“Sorry. I have no idea what just happened.” I gestured with my thumb toward the front door. Nash definitely wasn’t Justin’s biggest fan, but I knew he didn’t like to see me hurting.
“Mia being Mia. I still don’t understand why you let her move in here. She treats you like shit. The Della I know doesn’t let that happen.”
“Trust me, I ask myself that every day.” I rubbed my hand over my forehead, willing the headache away that I felt coming. For now, I was going to push that whole sticky situation to the back of my mind, because I was having such a fun time with Mariah. Don’t get me wrong; she had been nice all day when I met up with them for lunch at Nash’s house. You know that overly nice, like the sickly sweet that just makes you want to puke? Yeah, that one. I could tell Nash’s mom felt exactly the same way about Mariah. I’m sure their living arrangements were highly uncomfortable. I was hoping Mariah would decide not to tag along when Nash offered to drive me back to the house so I could grab a few things to stay the night at my grandparents’, but I don’t think she really wanted the two of us to be alone together.
“Well, I think you should go after him,” Mariah piped up, collapsing onto the couch next to me.
“What?” Nash snapped. “Why the hell should she do that? He’s an asshole that doesn’t deserve Della. She doesn’t need him in her life. Right?”
He turned toward me and I could see Mariah’s face darken as she glared at the back of his head. I knew what she was doing. She wanted to make sure that my attention was away from Nash, so she could have him all to herself. I didn’t know what I needed to do to make it any clearer that I wasn’t interested. She was pregnant with his baby! Well, as far as we knew anyway.
When Nash first broke the news about Mariah being pregnant, I had been suspicious. They didn’t end things on a good note, and even though Nash told me they had a one-time thing after breaking up, I still found it hard to believe that she “accidently” got pregnant. I only saw two different scenarios: either she got pregnant on purpose to trap him, or the baby wasn’t his. I guess only time would tell. I really wasn’t sure which one would be better for Nash.
“Right,” I finally responded, and he nodded his head smiling, happy with my answer, even though I had no clue if it was true. Now, Justin was on my brain again, and he was all I could think about.
I vaguely remember leaving with Mariah and Nash, but I missed most of the car ride—and fortunately, Mariah’s complaining—because I was focused on Justin and all of the what ifs. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight.
“YOU’RE JOKING, RIGHT?” I checked my phone to confirm that I was talking to my mom. Yup, it was still her and my ears were definitely working. I don’t know why I was so shocked. I should’ve seen it coming, actually.
“Adelaide, let’s not be a drama queen about this. You, of all people, should be happy about this.”
“Um…okay?” It came out as more of a question and I thought about why I should be happy about this as I half-listened to my mom drone on and on.
Zoey eyed me from across the back table that we had covered with textbooks in the library. I knew from hearing my side of the conversation, she was dying to get the details from this phone call.
“Well, I don’t know what I’m going to do, Mom. I’m at the library with Zoey. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay, dear. Just think about what I said. No need to feel obligated anymore.”
I hung up my phone, tucking it back into my purse, and chewed on the end of my pen as I thought about what my mom had just told me. Leave it to her to drop a bombshell like that over the phone, and then move onto the next thing, as if she was talking about the weather or something. She seriously confused the hell out of me.
“So, tell me what that was all about!” Zoey demanded from across the table.
“My mom and Gerald are divorcing.”
“What?” she shrieked, her eyes widening as she pushed back into her seat. “Wow, that’s…wow. Was there any signs that was coming?”
I shook my head, and began stacking my books. “No clue whatsoever. And apparently, she has another guy all lined up.” It seemed like she would probably have husband number three before the ink was even dry on her divorce papers. I just did not understand that woman.
“Jeez. Well, Lillian sure knows how to find the guys. I mean, she’s hot for an older lady, but she’s an ice queen. I just don’t get the appeal.”
“Me either.”
“So, does this change anything with our roommate that we all love so much?”