I Never Thought

Chapter 27

Chase's POV

The drive back to Boston was silent and long. The traffic going back was much worse than it was to leave the state. By the time we got through the city and into the suburbs of Wellesley, I was dying to get out and stretch my legs. Chris's snoring and Chloe's shuffling around only made me long more and more to be home.

When I walked through my front door, the scent of warm snickerdoodles filled my nostrils. Despite my mouth watering in anticipation of tasting the sweet goodness of my mom's cookies, I also was greeted with worry and a slight sting of anger when I thought about the possible reasons behind her baking.

"Chase! I thought you weren't supposed to be home for another two days." Her eyes were bright when she peered at me over the rim of her reading glasses. She turned quickly to grab the cookie sheet from the oven.

"That's what I thought too," I said and joined her in the kitchen. Placing my arm around her shoulders in a half hug, I attempted to steal a cookie from the sheet but failed because she swatted my hand away.

"No, these are for Isabel's Harry Potter fan club." She shot me a playful scowl and I laughed.

"How was the trip?" She placed the scorching hot cookie sheet onto the rack on the counter and slipped her mittens off her hands, turning her full attention to me.

"It was great," I told her. "It's always fun whenever we go up to that cabin." Images of Chloe's naked body flashed through my mind, and I had to keep my gaze on my mom just so I wouldn't get too excited at the thought. I couldn't think of a worse time for thoughts like that to cross my mind.

"I'm happy you enjoyed yourself, how are the twins?"

"They're good. Also, this might seem weird, but Chloe actually drinks now," I dropped my bag by my feet and sat around the table, watching how her expression grew from happy to surprised. I knew how amusing she would find this fact considering that the Chloe she knew was the goodie-two-shoes Chloe, not the 'I want to take a shot' Chloe. We occasionally joked about how much of a good kid she was, and she always found a way to fit in her opinion on our friendship; how she was a good influence on me.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she moved to close her recipe book. Leaning on the counter across from me, she said "no way. What's gotten into her?"

"I don't know. It might be that she felt pressured since basically everyone our age is doing it."

"Well, that's a terrible reason," she tried to hold back her smile and shook her head. "But I'm happy that she's actually doing what teenagers do now. I was starting to get worried."

I stifled a laugh. "No need, I think she's coming around. Also, I offered to talk to Aunt Jess about offering her a job at her office."

"A job?" Her brows rose. "What for?"

I explained to her about the conversation we had at dinner and how her parents made her feel incompetent for not having a plan after high school. She agreed with me that Chloe working in healthcare would be a great fit for her and she actually persisted in me calling Jess to get the ball rolling. After attempting to steal a cookie again and actually succeeding that time, I grabbed my stuff and made my way up to my room. Isabel was out with friends and seeing that the dirty, old pickup truck wasn't parked in the front yard, I figured that the bastard wasn't home either. I was pleased with the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about having to smash his face in that day, but it sure wasn't off the table for whenever he came back around.

Tossing my worn clothes into the hamper, I began thinking about the fact that I hadn't even thought about telling Yanique that I was home. I knew she would be happy to see me after not seeing me for over a week, which might've been the longest we'd gone without seeing each other since we got together. I didn't really notice her absence being that I was so preoccupied while on the trip, but now that I was home, it made sense to see her.