Right now, I needed protection from Mom. But would he do that?
No.
“Tell me,” Ryan said.
“It’s Parker Conrad!” Mom blurted out.
I paled. Ryan stared at Mom before he turned to me.
“What?” he asked. “You’re just friends.”
“Exactly,” I said in a small voice.
Mom waved her hand. “She’s crazy about the guy. And he sounds like a decent man too. Helping her out, taking her on dates. She won’t let me meet him, and I feel out of the loop.”
“What!?” Ryan cried out.
“Ryan, please,” I said.
“So, it’s true?”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me? How long has this been going on?”
“Well, when did she get the contract with him?” Mom asked. “Let’s see ...” She tried to count the weeks on her fingers.
Ryan shook his head, anger building.
“How could you do this?” he demanded. “You should have told me.”
“You would have freaked out. Like you’re doing right now.” I folded my arms over my chest to keep myself from falling apart. “I’m allowed to date whoever I want, Ryan.”
“No, you’re not.”
“You can’t tell me what to do,” I said, angry now too.
“Can we not do this here?” Mom asked. “Everyone’s looking.”
“You were the one who started this,” I hissed at Mom.
Ryan shook his head. “I shouldn’t have come. All this time, I thought Mom was the problem. I prepared myself for whatever could go wrong today, thinking I had to be careful ofher.”
“What?” Mom asked. “How can you say that? What did I do?”
“But now,” Ryan continued. “I see the one I should have been careful of was you.”
He stood. He hadn’t even touched his coffee.
“Ryan, don’t leave,” I said.
“I’m not staying. The two of you can carry on with your conniving coffee; have lunch and gossip and leave me the fuck out of it.”
“Sit down,” Mom said in a stern voice.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” Ryan said, pointing a finger at Mom. “You gave up a right to whatever’s going on in my life about the time you decided to rip this family apart. And you,” he said, glaring at me. “I thought we were better than this.”
“Ryan, please,” I started, but he shook his head. “Just let me explain.”