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“And you?” I looked over at Luna who was still blushing deeply.
“I don’t want to talk about school,” she shrugged looking ahead.
Letting out a loud exaggerated sigh, I shrugged. “Okay, but I was this close to convincing your uncle to let you and your friend group go slightly unsupervised at this festival this weekend.”
Luna’s face lit up as we turned right to go back down the busy hill and out of the school gates. She reached over and touched my arm.
“Are you serious?” She asked.
“Very,” I remarked. “But if the conversation is just too hard to have…”
“No!” She replied excitedly. “I’ll tell you!”
For nearly twenty minutes I listened to my step-nieces talk about everything from fashion to boys. Luna did most of the talking and I found myself wondering if I’d opened a can of worms. Either way, I was happy that I was finally getting more than a sneer from her.
Entering the house through the side door to the kitchen, I found my mother-in-law standing in the kitchen and nearly jumped out of my skin. My hands immediately felt itchy, the keys digging into the soft flesh of my palms.
“Mrs. Tanaka!”
She raised a disapproving brow at me as the girls filled in behind me. They were so excited to see their grandmother and rushed into her arms.
“Grandmother Rei,” Maggie practically knocked the woman down.
“Girls, girls,” the other woman laughed, dropping kisses on their heads. “Go and change your clothes. Your uncle has permitted me to take you to the cinema tonight.”
I felt frozen and watched as the girls bound off to do as they were told. When I couldn’t hear their footsteps any longer, I dropped my keys onto the counter.
“Is Ashton not home?” I peered around the woman.
She’d made herself at home, a glass of wine rested on the kitchen island. “He’s your husband, shouldn’t you know that information?”
Unsure of how to take her tone, I bit at my lip. “I was working.”
“At the job, he told you not to take,” Rei Tanaka made a tsking sound with her tongue and then folded her arms over her chest.
Taking a deep breath, I replied. “I wanted the job, Mrs. Tanaka. And also, I don’t want your son dictating every aspect of my life.”
Her eyes seemed to narrow, and she looked me up and down. “My son is one of the wealthiest men in the world. It doesn’t look good that his wife is working with other men at a stable.”
I could feel my cheeks turning red and I wanted to change the subject. “Ashton wanted you to take the girls to a movie.”
“He did, he wanted you to have a break.” She picked up the wine glass and drank some.
Before I could respond, I heard the front door opening. In a few moments, Ashton had walked into the kitchen looking moody as hell. The least he could have done was give me a heads-up about his mom being here.
He immediately went to her and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Mother.”
“My boy, I’m just waiting for Maggie and Luna.”
He stared between the two of us and finally, I shook my head annoyed. That drink was really calling my name now.
Moving to go past him, he reached out for my arm and stopped me. “Is something the matter?”
“No,” I said simply.
Your mother hates me, I thought.
“Okay well, I was thinking we could have dinner together tonight since the girls are going with my mom.”
