Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins (The Amy Maxwell Series Book 2) by Heather Balog

mother because I can’t remember. I have it written down…somewhere.
    “Oh yeah! And that’s not all!” Lexie continues to sing along. She is happily swaying back and forth now. She has switched from her, ‘ I’m tattling’ voice to her ‘ man do I have some gossip for you’ voice.
    “Lexie,” I snatch the still frozen chicken out of the fridge. “Just get on with it please.”
    “She has a boy in her room!” Lexie manages to gasp.
    I also gasp. And drop the frozen chicken on my foot. I don’t even feel the searing pain from what I later discover is a broken pinkie toe, as I thunder toward the steps. I am imagining all sorts of scenarios, Allie naked on her bed, being humped by the lecherous boy I caught her outside with a few weeks ago; Allie naked, humping the lecherous boy, Allie... . Stop, Amy!
    “Allie!” I am screeching at the top of my lungs. “ Allllllllllliiiiiiiiieeeeeeee !”
    I get to the top of the steps just as Allie pokes her head out of her doorway. I take note that she is fully dressed and let out a small sigh of relief. But just a small sigh. I know what can happen even fully clothed.
    “Yes, Mommy?” she asks sweetly and innocently, pulling her door against her back so I can’t see inside.
    “Don’t yes Mommy me,” I growl, pushing the door with my arm, nearly knocking her over in the process.
    “Mom!”
    Sitting on her bed (yes, on her bed ) is a sandy haired boy of average height and medium build. I guess I should be thankful that he also has all of his clothes on. He is bent over a book, but his head jerks up as the door hits the wall.
    I brush past Allie and am now standing in the middle of her room, hands planted firmly on my hips. The boy is blushing deeply and Allie is stamping her foot like a horse with a nail in its shoe. I don’t know which one of them to direct my anger toward first, so I step back and glare at both of them.
    “Just what do you think you’re doing?” I inquire with a bark.
    “History,” the boy answers at the same time that Allie says, “Chemistry.”
    “Hmpfh,” I remark without amusement and step toward the bed. The boy is indeed reading from a history book, but Allie has a dog eared copy of Twilight face down on the bed. “If you’re going to lie, you should be on the same page,” I remark sardonically, and to my surprise, the boy bursts out laughing.
    I glower at him. “What’s so funny?”
    He turns a deep shade of crimson as he stammers, “I thought you were making a pun…”
    I shake my head. “Uh, no. I don’t make puns.” I turn back to my daughter. “What is he doing here in your room when no one was home and you were supposed to be at baton twirling club or whatever?”
    “Yearbook club. And it was cancelled,” Allie mumbles, poking at the carpet with the tip of her shoe.
    I’m trying my best not to be a nag, really, I am. I’m attempting to remember what it was like being a teenager, but I have to draw the line somewhere. Kissing delinquent motorcycle boys in the rain was bad enough, but a boy in the bedroom when nobody is home is where that line is getting drawn. Today. Right here, right now.
    “So what makes you think you can have a boy over in your bedroom when I’m not home? What made you think that I would possibly be ok with that, huh?”
    “We’re just studying,” Allie mutters, not meeting my eye.
    “Oh, I call Bullshit,” I retort. “Is that what you kids are calling it nowadays?” I nearly clamp my hand over my mouth when I hear my mother fly out. You kids nowadays? Dear Lord, deliver me from this evil of becoming my mother.
    “Um…I think I should go,” the boy says as he stands up and grabs his book off of the bed. His clothes are neat and pressed, and his pants are not sagging down around his kneecaps like many of the boys I have seen hanging around the high school. He actually looks like a real, normal kid. I wonder what Allie’s angle is on this. Because there’s no way she’s going for