Sea Breeze 04 - Just for Now

angels. It was her ringtone. She needed a new one. I was beginning to get jealous of any guy in a cowboy hat.
    “It’s Willow,” she said, looking over at me. “She doesn’t know about us. Marcus isn’t telling her because he’s afraid she’ll make him tell Mom, and he wants to wait and tell Mom after the wedding. No more added drama and all.”
    Shit. I’d assumed he’d never tell their mother. Or at least I’d hoped by the time he did I’d have another job and I’d be able to deny it. Mrs. Hardy didn’t really have any proof. As far as she was told, I was there to do the plumbing. I had to find another job. Before this damn wedding.
    “Hello,” she said, pressing the phone to her ear. “Yep. I’ll be there. Did you bring the dress home? . . . Yay! Now let’s hope it fits. I feel like I’ve gained five pounds lately. . . . If it doesn’t, I’ll go on a diet. Promise. . . . See ya in a little bit.”
    Amanda clicked her phone off and smiled before crawling off me and standing up. “I’ve got to get home and take a shower before dinner. Low is bringing my bridesmaid dress over.”
    I didn’t want her to leave me, but I also needed to spend some time finding a job.
    “I’ll be waiting on my sext.”
Amanda
    Mom had been acting weird all night. She was normally very happy on family dinner night. She adored Willow and getting to assist in planning the wedding—which was now on the beach instead of the church where Mom had wanted it— something she looked forward to when we were all together.
    She’d said very little about my dress, which fit perfectly, much to my relief. While we’d all discussed the wedding cake colors and if the groom’s cake should be cheesecake or chocolate cake, Mom had stared out the window.
    When the door closed behind Marcus and Willow, I turned to go up the stairs.
    “We need to talk.”
    I stopped and looked back at Mom. She was standing at the bottom of the stairs with her arms crossed, staring up at me. Something was definitely wrong.
    “Okay,” I said, walking back down the steps and following her as she made her way into the living room.
    “Sit down, Amanda.”
    I was suddenly very nervous. The serious tone of her voice wasn’t something I was used to hearing. I couldn’t figure out what in the world this could be about. Unless . . . she knew about Preston. That could be bad, but at least we were about to clear the air and I wouldn’t have to hide it from her anymore. Besides, I was positive once she got to know him she’d like him. She’d just never really spent any time with him.
    “I received an interesting call today from a friend of mine. It was someone who saw you today. On the beach.”
    It was about Preston.
    “So you know who I was with, then?”
    She nodded. “Preston Drake.”
    “Listen, Mom. I know you don’t approve of him. But all you know about him is that his mother is low class and he grew up rough. He has gotten into some trouble growing up, but he’s different now. If you’d just—”
    “He sleeps with women for money. He’s a gigolo, Amanda. A very well-paid one.”
    I busted into a fit of laughter. Where in the world had she heard that? It was ridiculous. How had she come up with something this insane?
    “This isn’t a joke, Amanda. I saw him.”
    She saw him? What the heck did that mean? How did she see him?
    “Mom, whatever it is you think you saw, you didn’t. Preston doesn’t sleep with women for money.”
    Mom walked over to the chair across from me. “I went to visit Janice. She had volunteered to do some work on the Sea Festival committee. She hadn’t been expecting me, and I noticed she seemed a little nervous. We talked over everything for about thirty minutes. When we stood up to leave and walked to the door, Preston Drake was sneaking up her staircase. He stopped and looked at me like a deer caught in the headlights. Janice got all flustered and made up something about Preston coming to fix her toilet. That boy was not there to fix her plumbing.”
    There had to be a better explanation. He wasn’t going up to the mayor’s bedroom to sleep with his wife for money. This was Sea Breeze, Alabama. Not Los Angeles. What had gotten into my mom?
    “You mean to tell me you think Preston was there to service Janice? That’s crazy, Mom. It is very likely he was there to help her fix her toilet. He does odd jobs sometimes.”
    My mother let out a weary sigh, and her face pinched into a frown. “I stood