Borrowed Time

Chapter 102

Sometimes Juliette forgot that Micheal's parents were... Very comfortable... But this weekend had reminded her of that... The hotel room, their car... He never presented like he had the money to do all of this, it never seemed to affect him, and it'd been nice for the weekend.

But she was very happy to crawl into Esme's van and their bed once they picked her up from Micheal's house.

"Are you sure you don't just want us to drop you off at Esme's trailer, sweetie? We don't mind the extra couple of minutes of driving if that makes it easier for them." Micheal's mother said, placing a hand on Juliette's knee as she spoke. She felt heat rise to her cheeks as she shook her head, squirming away from her touch... If she really thought back on it, Micheal's mother was kind of her gay awakening in a way... Well, she hadn't been awakened, so much as lightly poked before she ignored it and rolled over to keep sleeping. She hadn't done a thing to awaken it, really... But she was beautiful, she shared Micheal's good looks but her eyes were a little bigger and a darker brown and her skin was a shade or two lighter... But Micheal was practically her clone, which was a big compliment.

Juliette had been infatuated as a child, but she just thought that she'd thought that his mother was really cool... and that was why she always wanted to look nice at his house... Not that she had a chance.

Not that she wanted herself to have a chance, that would be terrible.

"No, it's alright, they said that they want to pick me up since they're on the road anyway. Coming home from work, so it's actually on the way." She explained, realizing that she'd probably said a lot more than she needed to, but over clarification was better than under clarification. Her eyes blinked as she took in the information, filing it into a point of understanding.

Her face was very expressive, it was always easy to tell what she was thinking about, what was on her mind... Juliette really appreciated that, it helped her read what was going on in the situation.

"Ah, yes." She had a sparkling smile when she turned back around, maintaining eye contact with Juliette in the rearview mirror as she spoke. "You know, your partner is a very attentive waiter, I've never met someone who does their job quite like she does. They're far too good for that place." She said, and Juliette nodded... She hadn't met someone who wasn't too good to be working at that country club... No amount of tips from rich people were good enough to put up with what they put up with there.

Pots of hot coffee being dumped over her head? Yeah, that would've been enough to make Juliette quit on the spot.

"Well, I agree with you on that." She said, and on Shelby's other side, she heard a sigh and a soft chuckle... Well, Micheal's ears must've popped since they got off the plane, he could hear a bit better now.

That was good.

"Everyone's too good for that country club." Micheal murmured from his seat, not looking up from his phone. It earned him a stern look in the mirror, but his mother continued to speak softly, kindly... It was clear that she was trying to maintain peace in the seven minutes that they had left in their car ride.

"I agree, but I can't argue with their lobster bisque, it is incredible." She said, and Juliette watched as Micheal nodded weakly, not seeming to be on the same wavelength... Fair, he normally got kind of cranky after travel, he needed time to recharge alone.

"Yeah, their bisque is great." The car was quiet for a long moment before his mother cleared her throat, speaking again.

"Did you three have a good time?" She asked, and Shelby cleared her throat, clearly ready to speak for the first time since they'd left the airport... All of them were pretty tired, so they weren't really saying much at this point.