I shrugged, staring off into space. As much as I loved my mom or whatever, this was not a conversation I wanted to have with her. "I'm pretty crazy about him." There—that sounded like something a teenager with her first boyfriend might say. Little did my mother know just how much I'd learned about love in the past few weeks. Maybe I knew even more than she did.
"Well, he seems very nice, and, my goodness, he's incredibly good-looking, but you're so young, Bella..." Her voice was unsure; as far as I could remember, this was the first time since I was eight and almost walked into the street that she'd come close to sounding concerned about me. I had no idea what she was trying to say.
"I know that, mom. Don't worry about it. It's just a crush."
"That's right," she agreed, then she sighed and glanced guiltily over her shoulder at the big, round clock on the wall.
"Do you need to go?"
She bit her lip. "Phil's supposed to call in a little while... you know how he gets when I keep him waiting..."
"No problem, mom." I tried to tone down the relief so she wouldn't get her feelings hurt by feeling unwanted.
"I'll be back soon. I've been sleeping here, you know," she announced, proud of herself.
I smiled.
"Actually, I was too nervous to go home," she admitted sheepishly. "There's been some crime in the neighborhood, and I don't like being home alone."

469

Chapter 24

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