Page 67
“Hey,” she said, clearly offended that her mother wasn’t standing up for her. “That’s not true.”
“Marly. It’s very much true. You go in with everything lined up the way you want it and when it doesn’t happen that way, you change course and find another way to get them in that line.”
Kind of like what Colson had said.
Dang.
Was she that predictable?
“Fine,” she conceded. “I do that. He noticed it too. He left on Saturday. He’s got Bella and life is just complicated.”
“For him or you?”
“More him than me. I think. But we are getting there. I went to see Regan on Sunday.”
“Oh, now I know you’re struggling. I’m going to assume it’s more a conversation that I don’t need to know about.”
“Probably best,” she said. She didn’t normally talk to her mother about sex and men. Not like she had with Regan.
“Then what happened?”
“I reached out on Sunday. I wasn’t going to wait for him. There was no reason. We had lunch today and almost picked up where we left off on Saturday. In a good way. The right amount of teasing and tension is there. He was polite and considerate.”
“Even if you didn’t want him to be?” her mother asked, a smirk filling her face.
“I know better. I’m in the public eye.”
“But you’re being seen in public with him. I’m sure you’ve been noticed.”
“Oh, that’s another thing. Councilman Gray saw us talking in the parking lot. Watched us, which showed it was more than a business lunch, but we didn’t kiss. Nothing like that.”
“And he approached you to discuss it?” her mother asked.
“Of course. Had to stick his nose in where it didn’t belong. Said he thought it was work, wanted to know who it was and I didn’t tell him. I said I’m entitled to lunch and a personal life.”
“Good for you standing your ground.”
“There are things that don’t need to be discussed. I did nothing inappropriate and never would.”
“You can tip your chin down, Marly, before you pull a muscle. Anyone who knows you knows that. But Derek obviously said something to get under your skin and how he used to do it to me.”
“What did he say to you?” she asked.
“Nope. You tell me what he said first.”
She blew a breath out. “He said he backed me when others didn’t.”
“Bullshit,” her mother called out. “Don’t let him do that shit, and the next time I see him, I’ll make sure he knows my thoughts on it.”
She smiled. Her mother would do it and do it in a professional way that most couldn’t mimic with hundreds of years of training.
“He said people worried about me being single more than being young.”
Her mother almost snarled. “That’s the same line he gave me when I had Zander. That motherhood might interfere with my job.”
“Asshole,” she said.
“You can’t get past some people’s thoughts, but don’t let him get to you. You’re young, you’re smart, you’re entitled to have a life. It’s not as if Colson is someone who isn’t part of a respected institution.”
