by Ali Parker
I shook my head. “No thanks, this is good.”
“Want to watch TV?” he asked.
“Um, yeah, sure,” I said, getting up to move to the couch.
I had to snap out of it. I didn’t want him to detect my apprehension at moving in with him. He’d been so excited, so hopeful when he’d given me the key. If he suspected I wasn’t as happy as he was about moving in together, it would hurt him. I had seen how he responded to being hurt by those closest to him. I didn’t want to risk losing him for good.
“Do you plan on moving in this couch?” he asked, somewhat hesitantly.
I burst into a fit of giggles. “Are you saying you don’t like my couch?”
He cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t say I don’t like it; I’m just wondering if I can count on it being there.”
“No, I doubt I would take this shabby old thing into your apartment. You have a perfectly good couch already.”
“You can bring anything you want. We’ll make room. If it’s too crowded, we’ll buy a bigger place,” he said nonchalantly.
I smiled, sipping the wine. It was that sentiment exactly that made me worried. I didn’t have his kind of money. I didn’t have a fraction of his money. I didn’t want to be the person mooching off the rich boyfriend. I would be living up to Kathy Bancroft’s expectations. She would automatically assume I had hooked up with Mason with the goal of him taking care of me financially. It wasn’t the truth but looking at it from her side of things, I could definitely understand why she didn’t like me.
“Hmm, I’ll have to think about that. Your apartment is already ten times bigger than the one I have,” I told him.
“Maybe five, but definitely not ten,” he said dryly.
“You don’t expect me to cook you dinner every night, do you?”
He scoffed. “God no. I don’t think either one of us would live long were that the case. Nothing has to change. We just keep going like we have been,” he assured me.
I nodded, knowing there was no way we could be what we were right now. Things would change. Living together changed things. It had to. It was part of the evolution of relationships. I worried moving in with him would be the beginning of the end of what we had. I didn’t want it to end. I really liked spending time together and I knew I had some pretty strong feelings for him, but it seemed too fast.
I wanted to ask if we could take a step back, slow things down, but I didn’t want him to get offended and walk away. Another month or two would give us time to get to know each other better. We’d barely scratched the surface it seemed like. We were starting a business together and there were sure to be things that caused some serious discord between the two of us. He liked to say he had invested in my coffee shop, but in reality, it was a new business. The old Sinclair’s was gone. I wasn’t sad about it and knew it needed a change if it was going to be successful, but it did make me nervous.
“Did you talk to your mom?” I asked.
“No.”
“I thought you were going to meet up with her and see what she had to say,” I said.
“I went to the mall with Dalton.”
I blinked, convinced I hadn’t heard him correctly. “You did what?”
“You heard me. Don’t expect me to ever say that sentence again,” he grumbled.
“Wow. I still can’t believe I heard it the first time,” I said, biting back a laugh.
“He said he needed new clothes.”
“Where do you buy your clothes?” I asked him, suddenly very curious.
I realized in that moment I knew very little about him. This was one of many things I felt I should know before we moved in together. I should know more about what he liked and didn’t like. Where he went shopping, where he wanted to go on vacation, if he had any allergies. I didn’t know anything of real importance. I knew Mason intimately and, on many levels, I knew him better than I knew myself, but there was a lot of the basic stuff I didn’t know.
“I don’t know, shops here and there. Sometimes online. I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever purposely gone shopping for clothes, unless it’s biking gear. That’s probably where I pick up most of my stuff,” he said as if he had just figured it out.
Chapter 58
Mason
I had dropped Adelaide off at the gym before running a few errands. We were hoping to take care of the last-minute details before we could officially schedule the reopening. I was determined to get the liquor license for the shop. If I let her know what I had planned, she’d order me not to do it.
I was going to do it anyway. I was going to call in every favor I had and use my family’s name to get what I wanted. I had been on the phone for what felt like hours, demanding to speak with the right people who could get me what I needed—what Adelaide needed.
“Greg, this is Mason Bancroft. You’re a hard man to reach,” I said when I finally got to the head of the licensing board.
“Mr. Bancroft, how is your mother?” he asked in a friendly tone.
“She’s doing great. Listen, I’m calling about the application I submitted last week for a liquor license for one of my business investments. Everything has been cleared, but I am waiting on the official stamp. There is a bit of a time crunch. I need this to get passed sooner rather than later,” I explained, keeping my voice friendly, but making it clear what I was asking.
“I see. Let me check into it, and I’ll let you know,” he said, not giving me the confidence I needed to hear.
“This is important, really important,” I stressed.
“I understand. I will personally look into it for you,” he said, and I got the idea he knew what I was asking.
The family would of course owe him a favor. I didn’t care. My family was used to the bartering system. They scratched a back and expected their backs to be scratched in return. It was the way it had always been. I had never bothered getting in on the family business until now, when I needed it.
I knew I would have the license in hand within a week. I couldn’t wait to tell Adelaide. It would be a huge boon for the business. I had been resourcing local ciders and craft beers, setting up contracts to be exclusive with some of them. It was the unique thing Adelaide’s shop needed.
Things were getting better for us every day. When I had asked her to move in, she’d hesitated. I had a feeling her comment about my mom was the reason for the hesitation. She wanted me to work things out. I didn’t know if that was possible, but I could at least talk to my mom. I hoped that would be enough to satisfy Adelaide. She was worried she was coming between us. She was wrong.
I picked up my phone and pushed the button to make the call. I wanted nothing standing between me and Adelaide. I would do what she wanted and make the call. The rest would be up to my mother.
“Mom, it’s me,” I said when she answered.
“Mason! I’ve been so worried about you.”
“I texted and told you I was fine,” I told her in a monotone voice.
“Yes, you did, but that’s not the same.”
I ignored the tone that was supposed to make me feel guilty. I didn’t feel guilty at all. “Are you home—alone?” I asked.
“I am. Why? What’s going on?” she asked with worry in her voice.
“I want to talk, just you and me,” I said.
“James is out. I can talk now,” she said, almost resigned.
“I’ll be there in thirty minutes,” I said and ended the call.
I quickly sent a text to Adelaide, letting her know I would be late, and I would meet her at the coffee shop. Then it was off to the mansion. I hoped today’s meeting went much better than the last.
When I pulled up to the mansion, I almost turned around and drove away. Fucking James was home. But I was already here and figured I might as well get it done and over with. I walked up and rang the bell.
My mother opened the door. “He just got home. I didn’t expect him back today,” she blurted out.
I shrugged a shoulder. “Whateve
r.”
“Come into the kitchen. I was making some cookies for the retirement home.”
I followed her down the hall, chasing the scent of the chocolate chip cookies. My mouth watered. There hadn’t been a lot of fond memories from my childhood, but my mother’s homemade cookies were definitely a good one.
I sat down on a barstool and let her pour me a glass of cold milk. It was pretty much a given I was going to eat some of the cookies.
“Thanks for coming,” she said, sitting down on a stool next to mine.
“I don’t want to talk about the normal drama. I only wanted to tell you Adelaide and I are still together, and I plan on it being that way for a long time,” I said.
She nodded her head. “I understand. I do have my reservations.”
“I know you do, but you need to know I’m an adult and I can make these decisions on my own,” I told her.
“Son, I’m always going to be looking out for you.”
“You have made a lot of assumptions about Adelaide. You don’t even know her. I’m telling you she makes me happy and I’m not going to let her go anywhere. I want her in my life, and I am making sure I do everything I can to make that happen. You and your snide remarks and rudeness are not going to scare her away. I won’t let her get insulted by you,” I told her.
She raised an eyebrow. “Mason, I wasn’t insulting her. I wanted to know more about her.”
“You interrogated her. You made her feel small. You tried to insinuate she wasn’t worthy of me or our family,” I told her, not angry anymore, but not willing to back down.
“I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean for it to come across like that. I will not change my opinion about mixing business and personal relationships. It never works out. What happens when the two of you break up?” she asked, trying to soften the question, but it still rubbed me the wrong way.
“You’re assuming we will break up. Why not assume we won’t break up?” I asked.
She shrugged a shoulder. “Because history tells me this is the more likely scenario.”
“You’re wrong. Adelaide and I are serious. I’ve asked her to move in with me,” I said.
“No shit!” James said, walking into the kitchen.
“James Bancroft, really?” my mother scolded him for his choice of words.
“Yes, really,” I said, expecting him to give me shit about it.
“That’s cool. I’m happy for you. I like her, or at least what I know of her,” he said.
My mother let out a very audible sigh. I gave her a look, daring her to say something negative. I was done with the negative. I wanted her to understand I was serious about Adelaide and wouldn’t allow anything disparaging to be said about her.
“I’m not going to lie, I am surprised, but I’m also happy for you. Congratulations,” she said, quickly recovering from her initial reaction.
“Thank you. Mom, I need you to understand this is the real thing for me. I would appreciate it if you could accept her for who she is and not judge her. She works so hard and she is such a good person, I hope you will give her a chance. I won’t bring her around if you can’t accept her. I won’t subject her to that,” I said firmly.
“I like her. You can bring her around anytime,” James offered.
I smirked. “Thanks. I think that puts you on the list next to Natasha. The verdict is still out on Jack, and Grayson can kiss my ass.”
“Mason,” my mother scolded. “He was only looking out for you as well.”
“Grayson is my brother, not my father. I don’t need him sticking his big nose into my business. I don’t know why he thinks he gets the right to judge me or my decisions,” I growled.
“No one is judging you. It’s called looking out for you. We all care about you and want what’s best for you,” she insisted.
“And you don’t believe Adelaide is the best for me?” I asked pointedly.
She looked away. “I don’t know.”
“No, you don’t know because you don’t know her.”
“I’d like to change that,” she replied.
“We’ll see about that. I don’t know if I can trust you to be polite,” I told her.
“Oh stop.”
I slid off the stool and gave her a quick hug. “I have to get going.”
“Where are you off to? It’s awful early for you,” she said.
“I tend to get up early these days. I have a business investment to devote my time to,” I quipped.
I could see she wanted to say something. It was right there on her lips, but she kept her mouth shut. I shook James’ hand.
“I’ll walk you out,” he offered.
We made it just outside the front door when he stopped me.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I just wanted you to know I really am happy for you. I knew it would happen eventually. Mom will come around. You know how she can be. She doesn’t think there’s a woman out there that’s good enough for any of her boys. She worries about you probably more than the rest of us,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “Bullshit. She could care less.”
He shook his head. “No, she knows you need the least amount of coddling and care, but she does still care, and she does worry about you, especially because you don’t talk to her. She’s left to make up stories in her head and she has a very good imagination.”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t give her the right to be so damn judgmental,” I grumbled.
“Tell Adelaide I said hi. I want to see this coffee shop you’ve invested in. The very fact you’re out of bed before noon is a good sign. You must be really into this. Anything that has managed to grab your attention for this long has to be good,” he teased.
“You should come by. I think we’re set to open in the next couple of weeks. I’ll text and let you know, but you can’t bring Mom,” I warned.
He laughed. “Got it. Take care, big brother.”
I left, getting in my car and pulling down the long driveway. I did love my mom. I wanted her to be a part of my life. I envisioned myself marrying Adelaide one day. I knew she didn’t have a family and wanted to be able to make her a part of mine. I wanted my mom to be a part of our wedding and our lives together. I headed for the coffee shop, anxious to tell Adelaide about my very busy and productive morning.
I smiled, thinking about how happy she would be. And proud. She was going to be very proud of me for finally talking to my mother. She would ask questions about the details and probably wouldn’t be all that thrilled to know I hadn’t exactly made up with her, but it was a start. That’s what she had asked for; the first step. I’d taken it. And now I could start planning for our future.
Chapter 59
Adelaide
I positioned a table about four inches from where it had been. I knew it probably made no real difference, but to me it did. I wanted plenty of room for myself and my people to move around the room. I didn’t want to be hip checking someone’s arm and dumping coffee all over them.
“I love it. I know I’ve said that about a hundred times, but I absolutely love it. I love the lighting. I love the color of the walls and the dark tables. It’s sleek and airy and absolutely gorgeous!” Deanna squealed.
I looked around. “It is nice, huh? I never would have imagined it could ever look like this, but it really turned out well.”
“What do you think Mason has to tell you?” she asked.
I shrugged a shoulder. “I have no idea. I know he’s trying to get that liquor license. Maybe he got it.”
“Are you getting excited for the big move?” she asked.
I spun around to look at her. “I haven’t even given my notice to my landlord,” I groaned.
“What? You’re not moving in with him?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, yes, but I don’t know.”
“Addy! What the hell? You’re supposed to be moving in three weeks!” she screeched.
“I know, I know,” I moaned.
“
Adelaide, if you don’t want to move in with him, then you need to tell him. Don’t lead him on,” she warned.
“I’m not trying to. It’s just, I don’t know, every time I think about submitting my notice to my landlord, I freak out,” I told her.
“Why?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Are you going to move in with him?” she asked pointedly.
“Yes, I think so.”
She nodded her head, looking thoughtful. “Are you keeping the apartment in case things fall apart with you and Mason?” she asked softly.
I winced. “I don’t know. I mean, moving in, sharing a life, that’s huge. That’s a big deal. It terrifies me.”
“It’s understandable you have cold feet, but don’t you think you should talk to him about this? Maybe he’s got cold feet. He might have taken the plunge without really thinking things through and now that he’s had a minute to think about it, he might be freaking out a little too,” she suggested.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. He’s so excited about the idea. He talks about it nonstop.”
“It’s only been a day. Stall him, tell him you have to give a two-month notice,” she said.
I rolled my eyes. “He’ll just go to the landlord and demand I be let out of my lease.”
“True.”
“What am I going to do? What if we move in together and realize we aren’t compatible?” I whined.
“You are worrying about something that hasn’t happened,” she said with a sigh.
“I’ve seen it. You’ve seen it. People think everything is all great until they live together. And then every little thing drives them crazy. They fight and argue and complain all the time. They end up hating each other. I mean, seriously, remember when you and I lived together for a few months?” I reminded her.
She threw her head back and laughed. “We fought like sisters.”
“Exactly and as soon as I got my own place, everything went back to normal. I’m a lot to handle,” I told her.
“I don’t think you’re a lot to handle,” she argued.
