“Well, that’s disappointing to hear.” She sighed, crossing one long leg over the other as she looked down at her fingernails.
Okay, he’d bite. “Why’s that disappointing?”
“Because everyone on both sides of the family have settled down and found someone except for you. You have to be lonely,” she explained, looking back up at him.
“I’m anything but lonely.” Arik barked out a calculated laugh, hiding the complexity of such a simple statement. More so than ever, his reply seemed less truthful.
Perhaps loneliness did drive him toward the artist. Could that explain his insane mental state over the last week?
“Gage also told me about the young man you brought to the resort, the one who wore the fur coat and boots.”
Fuck that ass wipe cousin of his. It was two thousand measly fucking dollars. And Gage just guaranteed he’d never see a dime of that commission now.
Arik counted to ten before he answered. Looking down at the cufflink fastener that he’d missed connecting three times, Arik vowed that somehow, someday, he’d get Gage back for this one.
“Clearly Gage is henpecked. He has no life except to talk about mine.”
His mother exhaled loudly and stood, stepping closer to Arik. “Beth’s pregnant, have you heard?”
“No, I hadn’t. What number child is that?” he asked irritably. Beth was the sister closest in age to him. She was the CFO of Layne Construction and guarded their money like a hawk, while at the same time she seemed to spit out children about every other year.
His mother knew him too well so she ignored his question. He was being spiteful. Of course, he knew how many children his sister had. Arik slipped on his shoes then went for his suit coat as she leaned against the dresser, watching as he shrugged on his jacket.
“You’re very handsome. You’ll be the most handsome man in the room tonight. Well, besides your father of course. But I’m sure you’re the best-looking of all my children.”
He rolled his eyes, straightened each sleeve under the coat, and then reached for his wallet. “Mom, that line doesn’t work anymore since we all compared notes last Thanksgiving and found out you say that to all of us. You even say that to Aunt Connie’s children. And all the grandchildren.”
She laughed at her secret being outed like that and kept going, completely unfazed. “You added some blond back to your hair. I like it. You look tanned too. You’re very handsome.”
“Thank you.” He stood in front of her, placing his phone in his breast pocket. “Am I escorting you down?”
She stayed rooted in her spot against the dresser and looked him straight in the eyes. “So there’s no truth about this artist?”
“None that would concern you in any way,” he said, using his poker face when he answered.
Unexpectedly, her face lit up as she excitedly pushed away from the dresser. “Then there’s some truth. Oh, honey!” She reached up, holding each bicep and kissed his cheek. “I’m so excited. I can’t wait to tell Connie. We suspected Gage may be toying with us to…”
Arik cut her off and lost all pretense. “Mom, wait before you go and plan a wedding. He’s shown zero signs of interest in me, and trust me, I’ve tried. Honestly, I’m not fronting when I say, even if he did show some signs of attraction, I’m not interested in settling down at the moment. I don’t even know if something like that is for me. I like my life.” He nodded as he spoke to reinforce his words. She smiled patiently at him until she used her thumb to remove her lipstick from the side of his face.
“You keep telling yourself that, Arik. But when it’s right, you’ll know, and you won’t be able to walk away so easily,” she said and smiled warmly again like she held all the knowledge in the world. After a moment, he rolled his eyes and turned away, deciding she had very selective hearing.
“You didn’t answer. Am I escorting you down? I need to go now.” Arik looked down at his watch. He had a solid hour before the opening, which gave him time to field any problems that might have arisen since he’d spent most of the afternoon upstairs.
“No. Your father’s waiting in the bar for me before we have dinner. I have to grab my purse before I go down. I got side-tracked.”
“Oh, Dad’s gonna love that,” he teased, remembering how many times, as a child, they’d all had to wait patiently while she’d chatted endlessly with whomever she’d found to talk to.
“He’s used to it by now.” She laughed that knowing little chuckle, then gave him a bright grin as she walked around him toward the door. “A, I can’t wait to meet your artist. I’ll see you downstairs.”
His parents were among the very few people who had access to this floor and permanent rooms designated just for their use at the resort. If he remembered correctly, the whole family planned to make their move to Dallas this next week. She had to be under a tremendous strain in preparing for something that massive, but he could never tell in the way she carried herself. He respected that so much.