“I’m not trying to put you down,” she said. “You’re young. It’s your first love. It’s easy to let your emotions get the best of you.”
Her words sank in while he chewed another piece. She seemed to be speaking from hard-won experience. And he knew on some level she was right. He’d been dating Tabitha for what? Three weeks or so? And what did he think was going to happen? They would stay together and get married? Have kids and grow old? But it wasn’t just about the relationship. He sensed something wrong, not with Tabitha but with her life. And she might be in danger or distress. Could he just stand by while who knew what happened to her?
“I think there’s something I need to tell you.” He swallowed. “I ran into Ursula in the park tonight. That’s why it was kind of weird that her dad was here when I got back.”
“What about running into Ursula?” she asked.
“Her friends started mouthing off about you. How you were the cause of what happened to Celia.”
“Have they done that before?” she asked.
“It happens from time to time. Just stuff they say in the halls at school when I pass by.”
“Are you serious? Do you want me to call the school and ask them to stop it?”
“Mom, easy. I can handle it.”
“It sounds like bullying to me.”
“Not everything is bullying, Mom. Well, I guess when Ursula tried to pummel that girl back in November, that was kind of bullying.”
“Her mother had just disappeared.”
“Sure, Mom, I get it. Well, here’s the thing, and you’re not going to like it,” Jared said. “They started mouthing off, and I got mad. So I told them the truth. I told them that I was the one who made you late that night. And why.”
For a moment, his mom remained calm, and Jared thought—hoped—it would be one of the many times she took bad news in stride, let it roll off her back like nothing. He hoped the wine would make a difference as well. Maybe the wine combined with the end of a long week would keep her mellow.
But her eyes opened wide.
“Tell me you didn’t,” she said.
“I lost my cool. It just came out. I don’t want people to think the worst of you. I deserve a share of the blame.”
A flush rose in her cheeks, and it wasn’t from the wine. She was pissed. She slammed the wineglass down on the table, making the liquid slosh up the side like waves on a storm-tossed ocean. Jared was surprised it hadn’t broken. “Dammit, Jared. I asked you never to say anything about that. To anybody. I lied to the police. Do you understand that? I told the police a different story to keep you out of it. I said I was just a dumb-ass who was running late because I couldn’t find my keys and my phone. I could get in a lot of trouble for that. And then once that starts to spread and everybody knows . . .”
“It was just Ursula and a few of her asshole friends.”
She gave him a withering look. “‘Just Ursula’? The biggest pain in the ass in town.”
“I thought you liked her. You felt sympathy for her.”
“I do. And I liked her more when she was a sweet kid. Not a nasty teenager. And those other kids . . . They could tell their parents or anybody else—”
“Okay. I get it. I’m sorry.” He held his hands out like a televangelist beseeching the crowd. “You know, most parents would like it if their kid stood up for them. And most parents would like it if their kid decided not to tell a lie.”
His mom studied him for a moment, her cheeks even redder. “I’m done with you for the night.”
She grabbed her wineglass and left the kitchen.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Jenna and Jared circled each other warily that weekend. Neither one mentioned the tension between them, and neither one apologized. They both did their own thing and passed by each other like roommates, answering each other’s questions with grunts, politely informing the other person where they would be.
Jenna spent most of her Saturday with Sally. In the afternoon they went shopping at the small mall in Hawks Mill. Sally needed to buy a dress for a wedding she was attending, and she wanted to bring Jenna along as an extra set of eyes.
“You’re younger than me,” Sally said. “You can keep me from looking like the bride’s grandmother.”
That evening, they met up with some friends from their book club at a Mexican restaurant. They all ordered giant margaritas and fried ice cream, and Jenna made a point of not saying anything about Ian or Celia or Reena Huffman. To their great credit, her friends didn’t bring it up either.