“I look forward to getting to know her.”
I could hear the lie in her voice; she didn’t even try to hide it. My brow furrowed, but I didn’t say anything as I headed for the bedroom. I’d promised we would go out to dinner with her mom, and as much as I didn’t want to do it, I was getting the feeling that Becca was being pressured into it by her mom, and the more I put it off, the less her mom would like me.
I slipped out of my shirt as Becca followed me into the bedroom. “I just can’t shake the feeling that she was there when …”
I knew where she was going with it, and I knew that it scared her thinking of that day, but a lot of people had been there. If she was scared every time she saw someone who might have been there that day, it wasn’t going to work. I would have to let her go.
I didn’t dare say it, though. I knew that wasn’t going to get us anywhere.
“I know babe, and maybe she was. Maybe she was trying to seek me out and talk to me about a partnership. You never know, that kind of stuff is hard to tell, even more so when …” When you’re looking for a reason not to like her. But again, I didn’t say it. I wasn’t a total idiot.
I slipped out of my shirt and turned to face her. She stared at me with her arms crossed over her chest in the doorway. It looked like she wanted to say something, but nothing came out, and for that, I was thankful.
I gave her a smile before reaching for the clean white shirt I’d set out before leaving. I slipped into it, buttoned it up and debated on whether or not to wear a tie.
“Would it be too formal to wear a tie?”
“For my mom? Yes.”
I nodded. Alright, so formal wasn’t really their style, good to know. “When are we meeting her?”
“6:00. At some place on Brock Street.”
“Alright.” I nodded and took a deep breath. I’d never been good at meeting the parents. Nervousness twisted in my stomach as I sat down on the bed and inhaled deeply.
Becca padded into the room. “Relax ...” She sat down beside me, touched my arm and leaned towards me, resting her head on my shoulder. “It will be fine; my mom will love you. You’ll win her over in a fraction of a second, and then she will spend the next few years telling me that I should try to marry you as soon as I can so I don’t lose you.”
I snorted. “I really hope that is the case.”
“It will be,” she promised as I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to me. I knew the day had been harder on her than she was willing to admit, but I didn’t want to bring it up. Instead, I just pulled her as close to her as I could and held her tight, trying in some lame silent way to let her know that I was there for her, and I didn’t plan on going anywhere. We were in this together, and we were going to make it work.
*
I closed my eyes, leaning against Dean’s shoulder. It felt nice for a couple of seconds as I took a few deep breaths of him. I knew we had to head out soon to meet up with my mom. She’d ended out deciding on coffee, not dinner, because of dad being in the hospital recently and her wanting to spend more time with him, which I don’t think he really wanted, but at this point there wasn’t much he could do about it. Which meant my mom had full control.
I pushed myself up, headed into the bathroom and reapplied my make up quickly—just a touch up to make it look like I wasn’t half as tired as I felt. The truth is I felt like I could just go to sleep right now and not get enough sleep before I had to get up tomorrow and head to work.
“Are you sure about this? We can still call it off?” Dean called from the bedroom.
“Are you that scared of my mom?” I joked. But I would have loved to call it off; however, I didn’t think my mom would be happy with it, so we were stuck going out tonight. Which meant I didn’t put my pajamas on.
Instead, I fixed my hair and headed for the door, slipped into a pair of my black pumps, grabbed my light leather coat more for fashion than for actual warmth, and Dean joined me, grabbing a set of keys. He handed me my leather purse from Italy, and we made for his car.
“Is there anything I should know before I meet her?” he asked as we reached the car. I bit my lip, mulling it over as I opened the passenger side door and sat down, buckling myself up.
“Well, you know how my dad had the heart attack recently? My mom was called because she was on the paper as his next of kin, but they’re not actually married. So yea, you shouldn’t think they are married or anything. My mom doesn’t like swearing very much. So as long as you don’t swear, you should be fine. But swearing is a sure-fire way to make her hate you.” I shot him a grin as he gunned the engine.
“Alright, so if I want your mom to hate me just swear a lot. Got it.” His eyes sparkled as he backed out of the driveway and drove towards Brock Street.
My stomach turned the entire time, and a couple of the times we came to a stop, I was sure I was going to be sick. Thankfully, I didn’t puke.
We pulled into a parking spot a few feet away from the café we were meeting my mom at. My throat went dry when I saw her car sitting there. She was already in there waiting for us. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. Just relax, she’ll like him … or at least, she won’t hate him. That was what mattered, right?
Yes.
As long as she didn’t hate him, I could warm her up to him. I took a couple deep breaths trying to calm my racing heart. She’ll love him. There is no reason to worry so much. Without another thought, I unblocked myself and popped the door open. Dean followed suit.
“We won’t stay long,” I promised. Just long enough for her to meet him and for us to have a coffee, and me and my mom to chat a little. It would be easy really … I hoped. I swallowed dryly as we made our way closer to the café, and I saw her sitting in the window. She perked up, looking me up and down—no, looking Dean up and down.
Dean pulled the door open for me, and I stepped into the café; as I made my way into the building, I was engulfed in the scent of baked goods. My stomach rumbled.
“Hot chocolate, right?” Dean muttered. “What does your mom take?”
“Get her a London fog.”
Dean nodded, heading for the line as I made my way towards my mother, and she pulled me into a hug. “How are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m alright. You’re still drinking London fogs, right? Because that’s what I told Dean to get you.”
A smile touched her lips. “Yes, that’s fine.”
Oh, it was more than fine, I could tell by the look on her face. Thank God. I let out a deep breath as my mom led the way back to where she’d been sitting.
“How’s Dad?”
“I’m taking him dinner tonight. I’m sure he will be fine, other than the fact that I’m there.” She laughed softly.
“I’m sure he appreciates having you stop in and look on him.”
“Oh, I know he does …” My mom paused, looking to me carefully. She glanced over my shoulder as Dean cleared his throat.
“They said they would bring the drinks over, although I took the liberty of getting us something to snack on.” His eyes locked on my mother. “I wasn’t sure what you’d like, so I took a couple of options for us.”
My mom looked at the small plate in his hand, loaded with six baked goods. She smiled. “All of it looks wonderful.”
He placed the plate on the table and held his hand out to her.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Mrs. Hollan.”
“Please, call me Barb.” They shook hands, and Dean took a seat beside me. “I was disappointed not to meet you the other night when Becca came to the hospital.”
“I would have loved to be there.” I could feel him staring at me. He hadn’t been pleased to learn that I hadn’t told him to meet me there. “I would have gladly missed work for it, but I am thankful that your daughter was considerate enough to worry about me getting work done.”
“I’m sure you had a lot to catch up on,” I muttered.
“I was probably in the middle of
hiring a publicist.” My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. Why didn’t I just text him like everyone wanted me to? My brow furrowed as my mother and Dean spoke about work a little bit, and Dean gave her the whole speech about what he did for a living. I poked at the treats in front of us as a waitress came over with our drinks and checked that we didn’t need anything else.
My mother took a sip of her London fog and looked at me.
“Becca ...” she put her coffee down. “There is something I need to tell you.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What’s wrong?” Was she sick? Was Dad getting worse? Did he have cancer or something?
My mother swallowed as she smiled. “I … I’ve been seeing someone, and I would like you and Dean to meet him.”
My jaw almost dropped, but I managed to keep it off the floor. My parents had been separated since I was in high school, but my mother had never dated anyone else; hell, my dad hadn’t either. Unlike most couples that got a divorce, my parents got along well after everything happened. There wasn’t a lot of fighting—at least not that I remember. To be honest, I didn’t even know the full story of why they weren’t still together.
“When did you have in mind?” Dean’s voice snapped me back to reality.
I felt his hand touch my thigh. I made a mental note to thank Dean for saving my ass there before I turned my attention back to my mother.
“Well, I know you’re very busy, but I was hoping sometime in the next couple of weeks.”
Dean nodded. “With the new publicist, I should have a lot more free time. I’m sure we could do that. Let me check my schedule, and I’ll have Becca get back to you about it; is that alright?”
My mother nodded as a smile spread over her lips. For a split second, I felt like a little kid who had parents making plans for play dates.
“Wait, how long have you been seeing this guy?”
“A couple of months.”
This time my jaw did drop. I stared at her blankly. “A couple months, and you’re just telling me now?”
“Well, there was a lot going on; I didn’t want you to get distracted.” My mother shrugged it off. I had no clue how she could just sit there and act like this wasn’t a big deal. I opened my mouth to say something but closed it, not bothering. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact she hadn’t thought it was worth telling me she had a boyfriend, but whatever.
I took a bite of a cheesecake square to keep myself from saying anything rude. I’d be given hell if I waited that long to tell her, I thought.
“How are you doing?” My mother’s eyes locked on me.
“I’m fine.”
Her eyes narrowed like she thought I was lying. Then I realized what she meant. See, no one except Katie would actually say it out loud; it’s like they thought if they mentioned it I was just going to break down or something.
“Oh, you mean about the whole ‘traumatic event’ thing.” That’s what everyone called it. No one would actually say some guy held a gun to my head. “Really, I’m fine. I went back to work today. It was fine.”
Don’t get me wrong, I knew everyone was just trying to do what was best for me, I just wished they would have a little more faith in my mental state than to think I was going to break down if they said it.
Then again, no one really knew about the panic attacks in Italy except my therapist, Katie, and Dean. But no one else needed to know as far as I was concerned.
“Are you sure you’re not pushing yourself too much?”
“Mhm.” Dean piped up. He’d been on me as soon as I started thinking about going back to work.
I ignored Dean completely; sadly, I couldn’t do that with my mom.
“I’m sure, Mom; anyways, everyone has been super understanding, and if I need to call it a day before the end of my shift, everyone told me I’m more than welcome to do that. I promise I’m fine. I’m not pushing myself too much. Anyways, Dean’s keeping an eye on me.” This time, I glanced sideways and caught his eye. “Whether he is willing to admit it or not.” I added the last part after a second’s thought.
“I …” He closed his mouth and gave me a smile. “I’ve been worried about you, that’s all.”
“And I’ve told you—both of you; I’m fine.” I gave them both a smile. “I know you’re worried, and it means a lot to me, but have a little faith here.”
“You’re not fine, Rebecca,” my mother spoke up. “Please, don’t lie to us or yourself. If you want to go back to work that’s great, but you can’t just sit there and pretend you’re fine because you’re not. It’s been less than two weeks after everything happened. It doesn’t take less than two weeks to get over everything you went through.”
“I’m in therapy for it!” I protested. I knew it was a stupid argument, but it came out before thinking about it. “My therapist says I’m doing really well, by the way.”
“And that’s great.” My mom reached out to touch my hand, but I pulled away. She took her hand back, a blush rising on her cheeks. “I’m glad you’re doing well, but we’re all worried about you for a reason, just remember that. Think about how you would feel if you were in our situation.”
“Alright,” I muttered, but I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to do it; I just wanted this conversation to end. “So, how’s work?” A change of topic was what we needed. So I just had to hope she would let it drop. Thankfully, she did.
After another half hour of talking, my mom finally stood. She gave me a smile. “I’d better get going. I told your dad I would bring him some dinner, and I’m sure he’ll want it soon. I wouldn’t want him to think I blew him off or anything.”
I was sure he would be thrilled if she didn’t show up, but I didn’t say anything. I let her pull me into a tight hug that lasted just a little too long.
“Call me,” she ordered. “I want to see more of you.”
“I know, Mom. I’ve just been super busy with work and … and stuff.” I hadn’t told her about working on the hot chocolate business after work, just because I wanted to surprise her with it. I pulled away and gave her a smile. “Come over sometime, and I’ll make us something nice to drink. We’ll catch up, and I’ll meet that boyfriend of yours.”
“Sounds perfect.” My mother turned her attention to Dean and gave him a quick hug. “Keep her safe, and don’t let her push herself too much.”
“I try not to, Barb. But, no offense, your daughter is a handful some days.”
My mother laughed as the three of us made our way towards the door. “Oh, you should have met her when she was a teenager. She was quite the handful!”
“Hey!” I protested. “I never snuck out or did anything that bad.”
“True, you were a good daughter.” Her eyes sparkled as she glanced at me before coming to a stop. “Alright, I’ll see you both around.” It sounded like a promise more than anything else. Both Dean and I nodded.
“See you around, Mom.”
And with that, we parted ways without another word. Dean’s arm circled around my shoulder as we made our way back to the car. I looked at the shops as we passed them.
“So, that went really well, actually.”
“You thought so too? She seemed to warm up to me pretty quick.”
I had to admit, I was surprised. But I didn’t say it out loud; instead, I lied. “See, I told you there was nothing to worry about.”
Dean chuckled softly. “So, now what’s your plan?”
I glanced down at my phone and blew out a deep breath. We had to work tomorrow, and I had a therapist appointment, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t have a little bit of fun tonight. After all, I mean we were in Las Vegas.
Dean laughed softly as we made our way back to the casino. “Really? You want to go back to work?”
“No, we’re going to play.” I grinned as I climbed the steps, holding onto Dean’s arm as reached the door, and he pulled his keys out. Thankfully it was way past closing time, and the only car in the parking lot was ours because I had a cou
ple plans that no one else was allowed to be involved in.
Dean unlocked the door and let me step into the lobby before him. I strode directly to the card table. “So ...” I looked over my shoulder. “Are you good at cards?” I grinned widely.
Dean stared at me wide-eyed. “I can play a little. Are you?”
“We’ll have to find out.” I hadn’t been trained for the card tables yet, so I didn’t know that much about poker—or any other card game really—but I didn’t care if I won or not, all I cared about was making this a night Dean would never forget.
He joined me at a card table, sitting down across from me. “Well, you already have more than enough money, so why don’t we make this interesting?”
“What did you have in mind?”
I leaned towards him. “Winner gets a surprise.” I gave him the best sexy look I could muster, and it must have worked because Dean swallowed, leaning towards me.
“Sounds fun. I’ll start thinking about what to do to you.”
My heart skipped a beat as I thought about his words. He grabbed a pair of cards and shuffled them.
“I’ll get us something to drink.”
My heart raced as I reached the bar and grabbed us each a beer. I also grabbed a bowl of nuts while heading back to the table.
Dean had shuffled out cards for each of us, and there were three cards face up. I looked at them carefully as I slid into the seat and grabbed my own cards. I grinned looking at them.
“So, this is where we bet, right?”
“Yup.” He grabbed his cards with one hand as I passed him a beer that he took with the other. “So normally, we start with three rounds of better.”
“Interesting.” I grinned, looking down at my cards. I had a queen of hearts and a three of clubs. No clue what that meant, but okay. “So, I’ll bet …” I bit my lip thinking about it. I didn’t want to bet too much the first round, but I didn’t want to be lame. “A new set of lingerie.”
“I’ll match your new set of lingerie, and I’ll raise you.” He was quiet for a couple seconds. “Dirty pictures.”
A blush touched my cheeks. I’d never given anyone dirty pictures, but I really liked the idea of letting Dean have some. I bit my lip and nodded.
Naughty and Nice Page 47
