Chapter Eleven
“Mom. Seriously. Take it down a notch.” I tossed the green salad in its large wooden bowl and tried to avoid the tornado that was my mother. “You’re going to give yourself an aneurism.”
“Maybe if I’d had a little notice.” She blew her reddish bangs out of her face.
“Hey, I just said that I wanted you to meet someone.” Tucking the spoons into the lettuce, I looked up at her through the veil of my hair. “You’re the one who told me to invite him to dinner.”
“Well, what else was I supposed to do?” She stirred the noodles boiling in a pot on the stovetop. “The least I could do was make the boy dinner. Suddenly you’ve got a boyfriend you’d like us to meet? I mean, I didn’t even realize you’d been on any dates with him.”
This was classic Maggie Prosser. Taking on more than she could handle and then lashing out when she was overwhelmed. It happened so often I should have a punch card or something. Five Mom-Meltdowns, and the sixth is free.
“That’s because I haven’t been on any dates.” I slid the salad bowl to the center of the table and reached for the pile of napkins resting on the counter. “Going to the movies with my mom and dad watching me from the next row would totally blow.”
“Watch your mouth.” She pulled the pot off of the burner. “Jeremy! Can I get a little help in here?” She raised an eyebrow at me. “So you’re telling me you’re in a committed relationship with this boy?”
I nodded. “Yup.”
She poured the noodles into a strainer. A drop of the scalding water hit her finger, making her swear. “And Evey says this is the same boy your father told you to stay away from.”
I scratched at a dry drop of ketchup on the tabletop. “Yup.”
She stopped draining noodles and looked at me long and hard. “And you didn’t see anything wrong with that?”
“I’m eighteen.” I spoke as calmly as possible. “I can date whoever I want.”
My father filled the kitchen doorway. “You know I don’t like that guy.”
I made one of those half-snort, half-sigh sounds that all teenagers make. I hated stooping to that level, but really. “Seriously. It’s not the eighteenth century. Saxon doesn’t need my father’s permission to court me.”
My father flared his nostrils. “So now he’s courting you?”
“Knock it off, Dad.” I started arranging napkins around the table, tossing them to the spots I couldn’t reach. “You don’t even know Saxon. He’s a good guy. Probably better than most of the guys at school.”
“Except that he’s a squatter.” My mother straightened the napkins I’d thrown onto the table.
“He’s not a squatter,” I snapped.
“That house at the end of the street never has lights on, and the front gate is padlocked shut.” My dad pulled some bottles of salad dressing out of the refrigerator and went to place them on the table, but they were quickly snatched out of his hands by my mom. He offered a steely gaze at the back of her head for a beat. “What’s his explanation for that?”
“It’s his…uncle’s house. And he’s staying there by himself while his parents move. That’s why you never see lights on. It’s just him, so…” I looked up to find both of my parents scowling at me. Their bogus-detectors were on high tonight. “And…so…his uncle has some trust issues. That’s why he has to padlock the fence. You know? For security purposes.”
My dad didn’t look convinced. “Security purposes?”
Mom shook her head. “If you think you’re going to date some kid who—”
“Um, Mom?” Evey’s voice cut off her near-tirade. We all turned as she came into the room, twisting her ponytail around her finger. “He’s coming down the driveway now.” A sharp knock at the door punctuated her sentence.
“OK, so can we play ‘trash Luna’s boyfriend’ later?” My heart missed a beat.
Dad dragged a hand down the length of his face. “Ev, get the door, please.”
Offering me a sympathetic shrug, Evey went to the door and pulled it open, just as Declan charged into the room with his Wii remote in hand. His shoes squeaked on the floor as he skidded to a halt.
“Um, hi, Saxon.” Evey’s face flushed, and I suppressed a giggle. My sister really needed to learn how to speak to a boy without almost passing out.
He tilted his head. “How are you tonight, Evey?”
“Good. So…come on in.” She gestured for him to enter. When Saxon came into the kitchen, I slid the window behind the table open. The last thing I needed was for him to get sick in the middle of dinner.
“Luna, it’s freezing outside. Close that.” My mother hissed over her shoulder.
“I’m too hot.” Maneuvering my chair around her, I grinned up at Saxon. “Hey.”
His eyes softened, and he beamed down at me. “Hey.”
“Seriously,” Declan said from his spot at the table, where he was already holding his knife and fork. “You two are gonna make me ralph.”
Apparently my father agreed, because he shuffled on his feet, then coughed loudly. I gestured at my parents. “So…do you remember my father? Jeremy?”
Saxon held out his hand. “Hello, Jeremy.”
“Mr. Prosser is fine,” my father mumbled, shaking his hand.
I glared at him.
My mother stepped forward and plastered a phony smile on her face. “Hi. I’m Maggie Prosser. It’s good to meet you.” Saxon took her hand. “I wish we’d known you and Luna were dating.”
“I understand.” Saxon offered her a lopsided smile. “It’s very nice of you to invite me to dinner.”
“Well, any friend of Luna’s is a friend…” Her voice trailed off as my father released a guttural half-sigh, half-groan that clearly expressed he was
not
in agreement.
Saxon turned his focus on my sister. “How’s softball going, Evey?”
The pink on her cheeks deepened. “It’s good. Coach thinks I might be starting by the end of the season.”
“That’s great.”
Smiling to myself, I wondered just how much Saxon actually knew about softball. Something about the puzzled look in his eyes made me wonder if he had any idea what
starting
meant.
“Do you do any sports, Saxon?” My mother hoisted the giant pot of pasta sauce onto the table while my father sat brooding.
Sax replied without blinking, “Swimming.”
Evey’s eyebrows went high on her forehead. “The swim team could really use you. Are you any good?”
“I’m decent.” Saxon glanced at me, and we exchanged a knowing smile.
My mother, an athlete in every sense of the word, placed a basket of bread next to the sauce. “What’s your best time?”
Declan’s head hit the tabletop with a dull thud. “Guys. I’m starving. Are we gonna eat soon?”
Saved by the ten-year-old.
“Come on, Sax. You can sit here.” I rolled to my spot at the end of the table. “Don’t mind Declan. He’s ten and perpetually hungry. The other day he ate a houseplant.”
“Gross. I did not.” My little brother crumpled up his napkin and tossed it at my head. It was intercepted by Dad, who set it back down next to Declan’s plate calmly.
Evey sat down in her chair. “Good catch.”
My dad followed suit and sank down into a seat with his frown fixed at the side of Saxon’s head. My mother nudged Dad with the bowl of noodles as she walked past, but like always, he ignored her. I glanced at Saxon—embarrassment tickling the back of my throat, but he didn’t seem to notice. Thank goodness. The last thing I needed was to have to explain their particular brand of dysfunction to him.
My mom passed the noodles around the table. “So, Saxon, Luna says you’re staying in your uncle’s house.”
Saxon looked up from his plate and blinked. My stomach twisted into a figure eight, and I pretended to be enthralled by my slice of French bread.
He swallowed his bite of noodles. “Yes, ma’am.”
A sigh of relief whooshed from my lungs.
My mom handed a piece of bread to Evey. “I’ve always wanted to see the inside of that house. What’s it like?”
“Um.” Saxon wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Grand. Large. With…lots of wood. And…windows.”
I nearly snorted a noodle out my nose.
“Sounds amazing.”
“My friend says your uncle’s house is haunted.” Declan spoke around a mouthful of bread. A crumb landed on Evey’s sleeve, and she flicked it off with a frown. “Is it? Do you hear ghosts and chains and things?”
I twisted pasta around my fork. Dec’s best friend, Mike, wasn’t the smartest kid around. “Didn’t Mike get a popcorn kernel stuck inside of his ear recently?”
“No, it was his nose.” Declan blinked at me, completely serious. “He had to go to the emergency room.”
Evey snickered into her glass of milk. “What a winner.”
“Don’t be rude, Ev,” my dad mumbled from across the table.
I watched as my mother cast a grateful smile in his direction, but it went unnoticed. She shifted in her seat so her back was turned slightly to my father. “When will your parents be joining you here in Sandpoint, Saxon?”
He swallowed audibly. “Soon.”
My father served himself some salad. “What are their names? Maybe we know them.”
“Oh, I doubt you know them.” Saxon looked down at his food. “They’re not from around here.”
“You’d be surprised. We meet a lot of people in the shop.”
“I imagine you do.” Saxon smiled politely. “I’ve seen your coffee shop downtown. It’s really nice. How long have you owned it?”
My father dressed his salad and ignored Saxon’s question. “What are your parents’ names?”
I tried to make eye contact with my mother to try to gesture for her to make Dad shut up, but she focused on her dinner. That figured. The
one
time she ate…
My focus was yanked back to Saxon as he coughed into his napkin. “Um, their names are Nathanial and Perla.”
My mom swallowed her mouthful. “Where did you say your family was from?”
His cheeks flushed. “I didn’t. Um, I’m from—”
“Can we, like, give Sax a break now?” I leaned forward in my seat so everyone at the table could see me clearly. “Maybe the fifth-degree thing could stop now?”
My dad turned his storm cloud expression in my direction. “We’re just trying to get to know your friend, Luna.”
Exasperated, I shook some Parmesan onto my food with more vigor than necessary. “Yes, I know that, but…can’t we focus on Evey or Dec for a few minutes?”
My sister’s head popped up. “Why me?”
Mouthing the word
please
to her, I spooned some salad onto my plate in an attempt to use up my nervous energy. Bringing a boyfriend to dinner with my family was nerve-wracking. I was practically sweating through my shirt.
My mom reluctantly turned her focus to my sister. “Evey, how’s your shoulder holding up? Did you ice it after practice this afternoon?”
“It’s all right.” She rolled her right arm around. “I didn’t ice it.”
“How did you get home this afternoon, Ev? I hear Mom was at the gym, so you had to find your own ride home.”
My mother glared at him over the top of her water glass. “She said she already
had
a ride.”
“I did.” Evey scanned the table and then dropped her gaze back down to her food.
“Oh, do tell.” I rested my chin on my hand and winked at my sister. “Who drove you home, Ev?”
When she said her answer, it was muffled with a mouth full of salad.
“Who?” Dad asked.
She cleared her throat. “Hayden.”
I grinned down at my noodles. My sister had a boyfriend. It was almost too much to take. I wanted to pull her into my bedroom to paint our toenails, do each other’s hair, and gossip for hours.
“Hayden McClendon?” My mom gestured for Declan to wipe some sauce off of his upper lip. “Luna dated his brother, right?”
In my peripheral vision, I saw Saxon glance at me.
Way to bring up an ex-boyfriend at dinner, Ma. Can we talk about my period next?
Evey nodded. “Yeah.”
“Ian’s an excellent receiver.” My mom nodded knowingly at Saxon, who had puzzlement written all over his face. “In football.”
“Oh, of course.” Saxon popped a chunk of bread into his mouth.
“He’s old enough to drive?” My dad leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. Seriously. Was my father going to survive raising my sister and me? It looked like the vein on the side of his neck was going to explode at any minute.
“Hayden got his license a few months ago.” I looked at him pointedly. “And his parents actually let him drive.”
My mom pulled her mouth into a tense line. I was heading into dangerous territory. “Luna, please.”
Dad narrowed his eyes at my sister. “Has he gotten any tickets? How’s his driving record?”
“He’s good.” Evey tucked a loose strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, and a small smile tipped up one corner of her mouth.
My mom gazed primly at her. “You thinking about going to the prom with him?”
“Hey!” I blurted. “You’re gonna let her go to the prom with her boyfriend?”
Evey groaned. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
My mother sopped up some sauce with her bread. “Why wouldn’t we?”
Resentment started to prick at the underside of my skin. I’d asked my parents to let me go to the prom last year, as well as the homecoming dance this past fall, but they’d said no. Granted, it wasn’t like a boy had asked me, but I wanted the freedom to go.
“Because you never let me go anywhere.”
“You go places.” Dad kept his voice low.
“Yeah. I go as far as I can roll.” I felt Saxon watching the side of my face. I needed to shut up before I initiated a family argument and embarrassed myself in front of him. But true to form, I didn’t. “And if you could chain me to the back porch, you would.”
Declan sighed and poked at his noodles with his fork. “Here we go again.”
“Luna, you get enough freedom.” My mom started to raise her voice, a sure sign she was getting ticked off.
“What is prom?” Saxon asked suddenly. Everyone’s heads turned in his direction, and my father wrinkled his forehead at him as though he’d announced plans to eat the table and matching chairs for dessert.
“It’s a dance. Formal. Everyone gets fancy clothes on and goes to the Edgewater Inn outside of town for dinner and dancing,” I explained.
Mom leaned close to my dad to whisper. “He doesn’t know what prom is?”
My father didn’t respond.