The Boyfriend Experience (The Boyfriend Experience 1)

“Don’t focus on the past and things you can’t change, Ginny,” Evie said, hoping someday she’d be able to take her own advice and apply it to her and Eric, once her heart had time to mend. “Just keep looking toward the future and all the good things waiting to happen.”

Ginny grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight, her gaze filled with gratitude. “Thank you, Evie. For everything.”

Evie knew what she meant . . . the makeover and for letting her talk about her family and even the advice Evie had issued. “You’re welcome.”

If Evie was able to do anything for Eric, helping his mother repair her relationship with her son would be her gift to him.

Eric couldn’t stop looking over at the woman sitting in the passenger seat of his car, still trying to process how Evie had taken his mother’s plain, dowdy appearance and had turned her into a stunning, radiant, more confident person in the span of three hours.

When he’d walked into the salon at five p.m. to pick up his mom, he’d done a double take when his gaze had skimmed by her sitting in the reception area because he hadn’t recognized her at first glance. This was the pretty mother he remembered, and seeing her so happy after being sad and depressed for so long was the best feeling ever.

It felt like a new start for his mom, and he owed it all to Evie.

Evie was pleasant when he’d thanked her for fitting his mother into her schedule, and while she smiled on the outside as she accepted his credit card for payment and ran it through her system, the sentiment didn’t fully reach her eyes. She continued to talk to his mother as if the two of them were now the best of friends, while keeping any conversation with him as short as possible.

Frustration welled inside him. He wanted to reach out and touch Evie, just to get some kind of real reaction from her. To see that familiar desire flare in her eyes, or her lips part longingly as she looked into his gaze and made him feel like he was all she needed to be happy. But that wasn’t true, and since he had no right to put his hands on her, he kept them at his sides.

The makeover that Evie had given his mother was more than just a physical transformation. As he kept sneaking glances at his mother as he drove her home, he marveled at the smile on her glossy lips, the self-esteem that radiated off her, and the optimism that made him hopeful that this was a turning point in her life. A good, positive one.

But the closer they got to where his mother lived, the more her smile faded away. By the time they walked into the house, he felt a tangible, somber shift in her and wondered if his mom was already backsliding and immersing herself in the past again, in the memories that surrounded her on a daily basis.

He followed her into the kitchen, where she poured herself a glass of iced tea. “Mom . . . is everything okay?”

After taking a sip of her drink, she set the glass down on the counter and sighed before facing him. “No, everything isn’t okay. I have some things I need to say to you. Things that should have been resolved a long time ago but I just wasn’t ready to face reality. And that reality includes how I abandoned you after your sister died.” Her voice cracked with emotion.

Eric sagged back against the counter, shocked by his mother’s insight, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to have this conversation with her. “Mom—”

“I haven’t been a great mother the past thirteen years,” she went on, ignoring his attempt to cut her off, clearly needing to get this off her chest. “And I know I hurt you with my indifference, while you’ve always been here for me, regardless of my depression, my grief, or my anger over losing Trisha.”

“It was so hard for me, too, Mom,” he said, his own throat raspy. “She was your daughter, but she was my sister and my twin and I lost such a big part of me when she died.” He didn’t need to dump everything on his mom or rehash things that would be painful, but she needed to know he’d been affected, too.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice contrite. “I think when I saw Patty at work, it made me realize everything I’d lost. Not just Trisha, but friendships I’d had for decades, your father, hobbies I once loved doing . . . and I knew if I didn’t make changes, I could possibly lose you, too, because what reason would you have to stick around when I was taking more from you than you were getting in return? And the thought of us eventually drifting apart would completely devastate me.”