Don't Say You Love Me

Chapter TWENTY TWO

   Oscar puts down the iPad onto the couch beside him and looks up at her with tired eyes. Josie jumps off the couch and runs over to hugs her legs.

   "How was your day?" she asks the little girl, patting her head. "I missed you."

   "We had popsicles at daycare," Josie says in her sweet little voice. Then she yawns and walks back towards me. "Can we go to bed now?"

   My mom laughs. "I can put you to bed."

   "Teegan said she would," Oscar speaks up, hopping off the couch. "Can she?"

   My mom hugs him too and then nods at me. "You okay with that?"

   "Of course. Go, relax," I answer.

   An hour later they are both fast asleep and snoring. I sneak out of Oscar's room and leave the door most of the way closed - how he likes it - before tip toeing back downstairs. I'm actually really tired all of a sudden; my legs feel heavy as as I cross the room and go into the kitchen, where my mom is. She's sipping coffee even though it's after 8P.M. and I can tell she's waiting for me.

   "Hey," I say, announcing my arrival to the room.

   She looks up and smiles at me. "Hi."

   "How was work?" I ask, pulling out a chair across from her.

   "Oh, good. Not too busy, since it wasn't that hot today, but good," she answers, but her eyes are telling me she wants to talk about something else.

   Of course I know what it is, but I won't bring it up first.

   "How were the kids tonight?" she asks instead.

   "Really good. We did dinner, baths, read some books..."

   She nods, and her hair falls across her shoulder. It hits me that she and I are very alike, even though I felt like I didn't know her for a long time. It feels like I've been here a lot longer than two weeks.

   "Thank you. I really appreciate you spending time with them." Her words are quiet.

   "Of course." I nod.

   "So, that was my first time meeting Cohen, today," she says, after a moment.

   "Oh. Okay." Here it comes.

   "Kelly told me that Luke said he needed a job. He seems reliable enough, and Luke trained him," she goes on, keeping my eyes contact. She wants to see how I react to this.

   "That's good," I say plainly. "Luke trained me, too."

   "Yeah, I know. I didn't realize that Cohen was..." I'm waiting, because she lets her voice trail off. Was what? I watch as she sips her coffee, thinking. "I didn't know you and him were friends."

   "Oh, well, we weren't. We met on Friday, he was finishing his shift when I started." That's not exactly true, as we'd already met before that. But that was the first time we really talked. "And he was at the party, on Saturday."

   "And now you're hanging out with him?" she asks. I cannot tell if she's okay with this or not.

   "I guess, sort of." I shrug. "Is that not okay?"

   "It is. But I heard he was at the party, because... I heard he was in a fight." There is it. My mom did know something last night that she wasn't saying.

   "You heard?" I ask back. "Does everyone know everyone's business, here?"

   But my mom just lets out a small laugh. "It's a small place, Teegan. One of the neighbor's told Isaac's parents and Isaac's mom told Kelly, and-"

   "Okay, I got it," I interrupt. I just hope no one knows what the fight was about. Or who. That would be embarrassing.

   "So, he was in a fight, at the party. And today you're hanging out with him?" my mom goes on, looking concerned.

   "The fight was..." I don't know what to say about it without incriminating myself. "It was just guys being stupid. The other guy said something to him and... Cohen got beat up pretty bad."

   "I noticed the bruise on his eye today."

   "Yeah."

   She sighs and sips her coffee again. "My job is to make sure you're safe and happy this summer. I want you to have friends and have fun, absolutely. But if you're hanging out with people who are-"

   "Don't finish that, okay? I am a good kid. I mean, I guess I'm not a kid anymore. I have never been in trouble, I graduated at the top of my class and I'm going to NYU. I'm not a dumb teenager," I tell her, feeling defensive.

   "I did not say you are."

   "Then trust me, okay?" I ask her.

   "I do." She nods, then brings her cup to her mouth again. It still feels like she's not saying something. "What's Cohen doing in the fall?"

   I shake my head and then shrug. "It doesn't matter. He and I are just going to hang out this summer and then I'll be gone."

   My words seems to affect her for a second. "I'm afraid you don't really know much about summer relationships, even if you are just friends." She smiles and looks up at me. "I do trust you, Teeg."

   "Okay, good." I stand up again and turn to leave the room. "G'night."

   "Night."