“What’s wrong?”
That was short-lived. I tensed back up, pulling back from her. “Nothing!”
Damn it. I didn’t even need to look at her to know that didn’t sound even the least bit truthful.
“Helen?” She called again, lifting my chin so she could look me in the eye. My mother Cora had three ultimate superpowers. “You’re lying to me.”
Yep. The first my dad liked to call her bullshit detector. Which made it even harder for a bad liar, such as myself, to get away with anything. Sighing, I tried to smile again, staring into her dark brown eyes. “Can we let it slide?”
She frowned, causing small wrinkles to form on her brown skin. And she looked back and forth in my eyes, as if she were reading, before putting both her hands on my cheeks. “Normally, since you asked, I would let it slide, but sweetheart, you look terrified. Did something happen to you? Are you alright? You know you can tell me anything. I won’t be upset—”
“No. I’m fine. I swear,” I said quickly before her imagination got the better of her. Reaching up, I pulled her hands down.
“Okay. I won’t push.” She sounded hurt…which was her second superpower, the guilt trip. It didn’t matter if she was the one in the wrong. Somehow, she’d twist it around and make you feel like you were the one in the wrong. “Oh, I missed you!”
“Mom!” I couldn’t brace for it. Her third superpower, super hugs, had me trapped in her arms for dear life.
“Now that am I back, you and I should go to the spa. Have a girls day. You can speak computer geek to me until the sun comes up.”
I laughed, nodding. “I speak computer nerd, not geek.”
“What’s the difference?” she questioned, finally releasing me from her bear grip, but before I could reply, she just waved me off, going off on her own tangent. “You know, forget it. I’m going to book an appointment now.”
“Book…you aren’t going to just rent out the whole spa?” I mocked.
“Nope.” She grinned from ear to ear, pulling her phone out of her skirt pocket. “How can I show off what an awesome daughter I have if no one else is there?”
“Mom, you’re such a dork—”
“Excuse me, I prefer nerd.” She rolled her neck at me as s
he mocked me. However, it was short lived as she began to frown.
“What is it?”
“This bloody phone keeps acting up. Can you fix—”
“Can I can fix it? Mom, I’m hurt, don’t you know I’m a genius,” I said with a gasp, my hand over my heart, and took the phone from her.
She snorted. “How can I forget? You and your father remind me every day.”
I couldn’t help but beam with pride as I scrolled through the code on her phone. It took only a few seconds. “Yeah, Mom, it’s just because you forgot to update—”
When I looked up, she was looking through my tablet.
“Mom!” I yelled, reaching over and snatching it out of her hands. “Don’t just go through my stuff!”
Her eyebrow raised, and I closed my mouth quickly. Her eyes focused on the tablet and then back to me, and I hung my head. I was a fucking adult, and yet in this moment I didn’t feel like one…and I didn’t know why.
“Helen.”
“Sorry I snapped, but—”
“Is that what’s scared you?” She cut me off, and when I met her gaze, she nodded to the split feed of Wyatt’s press conference and the deleted footage at the O.S., which was now playing on my tablet. I watched for a moment, but the moment the little girl burned, crying out for her mom as he just sat there, I turned back. “Why are you scared?”
“I’m not scared.”
“You look it.”