The Fall Up (The Fall Up, #1)(48)

“I’ll stop,” I said, sheepishly shoving my hands in my pockets.

“Swear to me,” she pushed further.

“Come on, Ma. I said I’ll stop.”

She dropped the whole ashtray into the trash can and took a large step forward. She was all of five feet five and a hundred and twenty-five pounds, but she was my mom. That one step was scary as hell.

“Swear. To. Me.”

“Fine. I swear,” I huffed like a sullen teenage.

“Good,” she exhaled in relief, and a loving smile warmed her face. “Okay. Now that we’ve dealt with that.” She took another step toward me and turned serious once again. “Meg tells me that you’re dating Levee Williams.”

“What? Since when do you talk to Meg?”

“Since my son doesn’t feel the need to tell his mother anything anymore.” She crossed her arms over her chest and leveled me with a glare of guilt only women are able to shoot from their eyes. “You’re dating a celebrity, Sam. You didn’t think, ‘Hey, maybe I should call and tell my mom.’”

I twisted my lips and arched an eyebrow. “Mom, don’t even pretend that you know who the hell Levee Williams is.”

“No. But I’d like to know now that my son is sending her crotch shots!”

I barked a laugh and threw my hands out to my sides. “It was just my abs! And, for the love of God, stop saying crotch.”

She narrowed her eyes then very slowly enunciated each letter as she said, “Crotch.”

Even as she continued to glare at me, I couldn’t help but laugh, and because she was crazy in the best possible way, she did too.

When we both sobered, she went right back to the serious. “All right. Tell me about this Levee girl.”

“I’m not supposed to talk about this, Mom. I need to call Meg and tell her to shut her mouth.”

I was f*cking smitten, and if I’d had my way, I would have told the world.

However, I was smitten with Levee Williams, so the world would have to wait until she was ready to tell them. It sucked, but whether people knew or not didn’t change our relationship.

She was still mine.

I smiled to myself, and I knew that my mom saw it when she laughed.

“Don’t think I’m letting this go. I Googled her. She’s a kind of a big deal.”

I’d told Levee that we’d keep things quiet for a while, but my mom was safe. Right?

“I guess. I mean, she’s not that famous. She’s never done a duet with Lionel Richie or anything,” I teased, knowing the distracting effect it would have on my mom.

Her eyes grew wide at the mere mention of his name. “Do you think she knows Lionel?”

I slung an arm around her shoulders. “I doubt it, but if it will stop the inquisition, I’d be happy to ask for you.”

“No, you are going to ask her because you know I’m obsessed with that man. The inquisition will most definitely continue. Tell me about her. Are you two serious?” She tugged on my arm until I followed her to our old dining room table, which I’d been using as my desk for the last few years. I’d never even taken the time to refurbish it. Or, more accurately, I didn’t want to change it. Dad had built that table. Even repurposing it felt wrong.

I settled on the wooden stool next to her. “We haven’t been dating long, but I think it might become serious.”

I’m in love with her.

Fuck.

“Nice girl?”

“I really think you’d like her.”

“Well, I can’t like her any less than I did that last one. What was her name again?”

“Lexi.”

“Yes.” She lowered her voice and mumbled to herself, “I hated that bitch.”

“Mom!” I scolded on a laugh.

“I’m sorry. She was”—she exaggerated a shiver—“toxic.”

“She wasn’t that bad… Well, not all the time. But yes, Levee is definitely better. She’s so funny.” I glanced away, smiling as I remembered her laugh. “And smart. She’s not at all who you’d expect her to be. She’s really down-to-earth and kind.”

I scrubbed my hands over my jeans, wishing Levee weren’t so far away. How the hell was I going to go a month without that woman? I looked back up to find my mom watching me with a gentle smile.

“She’s amazing,” I breathed.

Her smile grew. “I already like her, then.” She patted my leg, squeezing it firmly before asking, “How’d you meet Miss Fancy Pants?”

I scratched the back of my neck. Shit. I’d known that this question would eventually come up, and while I hated to lie to my mom, there was no f*cking way I was telling her the truth. She would have freaked if she knew how I’d really met Levee.

Evade.

“We…umm, frequent one of the same places. I saw her a couple times before I got the nerve to talk to her.” After the partial truth, I decided to switch gears and distract her with humor. Waving my hands over my chest, I said, “I mean, no way she could resist all this.” I threw in a bicep curl for good measure.

“Oh, please. Put those wet noodles away. I saw a picture online of her with her ex-boyfriend. All I’m going to say is you’re lucky you got my sense of humor.”