“I’ve missed you, Emery,” my mother said. “But, girl, what have you been eating in Austin? Is anyone feeding you? You’re skin and bones.”
I glanced over at Kimber, whose eyes were wide with amusement.
Out of Kimber’s closet, I’d chosen a plain black dress for church this morning. She couldn’t wear it and had insisted that I should since we all knew I didn’t have church-appropriate attire in the bags I’d brought from Austin.
“I’m eating fine. And…I left Austin,” I blurted out. “I dropped out of the program.”
“Oh. I was really looking forward to having another doctor in the family,” Autumn said with a mischievous grin.
“Ah, if only I had been guaranteed Noah’s salary.”
“If only we all were,” Kimber agreed.
“Are you sad about it? You don’t seem sad,” my mother asked.
Strangely, I wasn’t. I thought I should have been. But, even though I’d dedicated three years to this endeavor, sad was not the word. I was relieved.
“Nope. I think it’s the right choice. Just have to get a job and clean out my apartment. I know someone who will sublet it for next semester. At least that’s covered.”
“Maybe you’ll change your mind,” my mother said with a nonchalant shrug. “Let me put on my Sunday best, and then we can go.”
As soon as my mom exited the room, I breathed out heavily.
Kimber swatted at my knee. “It was not that bad,” she whispered.
“You’re right. It wasn’t. Probably because you’re here.”
“You’re so dramatic. She’s happy you’re home.”
“Yeah,” I said, looking around the room again. “Maybe so.”
“Okay, all ready to go,” Autumn said, strolling back into the room. She was in a red dress with a black shawl, and she was wearing her signature red lipstick. “Think Harry Stevenson will be able to resist me?”
I groaned as I stood. “If we talk about your sex life one more time, I will vomit on your floor.”
“We could talk about yours,” my mother said.
“Let’s not,” I said with a sigh.
She followed Kimber out to her enormous SUV and took the front seat. Kimber pulled out of the driveway and headed toward the church down the street.
“I heard that you saw the Wright family yesterday,” Autumn said.
“Good news does travel fast,” I said dryly.
At the mention of the Wright family, my head spun…but not from Landon. It was because of Jensen. Seeing Landon had been…awkward, like seeing an old friend from high school you’d rather avoid. But Jensen…that was a different story. I hated to admit how much he had affected me. So much for swearing off men. It had been a total of one day, and already, I’d made out with Jensen fucking Wright.
“If you had told me that you were in town, I wouldn’t have had to hear it from Barbara,” my mother said. She peered at me in the backseat, and I blankly looked back at her. “Tina was there, too. She said you looked very pretty, and all the boys were staring at you.”
Sometimes, I forgot that, my mother knew everyone. Born and raised and never left. She was a total extrovert and made instant friends with everyone she met. Another thing I had not inherited.
“Heidi did my hair and makeup. Only reason anyone looked at me all night. You know, Landon didn’t even recognize me.”
“What?” Kimber gasped. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“So, funny story, Landon didn’t recognize me, and then his wife showed up and flipped her shit.”
“Language, Emery,” my mother said.
I rolled my eyes. Yeah, I did need to watch my language since we were about to walk into a church.
Kimber drove into the parking lot that was already more than half full. I knew Kimber and Noah only still went to this church because my mother had been going since she was a kid. Otherwise, they would find one a bit more…contemporary.
Lubbock was the kind of city that had a church on every street corner. Huge whitewashed buildings and old brick edifices dotted the brick-lined roads downtown. Giant pickup trucks with metal Texas Tech decals on the bumpers filled the parking lots. Jeans and cowboy boots were acceptable attire. The preachers were just as likely to give a sermon as spout political drivel. And, every week, there was a fifteen-minute interlude, mid sermon, for people to shake hands and greet their friends who lived down the street from them. In a town where crosses on walls in the living room were an interior design statement, church was practically mandatory.
We piled out of Kimber’s SUV and meandered over to the entrance. I left my mother behind as she chatted with every Tom, Dick, and Harry—gross!—who stood in the entranceway. I trailed Kimber past the ladies handing out pamphlets, and I took one with a half-smile before going into the sanctuary.