Page 38 of The Bad Boyfriend Curse
Noah shakes his head, amazed. “They actually said you could bringmeto another LeClair event? One at the actual plant?”
Maybe he won’t want to go to the plant as a guest of the LeClairs? “Yeah. Is that a problem? If you don’t want to come, you don’t have to.”
He laughs. “Yeah, I’ll come. I’m shocked they want me there. That’s all.”
“Mom specifically said you’d be welcome. We were arguing at the time, but I’m not breaking any rules.” I pause. “Your dad seems really…” I want to say “smart,” but I think that might imply that I didn’t expect him to be smart, which isn’t the case. “I mean, I like what he said about services for kids. Maybeheshould run for city council.”
Noah shakes his head. “Nah, he’d hate that. And there’s no way he’d ever win anyway. We don’t exactly have the best reputation in town. But yeah, Dad’s a good guy.Now.”
“How old were you when he stopped drinking?”
Noah’s eyes are focused straight in front of him. “Nine. I was five when I learned to turn him onto his side to make sure he didn’t choke on his vomit.”
I shake my head. “You should’ve stayed in the city with your mother.”
He shrugs. “I didn’t have a choice. Mom didn’t really want me. I remind her too much of Dad. Besides, Dad and Aaron always got worse when I wasn’t here. They need me.” His voice is wooden as he speaks. I can’t imagine what it would be like to grow up that way.
I squeeze my lips together, shaking my head. To me it seems like his father is asking too much of Noah. “Okay, but that’s not fair to you.”
Noah doesn’t respond. He seems like a different person from the silly guy I made tree puns with a few days ago. And the lightly teasing flirty guy. But it’s all Noah.
“Your father hasn’t relapsed since Jason’s visit?”
Noah shakes his head. “Not even once. He’s doing great.”
Jason technically saved this family, but I think his helpwastoo little, too late. Yeah, throwing money at the problem and giving Mike a job helped, but money is cheap for someone as rich as Jason. He didn’tstayin Mike’s life, even though they used to be best friends. He didn’t give the family any emotional support. Noah didn’t grow up with an actual Uncle Jason, like Sadie did.
Noah is the one who saved the Jacobs family. He’s the glue that holds his father together instead of following his own dreams.Noah, the guy who doesn’t want me to losemyselfas I reach for my own goals. He deserves so much more than this.
“Does your dad want you to try to be a musician instead of working at the plant?”
Noah’s brows knit together. He finally shakes his head. “He says there’s no point. He doesn’t trust the industry. I think he was secretly happy when…”
There’s something he’s not telling me about his music or his future in Cherrybridge. But that’s okay. I don’t want to press too much.
“It’s kind of like my mom and this curse,” I say. “My mom would never let me make my own relationship choices, good or bad, because she said the curse would get me like it did her, so I wasn’t allowed to even talk to a boy until I was seventeen. And then when I finally had freedom, I made a monumentally bad decision. Maybe because I had never been given the chance to make a small bad decision first.”Huh. I’ve never actually thought about it that way. How much of me going along with Gabe’s dumbass ideas was because he was my first date and I didn’t know what I was doing?
Noah has a confused expression, and I chuckle. I never did tell him about my curse.
“Oh. I guess I should explain this to you,” I say. I tell him the whole story, going back to my great-great-grandmother who pulled a gun on her fiancé, down to my mom getting pregnant by the sperm donor, who ran off to India, never to be found again. I even tell him about my spreadsheet, andmy necklace to avoid the curse—which might or might not be working.
Noah raises a brow when I’m done. He looks like he’s trying hard not to laugh at me.
“It’s okay. Mock me if you must,” I say. “I recognize how ridiculous it sounds.”
“You seriously all believe you’re cursed?” he asks.
“Yes. It’s hard not to when the evidence is right there. I mean, my first-ever date got mearrested. My grandmother says I willalwayshave bad judgment in picking guys now, so I should get my family’s approval from now on.”
This time he does laugh at me. “Really? What year is this?”
I shrug, resigned to my fate. “I agree, the curse is super sexist. But it’s been historically proven, and I can’t really argue against true events. So I’m not planning to date. Ever.”
He snorts. “So that’s why we’repretenddating and not really dating.”
“Exactly. But my mother thinks we’rereallydating. I expected her to disapprove of our relationship and send me home, but she didn’t.” I frown. The fact that Mom didn’t forbid me to date Noah means either she knows that I’m bluffing or doesn’t care if he ruins my life at all.
Noah shakes his head. “I don’t think you’re cursed. Bad stuff happens and people make mistakes. There doesn’t need to be a cosmic reason behind it. You didn’t recognize the warning signs because your family is strict, so you didn’t have enough experience to know that your date was bad news. That doesn’t mean you’re cursed for life.”
