Free Be Here Now: A Cedar Creek Novel by Julia Goda Page B

squirt. Keep it up,” Cal growled as he gave me a mock glare.
    “I’d have to agree with Loreley, son. We’re all glad you finally got your head out of your ass. And not just because Ivey makes fabulous desserts,” Betty said as she looked at her son. He transferred his glare to her, and a knowing grin spread across her face. Pete chuckled.
    Betty turned her grin to Chris and asked, “What about you, boy? Figured out what you want yet?”
    Ivey’s eyes went to her plate, a smile playing around her lips.
    Pete’s chuckle grew louder while Cal muttered, “Here we go,” under his breath before he looked at Chris and said, “Advice, listen closely to what she’s got to say and then go out and follow her instructions to the letter or you’ll never live it down.”
    Chris’ mouth opened to reply, but Betty got there first.
    “He’s not quite ready to listen yet,” then her eyes went serious and searching as they were locked on Chris. “Soon, though.”
    “Fucking fantastic. Maybe you can focus on that instead of riding my ass,” Cal kept growling. Ivey’s shoulders started shaking with silent laughter. I joined her.
    “Baby, I’m not finding anything funny.” Ivey lifted her eyes to him. They were shining with amusement.
    “Well, that’s tough, honey, ‘cause I do,” she said through her laughter. And just like always, that was all it took for Cal to lose his annoyance as his face turned soft on his wife.
    “You know, Betty, this should freak me out, but I’m actually looking forward to it,” Chris said. He looked to Cal and Ivey who were still smiling at each other. “If you know how to get me what they have, I’m game.”
    “Oh, I do. But as I said, you’re not quite there yet. And anyways, I believe it’s Loreley’s turn first.” I whipped my head around, not sure I had heard her right.
    “My turn?”
    “Yeah, your turn.”
    I shook my head at her, saying, “That’s not gonna happen.”
    For the third time today, Betty studied me with her searching and soulful eyes.
    “Mark my words, baby girl, something is in the air, which is good, since you’ve been living under that dark cloud for too long. I can see it’s lifting, but my girl deserves more than that. She deserves sunshine, pure and bright sunshine. And she’ll get it. Soon,” she said with a conviction that scared me. I was nowhere near ready to start a relationship with anyone. I had just found my way back to me, and it had been a long and hard fight, so being with someone was not going to happen anytime soon. I shook my head at her again then dropped my eyes to my plate and the dessert on it. My appetite had vanished.
    “Loreley,” I heard my name called from across the table. It was my dad. Slowly, I lifted my eyes to find his on me.
    “I’m proud of you, sweetheart.”
    I swallowed. Then I nodded, knowing what he meant. “Thank you, dad.” My dad had always been proud of me, no matter what I did, and had always showed me that he was. He was proud of me for being strong, for fighting my way out of the sorrow and finding my way back to me.
    My dad returned the nod then continued to devour his dessert. I felt Chris squeeze my leg under the table, took a deep breath, and gave him a small smile.
    We all ate our dessert in silence for a few moments before sweet Tommy tried to lighten the mood, but in doing so, created a tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.
    “Ivey and I met a rock star yesterday,” he said excitedly. I froze.
    Oh shit. My eyes grew wide while my brain tried to come up with a distraction but failed miserably. I looked at Chris. His eyes on me, telling me “I told you so.”
    “How so?” Cal asked him.
    “He’s renting the house. Ivey and I went up to meet him and give him the keys.”
    Cal’s head turned to look at his wife. “A rock star is renting our house?”
    “Yup,” she answered, “a true world famous rock star is renting our house. I was surprised myself when we met him. His