“Why are you here?” Serena’s voice was laced with hate.
I didn’t look her way. “Waiting on someone.”
“You’re sitting with Gunner’s girlfriend. You’re probably the reason they struggled out there tonight. Just because Willa is too dumb to know who you are, Gunner knows. You need to leave. No one wants you here, slut.”
I found it ironic that Serena would call anyone a slut. Even more so that it was me, a girl who had sex once in her life, and that had been against my wishes. My screaming and clawing and crying for him to stop had made that clear enough.
But this was what I should have expected. This was what they all thought of me, and walking into it was asking for this. I had to be tough and take it or continue to hide. I was done hiding. I was ready to be tough.
“I’m sorry, I forgot to call you and ask you permission to come tonight. Must have slipped my mind,” I replied to her, and again I didn’t look her way.
“Back off, Serena,” Willa said, stepping between us.
Serena laughed. “You do know who this is you’re all buddy-buddy with? Right? Gunner hates her. She ruined his family.”
Willa rolled her eyes. “She didn’t ruin his family. Jeez, get your story straight. And yes, I know who she is and what she was falsely accused of. No one asked you to come over here. Go talk to someone who likes you.”
Willa turned to me. “Ignore her. I always do.”
I really liked Willa Ames.
“Gunner isn’t going to be happy about this,” Serena threw out one more time, then spun to strut away as if she were important.
“She never got better, I see,” I said to her retreating back.
“Nope,” Willa agreed. “Seems to get worse.”
“Thanks,” I told her. I didn’t have friends a few weeks ago, and now I felt as if I had two.
“Anytime. I’ve had my own problems with Serena.”
I started to say something else when Brady walked out of the locker room. I didn’t go to him. I stayed back and waited on him to see his mother first. She would be worried and need answers. I had no idea what his answers would be.
She walked right up to him and hugged him. I watched as he held her a little tighter than expected and whispered something in her ear. Then his eyes met mine and he motioned for me to come to him with his finger as he held his mom.
“I think you’re about to catch up with his mom,” Willa said with a smile.
“Yeah, I think so too,” I agreed.
“I’ll see you later.”
“Okay,” I replied.
Then I headed over to Brady. And his mother.
I’m Walking My Girl to Her Car
CHAPTER 44
BRADY
After hugging Mom and telling her I loved her, I pulled back and watched as Riley made her way to me through the crowd. She’d been my lifeline tonight. The one place I could look that was safe. I wanted her to understand that.
“Mom, you remember Riley,” I said as Riley came up beside me.
My mother’s eyes lit up in surprise as she turned to Riley. “Yes, I do. Hello, Riley. You’re just as beautiful as I remember.”
Having Riley at my side not only gave me comfort, but it also kept Mom from asking questions about my father’s disappearance and what happened on the field.
“Hello, Mrs. Higgens. It’s good to see you.”
“I’ve been meaning to call your mother and get together sometime for coffee. I’d love to catch up with her.”
“She’d like that. The lemon cake you sent over was delicious. We all fought over the last piece. Bryony won, though.”
At Bryony’s name I could see mother’s confusion.
“Bryony is Riley’s daughter,” I told her.
“Oh, yes. I hear she is just as beautiful as her mother. I look forward to meeting her. I’ll be sure to send another lemon cake over this week. You can tell her it’s just for her.”
Riley beamed, and I could hug my mother again for that. If anything, my mom was the kindest most thoughtful woman I knew. Making Riley at ease about Bryony and even offering to do something like that made me love her more and hate the man she was married to.
“She’d love that. Thank you,” Riley said, still smiling. I had seen the anxiety on her face when she walked up to me and now seeing the relief and happiness there made my heart ache less. Knowing Riley was okay and happy among the people who had once caused her pain helped me heal some. If that made any sense at all.
“Well, I need to get going. Find your dad,” Mom said, glancing back at me with unanswered questions in her eyes.
“Do you need a ride?” I asked her.
She looked around as if she wasn’t sure before giving me a little shrug. “Maybe.”