Billionaire Mountain Man

It was from my mother, all three of the texts.

You guys should drive down here this weekend!

I only bothered to read the first one and then I tossed my phone back in my bag, but not before I turned it on vibrate.

“Sorry,” I said. “My mother’s been totally harassing me about coming down there,” I said, sliding my phone back into my purse. “She’s acting like it’s the only thing in the world that she wants.”

Cole smiled. “Maybe it is.”

I rolled my eyes. “I highly doubt that. I haven’t come out and said so, but there’s no way in hell that we’re going down there. It’s like the last thing I ever want to do.”

“Really? I thought your mom seemed pretty nice.”

“She’s all right, but I can only take so much of her. It’s really more because of Bill. I have zero interest in ever doing anything with him.”

Cole nodded. “That’s understandable. But that’s probably also hard for your mother to hear.”

“I’ll tell you what was hard for her to hear—the fact that the whole thing happened to begin with. In fact, when I tried to tell her, she basically laughed in my face. She didn’t believe me. And then said I had an overactive imagination.”

“That’s a hard one,” Cole said. “I mean, don’t think for a second that I’m saying I condone what your stepfather tried to do, because I sure as hell don’t. But I can also understand that your mother wants to sustain a relationship with you, and she’s excited that you’re seeing someone and wants to be a part of that.”

“I’m not really interested in her being a part of that.”

Cole raised his eyebrows. “Do you really mean that?”

I considered this. “I don’t know,” I said. “I just wish she’d be more receptive to me about what it was that happened with Bill and me.”

“And if she was? How would that change things? I’m just being the devil’s advocate here.”

“I don’t know, it would make me feel like she was actually listening to what it was I had to say, being concerned over something that had happened to me. Or almost happened to me.”

“Look, I don’t know your mom that well. She seemed like a nice person, though, and she does seem like she cares about you a lot and wants to see you happy. I’m not saying that I think you guys need to suddenly be best friends or anything, but if she’s making the effort to sustain a relationship with you, then maybe it’s worth at least trying.”

“Maybe,” I said, though even I could hear the uncertainty in my voice. I didn’t really want to be having this conversation right now, when we were sitting here at this fancy restaurant. “Anyway,” I said, “Can we talk about something else? Anything else? How do you think Ben and Declan are doing?”

“Oh, they’re probably completely destroying the house,” Cole said nonchalantly. “There’s probably a pillow fight happening of epic proportions.” He laughed. “Ben’s actually really good with kids. Maybe because he’s basically like a giant kid himself.”

“He was saying that he had planned on the two of you being bachelors for life,” I said.

“He said that? When?”

“Tonight. When you were up in the bathroom with Declan.”

“Did he say anything else?”

I thought back, trying to remember. “Yeah... I don’t totally remember though. Just that he never pictured you with a kid, I think.”

It was hard to read the expression on Cole’s face, but I was getting the feeling that he was thinking Ben had said something to me that he shouldn’t have.

“I think that’s pretty normal,” I ventured. “I know plenty of parents that are still surprised sometimes to realize that they have a child they’re completely responsible for. I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if I felt that way. If I had my own kid, of course.”

Cole had this kind of odd, pensive look on his face, but then the server came back over with our wine and asked us if we were ready to order, which we weren’t since we hadn’t even looked at the menu yet.

So we busied ourselves doing that; I decided on the seared sea bass, and Cole got the roasted rack of lamb. We both got salads and decided to split the cheese platter. Luckily, the conversation did not go back to my mother, and despite the fact that I could feel my phone vibrating in my purse, we had a great time.

When it came time for dessert, I felt so stuffed, but the warm chocolate lava cake with almond ice cream just sounded too good to pass up, so we decided to split it.

“Ohhhh, this is heavenly,” Cole said, his eyes closing as he took a bite. “You have to try this. And quick, before I eat the whole thing. Here, try it like this, with the ice cream.”