Total pages in book: 183
Estimated words: 174715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 874(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 874(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
“I couldn’t leave things like they were. You know that.”
“I have to go inside. I need to know what is going on with her. I need space, Cole.”
“No, you don’t,” he says, and the next thing I know, his mouth is on mine in a fiery kiss that steals my breath, and steals all of me. That’s the problem with Cole: He consumes me. “You have tonight,” he says, when his lips part from mine. “Tomorrow we talk. Tomorrow you’re back with me.”
He turns and heads down the stairs. I lean on the wall. What am I doing? What are we doing?
Chapter forty-eight
Lori
Iforce myself to straighten and enter the apartment, shutting the door on everything but my mother. She remains sitting at the kitchen table, no doubt waiting on me, and she’s a smart woman. There is no doubt in my mind that she has questions I have to answer. Inhaling, I cross the tiny room and join her. “What’s the real story with you two?” she asks.
“He’s my boss, mom. The end. Why did you want to talk tonight?”
“I was going to talk to you about meeting Joe. I think it’s time.”
“Time?” I swallow hard. “Really? Is it serious?”
“It’s good,” she says. “I want you to know him. Maybe you both can come by and see me at the hospital during one of my breaks? Or even coffee tomorrow? That way it won’t interfere with your work.”
“Yes. Of course. Just tell me when.”
“Good. I’m excited for you to meet him.” She reaches for my hand and squeezes. “I know you have to go to bed. You and working that restaurant tonight. That’s too much.”
She’s letting me off the hook. I’m not sure what to think. “I made a grand for us tonight, but I actually am tired.” I stand up, taking the exit she’s offered me. “Night, mom,” I say, heading toward the bedroom.
“Lori,” my mother calls out.
I turn and look at her. “Yes?”
“I don’t know why Cole was here tonight, but I know it wasn’t about work.”
“He’s my boss.” It’s a ridiculous, obvious reply, and the three words I’ve used as an excuse for too much.
“Do you know that people used to tell me that your father looked at me like I was the sun, the moon, and the world? He looked at me like Cole looks at you.”
I press my hand to my face. “He’s my boss,” I repeat, saying those stupid words again.
“Come sit down and talk to me.”
“Okay,” I whisper, and I do. I wobble back to her and I sit down.
“Is your job on the line?” she asks.
“No,” I assure her quickly. “No, Cole is a good man. My job will never be on the line, as long as I do it, and do it well.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
This is my mother and I just blurt out what I feel. “He’s rich. He’s established. I’m neither.”
“I repeat,” she says. “What’s the problem?”
“He wants to save us.”
“You think that if you lean on him then you’ll forget how to stand on your own two feet,” she assumes. “Because you think that’s what I did.”
“No, mom. I don’t think—”
She holds up a hand. “Don’t coddle me. I get I could have done some things differently. I admit that, but Cole isn’t your father and you aren’t me. I don’t know Cole, but I will give you general thoughts. What you want and need is a man who lifts you up and doesn’t hold you down, and his money or power or success doesn’t determine if he does that for you. But you know if he does or does not.”
“He always lifts me up,” I say without hesitation. “He doesn’t coddle me, using your own words. He pushes me. He forces me to be better and I think I am better because of that. He’s the reason we have this six month scholarship option.”
“Okay then,” she says. “That’s good. Moving on, my general observation is that to be with a strong man, most women either become submissive or they’re confident enough to know they can hold their own, and so they do. You’re not submissive, but you don’t seem to believe you can hold your own with Cole.”
“That’s not it.”
“Then what is it?”
I hold my hands out. “Look at where we live.”
“And?”
“The first thing he said when we got to the hallway was that he was getting us out of here.”
“He cares about you. He wants to take care of you.”
“Getting us out of this place is not a reason to move in with him.”
“He didn’t ask until he saw this place? Is that what worries you?”
“Yes. He wants me with him all the time. He does. I see that. He gave me a key. It just feels like seeing how we live pushed him to take the next step to make it official. That’s not why I want to take the next step and that’s why I didn’t want him to come here.” Every feeling I have felt this night caves in on me. “Even if we could really be together, and we can’t—I can’t live with my boss—how will I know, how will he know, that his motivation is me, and us, and not our situation?”