Reckless Together

by Gina Robinson

  Mom didn't take it that way. As she squeezed my arm, tears filled her eyes. "Thank you, Ellie."

  Then I really felt crappy.

  Logan smiled at me like he was proud of me and pleased, and put the car in drive. "Where to?"

  "The evening is still young," Mom said. "What's there to do here in this one-horse town?"

  "The official Mom's Weekend activities are shut down for the night," I said, and tried to make a joke. "But the frat parties are just getting started."

  "Nice try, but you're not pushing me off on some hapless boy." Mom smiled. "Any good movies showing? Anything even remotely decent? I'll settle for palatable. My treat."

  After the movie, Mom drove Logan to his apartment complex, which pounded with music just as rowdy as any regular Friday night. The moms were in a partying mood. The pool area, balconies, and clubhouse were littered with drinking, dancing, laughing moms trying to recapture their youth and keep up with their kids. And my wild mom had taken us to a movie. Life was upside down.

  "Want to come in?" Logan looked reluctant to leave me. He clutched my hand tightly in his as we sat in the back seat. "Let's crash a party."

  Mom looked over the front seat at us. "Thanks, Logan. Not tonight. It's been a long day and it's about to get longer. For one of us."

  Mom was speaking in riddles. What was up with her? I wanted to stay with Logan. I'm sure she knew that. But I couldn't turn Mom loose on her own. She was up to something. She never got tired this early. "We'd better go. Sorry." I kissed Logan, hoping he understood.

  He stroked my cheek, looking adorably disappointed. "See you tomorrow." He reached for the door handle.

  "Logan?" Mom stopped him, and hesitated, kind of dramatically, like she had something important to say.

  "Yeah?" He cocked his head.

  "During the movie, I had time to think about something I overheard when I left the table at dinner. It doesn't make much sense to me, but I think I should tell you. Even though it exposes me as an unapologetic eavesdropper." Mom laughed self-deprecatingly. "I walked past Amber as she was taking her call. I only heard her end, and just a snatch, but I'm pretty sure she's playing you."

  Logan frowned, clearly interested. "Yeah? About what?"

  "You tell me. She was making a deal with someone named Cutter. She said someone, or something, named Core had better have deep pockets. Because her neck was on the line and she was pretty sure she was being watched. If they wanted more information, the price was going to double."

  I was confused—how did Mom know about the deal?

  Logan frowned like he was thinking. "You think Amber is behind the rumors? Not Dad? You think she's selling us out? You're sure?" He looked totally stunned.

  Mom shrugged. "I heard what I heard, so yes. You have your differences with your dad, I get that. But would he really do this to you? On the other hand, greed is a powerful motivator." She laughed. "Just ask me." She paused and turned serious. "Look into it, Logan. Soon. Find out what's really going on and protect yourself."

  Logan nodded. "Yeah."

  "Ellie, say goodbye to your boyfriend and get in the front seat with me. I refuse to look like your chauffeur. This isn't Mom's taxi service."

  Logan opened the door and tugged me out with him, pulling me to him and holding me tight.

  "What was that about?" I whispered.

  "Amber double-crossing us." He ran his fingers through my hair. Suddenly he looked excited and hopeful. "I have some thinking to do. And some research."

  "But how did Mom know about your business with Amber?"

  He shrugged, like who cares? He was clearly excited. "She may have just saved my ass and our future." He kissed me before I could reply. "Go, El. It's going to be a long night. I have a lot of work to do." He kissed the tip of my nose. "I'll see you tomorrow. Wish me luck." He kissed me once more, hard, and held the car door open for me.

  "Good luck." I slid in, still confused.

  He closed the door, waved, and jogged off.

  Mom put the car in drive and pulled away. "You could have spent the night with him."

  "Not after what you just told him." I studied her. "You totally distracted him. On purpose."

  She smiled.

  "How did you know about Logan's business dealings with Amber?"

  Mom's laugh was rich this time. "Excuses, excuses. You could have stayed and helped with the research. You're just making sure I don't sneak Caleb into your dorm room for the night and upset Bre and Donna."

  "Someone has to keep an eye on you," I said. "You're deflecting, Mom. Answer my question."

  "I don't like that Amber." Mom pulled out of Logan's parking lot onto the street.

  "No one likes Amber." I paused. "No one who's female, anyway, not even dogs. Guys are another story. They fall for her crap." I shot Mom a look like she should sympathize with Amber's situation. "Turn right, here. You left the table to spy on her."

  Mom put on her blinker and grinned. "Which you should have done. Haven't I taught you anything?" She shook her head. "Know your adversary. You weren't acting, so I did. She wants one of Walker boys, that's pretty obvious. She'd prefer Caleb, but she'd take Logan."

  "What?" I stared at Mom. "Are you crazy?" I paused. "You saw how she was all over Logan. You aren't just making this up to make me feel better?" I looked ahead up the street. "Left at the next light."

  "You know me better than that. I call them as I see them. You're blinded by your jealousy." Mom slowed to a stop at the light and hit her blinker. "Otherwise it would be clear. She was flirting with Logan for two reasons—she hates that she lost him to you and she was trying to make Caleb jealous and throw his parents off the scent. Not the best strategy, but she's an amateur. Did you notice the way she kept looking at Caleb when she thought no one was looking?"

  I frowned. "I wasn't paying attention to her. I was trying not to look at her. She gives me hives."

  Mom laughed and clucked her tongue. "What have I always told you?"

  "Never trust another woman around your man," I said in unison with her.

  She smiled as we drove up the hill toward campus. "Part of the art of war is knowing your enemy, Ellie. Trust me, she wants Caleb. She lost Logan. She only keeps him on her string now because of that damn business deal she sucked him into before you were in the picture."

  I stared at her. "Who are you? Sherlock Holmes?"

  "I have ears. How did I know about the business deal? I overheard what Logan was yelling at Harlan." She grinned. "And Caleb may have filled me in on a few details while we were waiting for a ceasefire in the parking lot."

  "Shut up!" Against my better judgment, I was impressed. "So that's why you were flirting with Caleb, to show her who's the queen?"

  Mom just smiled. "Nice try. I'm not admitting to any flirting. But I may have been friendly just to test my hypothesis. She's definitely hot for Caleb."

  "Okay, if you say so."

  "That doesn't mean you should drop your guard."

  "Right at the stop sign," I said.

  Mom nodded. "She'd still take Logan if she could."

  "But if she's double-crossing him? How will that work out? He's going to lose a lot of money."

  "She doesn't expect to get caught," Mom said. "They never do. Why do you think your second stepdad went to jail?"

  I frowned. "Logan blames Harlan."

  Mom shook her head. "Harlan's anger and surprise at being accused were genuine. That kind of thing is hard to fake. I should know. Logan saw what he expected to see, just like you did in the parking lot."

  It was cheeky of Mom to bring that up again.

  "And," she said before I could respond, "Amber set it up that way, or I miss my guess."

  "You've watched one too many episodes of Elementary."

  She laughed. "Oh, Dr. Watson, you always miss the clues."

  "There's the visitor lot." I pointed. "We should be able to find a spot there."

  She got lucky and found a spot in the row closest to the dorm. "Lo
gan needs to get out of it before it's too late."

  I didn't trust her, but I played along as I got out of the car. "It's already too late."

  "The show's not over until the fat lady sings." Mom got out and closed her door.

  We walked to the dorm in silence. I wanted Mom to be right about Amber, but if she was, I owed her, big time. Maybe even enough to forgive her. I wondered if I really could. At the same time, I realized I was a little less angry with her.

  We climbed the stairs to my room in silence. Bre and Donna were already back and snuggled into their beds, eating popcorn and talking and laughing. The room smelled like melted butter.

  "We had the best night," Bre said when we walked in. "Dan was at the hot-wings place with his mom. You should have seen how his eyes bugged out when he saw me. Melissa, you're a genius. I showed him."

  "Walked right past him with confidence, I hope," Mom said. "Like you didn't even see him."

  "She did," Donna said, smiling like she approved.

  "While we were waiting for a table, I met this great guy. It was really crowded. Tables for two were impossible to get, so the four of us decided to share a table." Bre was beaming. "He asked for my number. He's already texted."

  "Oh my gosh, Bre! That's fantastic," I said.

  "His mom's nice, too," Donna said. "I had a good chat with her. They're from Olympia. His dad's in state government."

  Mom kicked off her shoes. "Exciting! Details! We want details. And photos. If you didn't take a selfie of all of you I'm going to have to kill you both."

  Bre laughed and dragged out her phone.

  Chapter Twenty

  I spent a restless night on the floor in my sleeping bag next to Bre. I kept thinking about Logan, hoping he found out what was really going on. Hoping he could save his investment. Dreaming of him at grad school while I finished up my senior year. Of course, there was still the trial to get through. I was optimistic that Logan would get nothing but support and that would convince him to stay. But most of all, he needed to feel like he was free from his dad, just like I needed to be free of Mom.

  Mom. I couldn't figure her out. It was like she was a changed woman. But I knew better than to trust this new transformation as anything like permanent.

  The four of us woke early with the sun shining through the light-filtering shades. After we showered, Mom braided Bre's hair and styled mine. Then she did our makeup. Bre texted her new guy two dozen times, at least. Life was looking up, so it seemed.

  When it was time to get dressed for breakfast, I went to my closet to get the matching Mom's Weekend sweatshirts. I had a momentary pang of guilt as I looked at the medium I'd gotten Mom. She was going to swim in it.

  "Mom, I got you something, too." I pulled them out of the closet and handed her the larger one.

  She looked pleasantly startled and then, crap, were those tears in her eyes? How did she make me feel bad so easily?

  She shook it out and read the slogan on the back: "Home is where your Mom is." Her voice broke.

  I pulled mine on over my head as she held hers up to her. I was right—it was too large. Good guess on my part. "Sorry. I had to guess on the size. You're, you know, bigger on top than I am, so I got you the larger size."

  She hardly seemed to hear me. "That's nothing. I can fix it." She gave me a hug and grabbed her purse, rifling around for something. She pulled out a roll of fabric tape.

  "What do you have in there?" I said, though I should have remembered she had everything in there. "Are you training for Let's Make a Deal?"

  She laughed. "Men and their duct tape, me and my fabric tape." Within minutes, she had taped the sweatshirt in so that it was no longer boxy on her, but nicely tailored.

  I should have known.

  The four of us went to breakfast together. Tay was working. "What's up with Bre? She looks great and she knows it," Tay said.

  "Mom and the guy Bre met last night. Mom gave her some beauty tips and did her hair and makeup. The new guy makes her glow."

  "Speaking of your mom, you two look sweet in your matching sweatshirts. You must have guessed wrong on her size. I guess there's some consolation that she's bigger than you thought."

  I shook my head. "No, I guessed right. Mom altered it to fit her."

  "Wow, she's good." Tay handed me a cinnamon roll and coffee.

  I frowned. "Yeah. If you want her to try her magic on you, just stop by. You may as well join the club of her admirers."

  "I'd like that." Tay winked at me.

  "Traitor."

  Logan texted me while we ate, excited. He'd pulled an all-nighter, but he was on to something. Caleb was hanging with him while their parents were in College of Business meetings and events all day. Caleb wanted to tag along with us to Up All Night and see what all the hype was about. They'd pick us up at eight.

  "Caleb's coming with us tonight," I said to Mom.

  "I don't mind." She smiled at me. "As long as he can dance."

  I shot her a warning look. After breakfast, we parted ways with Bre and Donna. Mom and I went to the mother/daughter pedis and manis appointment I had scheduled. We came out wearing special Mom's Weekend flip-flops and protecting our matching nails and toes decorated with tiny flowers.

  "That was fun." Mom hugged me enthusiastically.

  "Yeah, except for the part where they asked where our moms were." I rolled my eyes.

  She laughed. "Look on the bright side—there's hope you inherited my young-looking genes." She studied me with that searching look again.

  I brushed it off. "Or your talent with makeup."

  "That just takes practice."

  We headed to the coliseum to meet Dex and his mom for the craft fair. Linda and Nic unfortunately had to bail on us. It was a beautiful day. The spring trees were in bloom and the usual wind was just a gentle breeze. The campus was covered in matching moms and daughters, but very few guys wore sweatshirts to match their moms.

  We got to the coliseum early.

  "Dex is your genius friend?" Mom said. "What does he look like again?"

  I showed her a picture of him on my phone. "But don't worry about spotting him. You'll know him when you see him. He'll be the one guy on campus wearing a Mom's Weekend sweatshirt."

  "Mama's boy?"

  I shook my head. "Coerced." Then I grinned, thinking of Dex's prank. "Just between you and me, he has a plan to get her back."

  Mom was scanning the crowd. She pointed in the direction of a crowd of people coming to the coliseum over the footbridge from the main part of campus. "Oh, look! Is that him?"

  For a second, I gave her credit for having good eyes. Then I spotted Dex, too, and broke out laughing. "Oh, no. No, no, no!"

  Dex was walking next to his smiling mom with a sour scowl on his face. I swore he blushed when he spotted us. He wore the dark gray guy version of the sweatshirt. The petite woman next to him, whom I assumed was his mom, wore the light gray women's version.

  Dex's had been altered. On the front, right below the university logo, it said in neat, precise lettering, Mom's always right.

  "Shut up," he said as he came over to us.

  "I haven't said anything." I shot him an innocent look.

  "You've been laughing." He glared at me.

  Next to him, his mom was smiling. "Oh, my little imp-a-zoid."

  "Imp-a-zoid?" I said.

  "What else would you call him?" She laughed. "He thinks he can out-prank his mama." She spun him around so we could read the back of his sweatshirt. She clucked her tongue. "Like I wouldn't notice heat-activated ink."

  His sweatshirt said, Not my idea.

  Next to me, Mom was trying hard not to laugh.

  Dex's mom introduced herself while Dex fumed. "Beth. Dex's mom. You must be Ellie and"—she turned to my mom—"her mom?"

  "Melissa," Mom said.

  "Okay, I have to say, you do not look like a mom. Did you have Ellie when you were three?" Beth's good humor was infectious. She'd said just the right thing to mom.


  To my amazement, mom actually seemed to warm to her. "Close," she said. "Kindergarten."

  Beth laughed. "Thank goodness. I was insecure there for a moment. You're putting the rest of us to shame."

  Beth was actually really cute, a quirky kind of stylish nerd girl with dark-rimmed glasses that accentuated the nice shape of her eyes and balanced her face. Her brown hair was cut in a stylish bob. She wore fitted jeans and bright Converse tennis shoes. And looked much younger than she had to be. Younger in a girlish way, like she'd never really grown up. Dex had her nose. It was too bad he didn't look more like her, actually.

  "What are you talking about?" Mom said. "You must have been a baby yourself."

  "Maybe first grade."

  Mom turned her attention to Dex. "Melissa. Nice to meet you." She held her hand out for him to shake.

  Dex actually blushed. You could tell he was flustered around her. I resisted the urge to smack some sense into him. When Mom turned back to Beth to swap Mom stories, Dex whispered to me, "You lied. Your mom is not just hot. She's smoking."

  "Not you, too," I said. "Your mom seems nice. And smart. She outsmarted you."

  He frowned. "She's just got more life experience." He glanced down at his sweatshirt. "I need to get home and get out of this." He touched his mom's arm. "I'm leaving. See you later. Don't spend all Dad's money."

  "Dad's money!" Beth gave him a mock-dirty look.

  "Nice to meet you!" Dex grabbed my arm. "Text me when you're leaving the craft fair. I need fair warning before she comes back." He dashed off before I could reply.

  "Oh, that kid," Beth said. "He thinks he's so smart. He's a showoff like his dad. Good thing I like showoffs." She made a funny face. "Stay on your guard. He'll try to get me back for that sweatshirt." She smiled. "Now, let's shop!"

  Mom smiled at Beth. "I think you and I are going to be very good friends. Tell me about that fabric ink you used on Dex's shirt…"

  The craft fair was crowded with booths and people. Mom's eyes went wide at the high quality and variety of goods—handmade soaps, handcrafted jewelry. Etched-glass block lamps. Hand-sewn aprons. Window butterflies. Leather purses. Fudge and candy. Carvings. Everything you could imagine that could be crafted with the university logo on it.