JENNIE

As her mother hugs me for the fourth time, Lisa finally mumbles, "Mum, let's give her a little space. She's a bit shy."

"You're right, and I'm sorry, Jennie. I'm just so happy to finally meet you. Lisa has told me so much about you," she says warmly. I feel my cheeks flame as she steps back and nods in acknowledgment. I'm surprised she even knows that I exist—I would have figured she would have kept me a secret, as usual.

"It's okay," I manage to say through my horror.

Mrs. Chit smiles brightly and looks over at her daughter, who says, "Mum, why don't you grab a drink of water in the kitchen for a minute?" When she leaves, Lisa comes over to me with gentle movements. "Can . . . I, um . . . talk to you in the bedroom for a mo-moment?" she stammers.

I nod and glance toward the kitchen before following her into the bedroom that we once shared.

"What the hell?" I say quietly as I close the door.

Lisa winces and sits on the bed. "I know . . . I'm sorry. I couldn't tell her what happened. I couldn't tell her what I did.

"Are you here . . . you know, to stay?" Her voice holds more hope than I can bear.

"No . . ." "Oh."

I sigh and run my fingers through my hair, a habit I picked up from Lisa, I suspect. "Well, what am I supposed to do?" I ask her.

"I don't know . . ." she says with a long sigh. "I don't expect you to go along with it or anything . . . I just need a little time to tell her."

"I didn't know you would be here either, I thought you were going to Thailand."

"I changed my mind, I didn't want to go without . . ." She trails off, and pain is evident in her eyes.

"Is there a reason why you didn't tell her that we aren't together?" I don't know if I want to hear her answer.

"She was just so happy that I found someone . . . I don't want to ruin that for her."

I recall Marco telling me that he never thought Lisa was capable of being in a relationship, and he was right. However, I do not want to ruin Lisa's mother's time here. I certainly don't say what I say next for her sake: "Okay. You can tell her whenever you are ready. Just don't tell her about the bet." I look down, thinking that her mom knowing the details of how her daughter ruined her first and only love would surely hurt her.

"Really? You're okay with her thinking we're together?" She sounds more surprised than she should be. When I nod, she lets out a deep breath. "Thank you. I thought for sure you'd call me out right in front of her."

"I wouldn't do that," I say and mean it. No matter how angry I have ever been at Lisa, I wouldn't damage her relationship with her mother. "I'll just finish my laundry, then go. I thought you weren't going to be here, so I figured I'd stay here instead of that motel." I shrug uncomfortably. We've been in the bedroom a little too long.

"You don't have anywhere to go?"

"I could go to my mother's. I just really don't want to," I admit. "The motel isn't bad, just a little expensive." This is the most civil conversation Lisa and I have had in the past week.

"I know you won't agree to stay here, but I could give you some money?" I can tell she's afraid of my reaction to her offer.

"I don't need your money."

"I know, I just thought I would offer." She stares at floor. "We better go back out there." I sigh and open the door. "I'll be out in a second," she says softly.

I don't like the idea of going out there to face her mother alone, but I can't stay in the small space of this bedroom with Lisa. I take a deep breath and leave the room.

When I enter the kitchen, she looks over at me from where she stands at the sink. "She isn't upset with me, is she? I didn't mean to crowd you." Her voice is so sweet. A total contrast to her daughter's.

"Oh no, of course not. She was just . . . going over a few things about this week," I lie. I have always been a terrible liar, so I usually avoid it at all costs.

"Okay, good. I know how moody she can be." She smiles with such warmth that I can't help but smile back.

I pour my own glass of water to calm my nerves, and she begins to speak as I take a sip. "I still can't wrap my head around how beautiful you are. She told me you were the most beautiful girl she's ever seen, but I thought she was exaggerating."

Less gracefully than the most beautiful girl a boy's ever seen would do, I spit my water back into my glass. Lisa said what? I want to ask her to verify that, but instead I just take another sip of water to mask my embarrassing reaction.

She laughs. "Honestly, I thought you would be covered in tattoos and have green hair or something."

"No, no tattoos for me. Or green hair." I laugh and feel my shoulders begin to relax.

"You're an English major like Lisa, right?" "Yes, ma'am."

"Ma'am? Call me Chit."

"I actually have an internship at Vance Publishing, so my class schedule is kind of weird. And right now we're on break."

"Vance? As in Christian Vance?" she asks. I nod. "Oh, I haven't seen Christian in at least . . . ten years." She looks down at the glass of water in my hands. "Lisa and I actually lived with him for a year after Marco . . . Well, never mind, Lisa doesn't like when I spout off at the mouth." She chuckles nervously.

I didn't know that Lisa and her mother stayed with Mr. Vance, but I knew that she was very close with him, closer than she would be if Christian were only her father's friend.

"I know about Marco," I say to Chit in an attempt to ease her discomfort, but then I immediately worry that I've implied I know about what happened to her, and I worry I've upset her.

So when she replies, "You do?" I try to hedge a little and follow up with, "Yeah, Lisa has told me . . ."

But when Lisa appears in the kitchen I stop, and I have to admit I'm happy for the intrusion.

She raises a brow. "Lisa has told you what?"

My tension goes through the roof, but to my surprise, herbmother covers, saying, "Nothing, daughter, just some girl talk," and walking over to her and wrapping her arm around her waist. She pulls away slightly, as if out of instinct. She frowns, but I get the feeling this is a normal interaction between them.

The dryer beeps, and I take that as my cue to exit the room and finish up my laundry so I can get out of here, fast.

I pull my warm clothes from the dryer and sit on the floor in the small laundry room to fold them. Lisa's mother is so sweet, and I find myself wishing that I could have met her under different circumstances. I don't feel anger toward Lisa; I have been angry long enough. I feel sadness, and a longing for what we could have been.

After I'm done with my clothes, I go to the bedroom to repack my bags.

I wish I hadn't hung any clothes in the closet or put food in the kitchen. "Do you need some help, dear?" Chit asks me.

"Um, I was just getting my things ready to go to my mother's for the week," I reply, figuring I might as well just go there since the motel is expensive.

"You're leaving today? Right now?" She frowns.

"Yeah . . . I told her I would come for Christmas." For once I want Lisa to come into the room to help me talk my way out of this.

"Oh, I was hoping you would stay at least a night. Who knows when I'll be able to see you again—and I would love to get to know the young woman who my daughter has fallen in love with."

And suddenly something in me wants to make this woman happy. I don't know if it's because of my mistake about saying I knew about Marco and her, or because of the way she covered for me in front of Lisa. But I do know I don't want to overthink this, so I silence my inner voice and just nod, and say, "Okay."

"Really? You'll stay? Just one night, then you can go to your mum's house. You don't want to be driving through that snow anyway." She wraps her arms around me and hugs me for the fifth time today.

At least she'll be here to be a buffer between Lisa and me. We can't fight if she's here. Well, I won't fight, at least. I know this is probably . . . certainly the worst idea, but Chit is hard to say no to. Just like her daughter.

"Well, I'm going to take a quick shower. I had a long flight!" She smiles broadly and heads out.

I sink down onto the bed and close my eyes. This is going to be the most awkward, painful twenty-four hours of my life. No matter what I do, I always seem to end up back where I started, with her.

After a few minutes I open my eyes to find Lisa standing in front of the closet with her back to me. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you," she says when she turns back around. I sit up. She is being so strange, apologizing every other word. "I see that you cleaned the apartment," she says softly.

"Yeah . . . I couldn't help it." I smile, and so does whe. "Lisa, I told your mom that I would stay tonight. Only tonight, but if that's not okay, I'll go. I just felt bad because she's so nice, and I couldn't say no, but if that makes you uncomfor—"

"Jennie, it's fine," she says quickly, but then her voice shakes when she adds, "I want you to stay."

I don't know what to say, and I don't understand this strange turn of events. I want to thank her for the present, but there is just too much going on inside of my head.

"Did you have a nice birthday yesterday?" she asks. "Oh, yeah. Jisoo came by."

"Oh . . ." But then we hear her mother in the living room, and she moves to go. She stops before walking through the door and turns to me. "I don't know how I'm supposed to act."

I sigh. "Me either."

At that, she nods, and we both get up to join her mother in the other room.