Internally, I cringe. “Mom, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I just want to forget about it.”
“Oh, no, no, no.” She shakes her head vigorously. “You never come to visit, you are always too busy, and yet you suddenly turn up out of the blue all upset. You don’t get to leave without telling me what’s going on. If you don’t, I’m obviously going to be worried that it’s something very serious and you’ll never get rid of me.”
I laugh because I know that she’s only half kidding. “Mom, honestly, I can promise you it’s nothing serious.”
“You don’t have to hide things from me.” She cocks her head and eyes me curiously. “You know that, right?”
I roll my eyes and allow my gaze to drift back out the window, but the urge to give in to what she wants is almost overwhelming. I just need someone to talk to and she is a good listener.
“Mom, I screwed up, that’s all. I made a whole bunch of mistakes and now I don’t know what to do.”
“Mistakes? What do you mean mistakes? What have you done? Have you murdered someone?”
A laugh bursts free from me. “No, I didn’t kill anyone. Nothing quite that dramatic.”
“Okay, so no one has been killed, that’s a relief. It can’t be that bad, can it?”
I decide to give in, to just tell her. It’s easier and I do need help. “Okay, so you know about the merger?”
“Oh, all the business with Lace Enterprises? Yes, I think I understand it.”
“Well, Carter Lace is a bit of a nightmare to be honest. He’s arrogant and annoying, rude too. It’s almost like he doesn’t know how to speak to women, I have really had a difficult time of things with him.”
“Sounds like he has some struggles himself. Have you tried to get to know him?”
“Mom!” I exclaim, shocked. “You aren’t supposed to be on his side. You should be on mine.”
“Wait, I didn’t realize that this was a thing with sides. Of course I’m on yours. I was just pointing out an observation, that’s all. A thing I would assume from what you told me. I wasn’t trying to start something.”
“Okay, well whatever.” I roll my eyes and try to keep my fierceness inside. “He’s a jerk…”
“Is that why you’re here? Because he’s been an asshole to you, because I can kick some ass.”
“I don’t think having my mommy defend me will really help me.”
“It won’t be like that! I won’t embarrass you or anything. So, is that what happened?”
“Not really, no. I could handle that, even if he did wind me up.”
“Okay, so it wasn’t because he was being a jerk. What was it?”
When she gives me a look I feel like she is piercing right through to the pit of my soul. I can’t hide anything from her. “Something sort of happened between us, and now it’s really awkward.”
“How has it been awkward?” Mom doesn’t miss a beat to acknowledge how foolish I was.
“Well, I don’t know if it will be awkward to be honest because I ran away right afterwards.”
“Oh… I see. Why did you do that? Th
at seems like a crazy thing to do.”
I shrug my shoulders. I don’t really have an answer for her. “I don’t know. I was just all confused.”
“Well, you can’t let confusion get in the way of your business. I mean, you are both adults, aren’t you? Can’t you just overcome any awkwardness and get on with it? Does it need to be strained?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “It just feels really difficult to me. I know that it shouldn’t have happened.”
“Why not? Because you work together? Why should that stop you?”