Shawn shook his head. “Don’t you see? This is how guys like him work. They’ll push and push you until you’re on the edge of leaving, and then they’ll do whatever it takes to lure you back in. It’s him who’s the selfish one.”

My defenses shot up, more for Clay than for myself. “I’m done having this conversation. You don’t know him. You don’t know me, for that matter.”

“That’s not for my lack of trying.”

I blew out a breath, though I couldn’t deny how his words stung. It wasn’t like me to play games with people, and though I hadn’t really intended to — that was exactly what I’d done with him.

“I have to go,” I said. “Take care, okay?”

Before he could say another word, I turned, heading toward the stadium and leaving him on the sidewalk outside the café. I felt bad for him, for the game we’d played that had worked so well. We’d fooled him and Maliyah and everyone else around us, too.

But I shook it off, deciding it was better to leave all that in the past.

And I continued floating on, basking in my sugary, pastel paradise.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Clay

I’d forgotten about her.

Perhaps that was the wrong way to phrase it, because it sounded like I never thought about my mom — and I did. I thought about how I couldn’t wait to introduce her to Giana, how delighted she’d be when I told her we were coming home for Christmas. I thought about her cooking in the kitchen with G, teaching her how to make our favorite salmon croquets, and pulling out old photo albums of me as a kid while I pretended to be embarrassed.

But I’d forgotten about her quitting her job because she thought her ex would take care of her.

I’d forgotten how beat up she was mentally and emotionally, how she was having trouble doing more than getting out of bed, let alone looking for a job. I’d forgotten about her using, about the way I could tell by her words slurring over the phone.

Maybe it was because she hadn’t called after the last time, when I took out a student loan and sent her enough money to get through at least a month, if not two. Maybe it was because I wanted to assume the best, that she was okay, that she was working on getting a job and finding herself. Maybe it was because I was so caught up in Giana that I simply hadn’t thought about anything else.

Regardless, the fact that I’d forgotten about her struck me like a frying pan to the head when her face lit up my screen after practice on a Thursday afternoon in early November.