Sweet Liar (Candy #2)(39)

I didn’t like keeping this secret. It made me not want to talk to Lorraine very often. It also made me feel guilty each time I looked into Jonah’s eyes.

After a moment of hesitation, I put my phone away.

***





I left some food out for Pumpkin and after making a quick stop at the store, I drove over to the Hoyts’ house. My hand actually trembled slightly as I rang the doorbell.

Their house looked much like I remembered it, even though I hadn’t been here in years. There was a small porch on the front, and all the doors and shutters were painted red. Their house was a different style than ours, with two floors instead of one, but it wasn’t much larger. Unlike my house, someone had used a snow blower to neatly clear all the snow from their walkway and driveway.

When Drew pulled the door open with a big smile on his face, he was still wearing the jeans he’d worn to school. I had definitely overdressed.

“For me? Thanks.” Drew grinned as he reached out for the flowers I’d picked up at the grocery store on my way here.

I batted his hand away. “They’re for your mom.”

He feigned disappointment as he gestured for me to come inside. I walked into a warm, bright entryway that seemed to welcome me. Beyond it, I could see into the living room. Their decorating style was a lot like ours, and I recalled my mother and Mrs. Hoyt going shopping together and getting excited when they found deals on items for the house, silly stuff like glass candy dishes and patterned pillows.

“I can take your coat,” Drew said. Then he spotted the tiny red lights at my wrists. “Whoa, are those gloves heated?”

I nodded as I pressed the buttons to turn the gloves off.

“Cool. Where’d you get them?”

“Warm, actually,” I joked, “and I got them online.” Telling him the whole truth about how I’d gotten the gloves didn’t seem like a good idea.

He chuckled politely at my bad joke, and after he had taken my coat with the gloves stuffed in the pockets, his mother came in the room. Her dark blond hair, the same color as Drew’s, was cut in a bob style, the length just brushing her shoulders. It was the same way she’d always worn it.

She hugged me hard, just like when I saw her at the diner that day. Obviously she hadn’t spotted the bouquet of flowers I was holding, because I had to quickly move them to the side before she crushed them. As I returned the hug with my free arm, I heard Drew snickering at his mother’s gesture from behind me.

When she released me, I handed her the flowers. “Thank you for inviting me, Mrs. Hoyt.”

“You didn’t have to bring me anything, and I think you’re old enough to call me Alison.” Then she gushed over the flowers and left to get a vase.

“She’s still a hugger,” Drew said with a wry grin.

“I can see that.”

“So, how are you?” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I never seem to run into you at school. Just that one time.”

That one time was when I was acting as a lookout for Jonah while he stuffed the cheerleaders’ stolen lockbox into Parker’s locker.

I grinned. “We’re like ships passing in the night.”

He gave me a small smile, looking a little perplexed. I guessed he wasn’t a fan of poetry or Barry Manilow songs.

“I heard you and Jonah Bryson were a thing.” He watched me for a reaction, and I wasn’t thrown because I figured he’d bring it up.

“We were. For about two minutes.”

Drew grinned. “It took him all of two minutes to screw it up?”

“Maybe I screwed it up.”

His expression became speculative as he leaned back on his heels. “Did you?”

“Yeah, by dating him in the first place.” I figured that was what he wanted to hear, and his smile only widened, convincing me I was right.

“I did warn you about him.”

“I should have listened.” I shrugged, a little uncomfortable talking about this with Drew.

Mrs. Hoyt—Alison—came back in. “Drew, why are you both still standing in the entryway?”

Drew held out his arm, waiting for me to walk ahead of him toward the dining room, where Alison was standing with her phone in her hand.

“Tom’s flight is delayed,” she said. “He’s stuck in Chicago and he’s just telling me now. Obviously, he won’t be home in time for dinner. He’s disappointed to miss seeing you, Candy.”

I mustered a smile, even though I was probably more disappointed than he was. I was counting on talking to him tonight.

“More food for us. I hope you brought your appetite.” She grinned. I might have been imagining it, but her smile looked a little forced, almost brittle, as if she were on edge too.

Alison had placed the flowers I brought in a glass vase and set them in the middle of the dining room table. The way the table was set, it looked as if someone much more important was coming to dinner.

Drew and I went into the kitchen and helped Alison by carrying the drinks and the bread basket she’d prepared.

“You didn’t have to go to all this trouble,” I said, surveying it all.

She shrugged as we sat down. “It was no trouble. I always try to have a family dinner on Fridays. Everyone is so busy during the week.”