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A glance in the mirror showed the big SUV was back again—or still back there? Maybe I hadn’t looked close enough lasttime. “Why doesn’t she call me herself if she wants me to come?” I shifted left a lane and sped up.
“She said she called three times, and you didn’t answer.”
“It was two times,” I corrected. I’d answered the second time. “And I’m still not interested in getting back together with George.” I left off that I’d yelled an angryhell noat her, and a few other choice words, when she’d asked me to give the guy another chance. I’d get over it, but the call still made me angry.
Zach laughed. “He comes from a good family,” he said, parroting Mom’s logic.
I added the kicker. “And Dad has a joint venture in the works with George’s father.” Yes, Mom wanted grandbabies, and Dad wanted business advantage.
George Kittleman, my boring ex-boyfriend, had been bugging me about getting back together ever since he returned from his stint in Paris. He hadn’t been this attentive before leaving for a job offerhe couldn’t pass up.
Zach laughed again. “Dad didn’t actually say that, did he?”
“No,” I admitted. “He probably just thinks George is stable and safe.” What was and wasn’t safe for me had consumed Dad since the dark time in my life.
Zach laughed again. “And ready to have kids.”
“That’s not funny. Why aren’t they busy setting you guys up instead of always picking on me?”
The silence on the line spoke volumes. I had four brothers, all too busy out sowing their wild oats to settle down. But Mom wanted grandbabies, and that meant convincing one of her daughters to get serious and stop the birth control—with a man of appropriate breeding, of course.
Kelly’s move to Washington, DC had stymied Mom’s efforts with her, which left me as the only daughter within reach. Unfortunately, at this stage in my career, I had to endure hermatchmaking attempts. I couldn’t take Kelly’s escape hatch and move away from LA yet.
I relaxed after checking my mirror again. The SUV was now way back there.
“Are you still there, Serena?” Zach asked. “What do you say about Saturday?”
“Sure, I’ll show up if you guys are going to be there, too. I’m not going if it’s only going to be me and Mom and Dad and George.”
“I’ve always got your back, you know that,” Zach said. “And she may not be ambushing you with George, anyway.”
“Right,” I added, heavy sarcasm to my tone.
“Bring a date, then, as protection. Just in case.”
That was a nonstarter. I hadn’t gotten past the second-date stage in over eighteen months.
“Shit,” I muttered, gripping the wheel tighter. The creepy SUV was two cars back again. It must have been hidden behind a truck.
“What’s wrong?” There was honest concern in my overprotective brother’s voice. He, and the others, always tried to shield me from the world. It had been cute when I was twelve. Now, it was annoying.
“It’s probably nothing.” His silence prompted me to elaborate. “I’m heading back from the Valley, and there’s a lot of traffic. I hate it when these big SUVs ride my ass.” It was true, just not today’s truth.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Serena, like brake-check him. I don’t want to see you become a road-rage statistic. Here’s what you do?—”
“I’m smarter than that, and I can handle myself,” I reminded him. I was a grown-ass woman, not a kid.
He powered through my complaint. “You don’t want to provoke guys like that.”
When protector mode became dictator mode, I got pissed. Time to end this conversation. “My battery’s getting low,” I lied. “Gotta go.” I always had to exude confidence, or my brothers would try to swoop in and fix things for me.
“See you Saturday.”
I dreaded these setup attempts by my mother. But she was family, so I couldn’t exactly refuse every meal invitation. “Saturday,” I agreed before ending the call.
A little while later, searching my mirror, I didn’t see the SUV. He might have turned off back there, and I missed it.
A few miles ahead, the road through the hills peeled off to the right. I could use it to prove I was imagining things. And if he did follow, there was a fire station a few miles in that would be a safe place to stop.
