Page 89 of My Grape Crush
Mom acknowledges her with a watery smile. “Pardon me,” she wipes away mascara streaks with the back of her hand, “I’m a little overwhelmed.”
Dani nods, handling the situation like a pro. “Pleasure to meet you, Marilyn. Although I wish it could be under different circumstances.”
Mom reaches for Dani's shoulder, her voice thick when she says, “Thank you for bringing him home.”
“Well.” JC claps his hands together, bringing us out of the emotional cloud. “You two must be beat, driving all night.”
He throws the question at Dani, who looks anything but. Ridiculously hot in her glasses, hair in a messy ponytail, and stunning without makeup. He flashes that smile, and I feel a surge of irrational jealousy. My brother will go to the ends of the earth for me, but he can also have his tongue down any female throat in half an hour without even trying.
I inch closer to her, signaling, this one is mine.
Dani stifles the cutest yawn. “I am a little bleary,” she admits.
“Why don’t you scoot home and get some sleep?” I suggest. As much as she’s a trooper, who wants to hang out in a hospital and watch someone you don’t know drool all over themselves?
“Okay,” she says. “Text me whenever.I’ll pick you up.”
“Are you two staying at the house?” Mom asks, quick to intervene, looking at me for the answer she wants.
Dani and I never discussed where I’d crash. The Trenton mansion has enough rooms to house a hockey team. And JC has a sweet bachelor pad on the water, overlooking Stanley Park. But if I can lie beside Dani tonight in her condo, I’ll take that, thank you very much.
But I can’t crush Mom’s hopes right now.
I peck Dani on the cheek. “I’ll keep you posted. Leave your phone on.”
I wish I could say it all went like clockwork after that. The Trenton family unified. Me and Dani snuggling after sex in her bed, bellies full of sushi. Hope for a better future shining bright.
Not the ring of my phone shattering the silence, and Sawyer grumbling, “Typical.”
Or me skimming the screen to see Evelyn’s name with a sense of foreboding. Dani had texted earlier to inform her of our midnight emergency run. She’s probably calling for an update.
Or so I hope.
“Mornin’, Evelyn,” I say for the benefit of Dani, her head tilted. Curious.
“Rhys,” Evelyn says, her infamous cigarettes-after-sex voice sounding grittier than usual. “Are you two in Vancouver?”
“Yeah. We just got to the hospital. Sorry, but I can’t talk long.”
The silence that follows carries a weight. And it isn't a peaceful silence. It buzzes through the phone like static before a storm.
“Oh dear,” she says. “I’m sorry to interrupt you, but we have a situation.”
“Jesus, Rhys!” Sawyer fumes, throwing his arms wide. “Can you, for once, not be the full-fledged fuck-up?”
“What?” I shout back. “You think I planned this?”
“That would mean you have the foresight to plan. Not live day to day with your head in the goddamned clouds.” His chest heaves with a disgusted sigh. “Why would you trust that woman to be alone with your stuff?”
JC motions at Sawyer to settle down. “Bro, chill. Both of you. Keep it down. We don’t need a scene.”
“I can’t be calm,” I say, halfway to hysterics. “How do I fix this?”
Other than I can’t.
“Maybe you should have thought of that sooner,” Sawyer yells. “Before our mother ends up in the bathroom on the edge of a nervous breakdown.”
I had no choice but to share the disastrous news with everyone. They all stared at me, the scandalized gasps yet to come. Not only did Myla swipe my journal, but she ditched Kelowna and detoured back to Osoyoos where she and Tomas hooked up at a coffee shop.
