Chapters (47)
Whitney sighed. Yeah, that was the rule. God, why hadn’t she made it seventeen? “Just give me time, okay? I need to think on it.”
Amelia shook her head, her eyes shining. “I can’t even believe you.”
“I’m sorry, honey. It’s just that you barely turned sixteen. Maybe just give me a minute to get used to it?” Whitney lifted her arm, reaching out to touch Amelia’s shoulder. “Let’s go finish The Bachelor.”
Amelia drew back. “Nah, I’m good.”
“Come on.” Whitney waggled her eyebrows. “You know you wanna watch it.”
But Amelia didn’t soften at all. Her face remained stoic, resolute.
“I’m only trying to protect you, Amelia,” she said in a gentle voice. “That’s my job as your mom, and it’s not always easy. But you’ve gotta trust me. I know the world better than you do.”
“Oh, here we go.” Amelia rolled her eyes.
“What?”
“Just because you were a bad kid who got involved with the wrong guy doesn’t mean I’m going to do the same thing,” she said. “I’m a good kid, Mom. I’m not like you. Why can’t you see that?”
“I know you are. I do see that.” Whitney blew out a breath. “But good kids get taken advantage of all the time.”
“He’s not going to take advantage of me.”
“You don’t know that,” Whitney said.
“I do—”
“Amelia,” she cut her off, wearying of this back-and-forth. All she wanted was to go back to their fun evening with snacks and The Bachelor. This boy was already causing damage. Getting between her and Amelia. “I don’t want to talk about it any more tonight. I said I would think about it, and we can discuss it later, okay?” She headed toward the doorway, lingering for a beat. “You sure you don’t want to join me for more Bachelor?”
“And watch other girls get to go on dates? Yeah, I’m sure I don’t,” she said in a clipped tone, the finality of it unmistakable.
The second Whitney got into the hallway, Amelia slammed the door behind her, missing her back by mere inches. When Whitney returned to the couch, Amelia’s cell phone stared up at her. After a few attempts to get into it, she set it down on the coffee table with frustration.
After watching the rest of the show, Whitney headed to bed, exhausted from her long day. By the time she got up the next morning, the phone was gone. She figured Amelia had retrieved it. Whitney decided not to fight her on it.
She figured they’d already done enough of that.