A Little Less than Famous (27 page)

Amanda unfolded herself from my desk chair and came over to sit next to me on the bed. “McKinley, you haven’t seen her in twenty years. That’s an extremely long time…and she left you! You had every right to be angry.”

“I know I do!” I said, indignantly. “It’s just…she says she is here because she wants to see me. Not for money or any of that, which is what I would’ve expected. No, she said she wants to see me and she sounded sincere. But I just don’t know what to believe.”

“Luke said she wants to meet you for lunch, just to talk,” Amanda said, carefully.

I fiddled with the label on my bottle, staring at a spot on the wall across from me. “I’m pretty sure Luke would not be happy about that.”

Amanda shook her head. “It’s not about Luke, McKinley, it’s about you. Yes, Luke is trying to do his best by you because he loves you and he wants to protect you but it’s ultimately up to you.”

“What about you? What do you think I should do?” I asked her, bringing my knees up my chest and wrapping my arms tightly around them.

Amanda hesitated. “I don’t know, McKinley. Part of me wants you to go so you can know, so you can just know her, even if only for a moment. But then part of me wants you to stay far away because she’s been gone for so long.”

“I’m just…I can’t help but be extremely curious,” I admitted. “I want to hate her, I want to yell and to scream at her for leaving. But I also want her. There’s still a tiny part of my five-year-old self that wants her to come back.” I shook my head.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and glanced at the screen;
it was
a text message from Jake. I cleared it and tossed my phone on the bed beside me.

“You can answer that,” Amanda said, a smile creeping on her face.

“No, it’s fine,” I said.

“
No
, I promise you its fine,” Amanda said, picking up my phone and placing it in my hands. “It doesn’t bother me anymore.” She sighed
dramatically
, brushing her hair out of her face. “You were right. I was being so stupid, thinking Jake Kennedy was mine. I was acting like a child. And anyone with a pair of eyes can see how happy you are with him.”

I snorted. “You’ve been reading way too many gossip rags, Amanda.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m not reading anything. I’m looking at those pictures of the two of
you that seem to crop up every
where.”

“The ones of us at the premieres and stuff
?” I asked, incredulously. “Amanda
, those are posed beyond
belief!
”

Amanda rolled her eyes at me. “Would you stop it? I’m talking about the shots of you guys all over the place, eating dinner, shopping and stuff. McKinley, I’ve never seen you like that. I’ve never seen you so happy. And that’s when I knew I was being stupid. You weren’t doing this to hurt me, to betray me. You were doing it because you’re in love.”

I burst out laughing. “In love? Are you serious?”

“God, McKinley, are you blind? Of course
,
you’re in love! It’s so obvious! Why do you think the gossip rags don’t believe your little ‘we’re just friends’ line?” Amanda said, her voice full of annoyance.

“I am not in love,” I said, firmly, a smile still on my face. “Definitely not. I’m just having fun.”

“Is the sex good?” she asked, a smile on her own face.

I nodded, my smile growing a little mischievous.
Finally, I could actually tell Amanda everything.

“Is he fun to be with? Does he make you laugh? Do you feel better around him?” Amanda shot off.

“Well, yeah, but…”

“Well then!” Amanda said, throwing up her hands. “What else do you need to know?”

“I am most definitely not in love wi
th Jake Kennedy,” I said, firmly, feeling as if I was repeating myself
. “I don’t fall in love with anyone. And I’ve definitely had good sex, and fun and laughter with other boys and I didn’t love them either.”

“Fine,” Amanda said, raising her eyebrows at me. “Just don’t come crying to me when you screw this up.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Enough about Jake and me. None of that is new. What about this Mike guy?”

Amanda’s impatient
manner disappeared and was quickly replaced by a shy smile. “Mike is just…he’s just great.”

“Where did you meet him?” I asked, turning full on the bed to face her, ready to drop the subject of my mom and definitely
ready
drop the subject of Jake.

“At work. He came up to my counter under the pretense of buying his mom some make-up. Of course, we got to talking and he asked me out.”

“Where did he take you?”

Amanda laughed. “It’s the funniest thing! He actually works over at the gun range so he took me there and taught me how to shoot a gun. Me, shooting a gun! Then we went out to lunch later. It was so much fun.”

I smiled and responded at all the appropriate moments while Amanda gushed about her new boy. I was excited and happy to have her sitting with me, back as my best friend, as if nothing had ever happened between us. As I sat there and listened to her, I was able to lose myself in my thoughts and mull over the things she had said. I
was contemplating
whether or not to go and meet with my mom. And whether I liked it or not, I was also thinking abou
t what she had said about Jake and I
.

*
             
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*

The next day, my mom came back into the café. As soon as she walked in, Iris, Robert and Diane all turned to her and then turned back to me. Iris made a quick movement, as if to stand up. I shook my head slightly, refilling her coffee. My mom nodded at Iris as she passed; I couldn’t tell if she remembered her or if she was just being polite. She sat right in front of me, in Dave’s u
sual spot. I glanced at my phone
and noted that it was late enough that he was probably not coming in.

“Hi,” she said, to me, setting her purse on the counter in front of me.

“Hi,” I said back, carefully. “Can I get you something?”

“Coffee would be nice,” she answered, folding her hands in front of her. I glanced down at her hands, noticing how much her age showed in her hands, especially when compared with mine. I was five years older than she was when she left me, and that was baffling to me. I pulled out a mug and po
ured her some coffee and slid
it across the counter to her. She smiled gratefully and dumped four half and half creamers into it and one packet of Splenda. I felt a fizzle in my stomach as I realized that was exactly how I took my coffee. “Thank you, Kinley.”

“Please don
’t call me that,” I said, shortly
.

“Does no one call you that anymore?” my mom asked, frowning, a crease appearing above her brows, something that I didn’t remember.

“No, no one does,” I said.
Except Jake.
“So please, do not call me that.”

“McKinley, please just give me a chance.”

I sighed. “It’s kind of hard to do that, Mom. You left kind of a long time ago. Luke adopted me because we couldn’t find you. It’s hard to just welcome you with open arms.”

“I do know that,” she said. “It’s hard to come back in here and face you. Maybe that’s why I’ve stayed away for so long. How do you come back to the child you left behind?”

I stared at her for a long moment. I wanted to believe her. I wanted to believe her more than I had ever believed anything in my life. “I just don’t know what to say.”

“How about this?” she said and I felt the lump in my throat grow larger. My mom had always said that when I was younger.
How about this?
She would say and then proceed to come up with a plan that usually wasn’t much better than the original but came out sounding better. She could usually get anyone to agree to things with that phrase. “Why don’t I let you get back to work? I know you’re busy with things and we can meet up for lunch sometime later this week.”

I opened my mouth, ready to say no. I had a knee-jerk response for her
how about this
plans. Even my five-year-old mind knew that my mom knew how to manipulate people. I heard the bells above the door clang, and I turned to see who had come in. I felt a smile creep across my face as Jake crossed the room and made his way over to me.

My mom frowned and looked over her shoulder to see what I was smiling at. “What are you…
oh
,” she said, turning back to me, her eyebrow raised.

I ignored her as Jake came over to me. He leaned across the counter, placing a quick, chaste kiss on my lips. “Hi there.”

“Hi,” I said, pouring him a cup of coffee.

“Hi Iris,” Jake called down the counter. She waved to him, without looking up from her work and we both shook our heads. “You almost off?”

I nodded. “As soon as Crystal
gets here, which should be any minute now.”

“McKinley,” my mom interrupted. “How does Friday at noon sound?”

We both turned to look at her. “I’m
filming Friday,” I said, slowly
.

“Saturday?” she asked. “I could give you your Christmas present. Its only a week away.”

“Fine, Saturday,” I agreed
.

“Great, Saturday. How about Tony’s? I remember that was your
favorite when you were younger,
” she said, a smile spreading across her face.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” I answered, feeling a moment of annoyance at her remembering that sort of information.

“Kinley?” Jake asked, looking from my mom to me and then back t
o my mom. There was a flash of something in her eyes
as she registered what he had called me, and my lack of response to it.

I sighed. “This is Jake
Kennedy. Jake, this is Corinna
Evans. My mom.”

Jake’s face went from curious to surprise to angry in a matter of seconds. He looked over at me, studying my face, as if looking for something specific in my face. I nodded, as if reassuring him. When he turned back to my mom, he had a friendly open smile on his face and I marveled for a moment at his acting abilities. “Hi, nice to meet you,” he said, extending his hand out to her.

“Nice to meet you as well,” my mom answered, shaking his hand, looking a little flustered for a middle-aged woman meeting a young hot actor.
Jake Kennedy had that effect.
“I’m happy I was able to meet McKinley’s boyfriend.”

“He’s not…” I started to say.

             
“I think we should be going now, Kinley,” Jake said
, interrupting me. “See, Crystal
is here now.”

             
“Right,” I agreed, grabbing my purse from underneath the counter.

             
“I’ll see you Saturday then, at noon, at Tony’s?” my mom asked, spinning in her stool as we began to walk towards the door.

             
I paused. “Yes. I’ll see you then.”

“I don’t like it.”

I rolled my eyes, flipping through one of Jake’s video game magazines, which had been sitting on the table in his trailer. “You’ve said that already.”

“I just don’t like it. This woman leaves you in a diner when you’re five years old and then comes back out of nowhere, suddenly, and wants to see you again? And this literally has nothing to do with the fact that you’re dating-uh, hanging out-with me or that you’re suddenly acting on a primetime television show?”