to my mom. I guess Chester and Margaret broke up.”
“Thought that was clear when he got into the tub at the bar last night,” he said with a laugh.
“I mean, I knew they had been fighting.” I glanced up at him, and his eyes were on mine. Same Julian. Perfect smile, perfect look, perfect everything. He didn’t seem to be a totally different guy. He was the same guy I’d known for years. “I didn’t realize it had gotten that far.”
“Eh. It was probably for the better. She seemed upset.”
“True.”
“It sucks when relationships end, but not every person you meet is forever.”
That was the damn truth. I’d dated enough duds to know that. I had thought that Margaret was the one for Chester. Showed how much I knew about relationships. And anyway, I was using this distraction so that I didn’t have to discuss what was happening with me and Julian.
“Here we are.” He yanked the door open on the bubblegum-pink building with a Voodoo Doughnuts sign hanging from the top.
We entered a room that smelled like straight sugar and looked like a kaleidoscope had exploded. We moved against the brick wall to get into the line behind a spattering of bedraggled college students.
“What do you like?” he asked.
“There are so many choices,” I whispered as I stared at the plethora of doughnut options before me.
“I’m partial to the Mexican Hot Chocolate and The Blunt.”
I coughed, and then my eyes tracked to what was actually a doughnut rolled into a blunt. “Well, they have everything here, don’t they?”
“Pretty much.” Julian leaned against the wall as we waited our turn. “So, about last night.”
I bit my lip. I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want to ruin it. “What about last night?”
“It happened.”
I laughed. “I know it happened.”
He smirked. “Good. I was worried when you weren’t there in the morning.”
“Well, actually…” I ran a hand across the back of my neck.
“What’ll ya have?”
I jumped at the woman standing before us. I hadn’t realized we’d gotten to the front of the line. The woman was all of five feet tall with bright blue hair up in giant Leia buns on the sides of her head. Her eyes were heavily winged, and she was clearly high as fuck.