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“I missed you,” I confessed. I hadn’t realized it until the moment I said it. Sure, I wasn’t in Colorado like Asher was, but this week had been the first one I hadn’t seen my mom at all. I was homesick despite never having left town.
“I missed you, too. Now, go wash your hands. I’m makingobleas, and you can handle thearequipe.”
“Putting me to work as soon as I’m in the door?” I teased her and headed to the sink.
“Of course. You’re a college student now, right? Life is like a vacation?”
“Definitely not.”
My mom busied herself at the counter, taking ingredients out of the cupboards. “And how has the diner been this week?”
“Fine. The usual.”
“And the country club?”
I shrugged. The Dunes made me think about Soren and Colette somehow.
My mom, perceptive as ever, registered my reluctance.
I felt her still behind me. “Do you like it?”
“Sure, it pays well.”
She was quiet, and I didn’t have to see her expression to know she was worried. My mom’s worst nightmare had always been that her kids would end up following in her footsteps and having a hard life, full of manual labor.
“The clients can be…difficult in those kinds of places,” my mom started. “Your brother has had trouble, but he’s a man. It’s different.”
“Has it been difficult for you working in those kinds of places?” I turned to my mom, suddenly wondering why I’d never asked herthis before. I’d seen firsthand the sleazy, predatory way the men at The Dunes acted. Had that ever happened to her at any of the high-end properties she worked in?
She gave me a tight smile and shook her head. I knew that expression well. It was the one she made when she wasn’t telling the whole truth.
“People who go to The Dunes aren’t like us,mija.They walk in a different world, and the rules are different for them. Never get confused about that…we can look in, but we can never enter there.”
Her words gave me pause. They were too close to the bone. She didn’t even know about me and Beckett. She’d freak.
“Was my dad like that? From that world?” I wondered.
She never talked about him. It was a forbidden topic in our house. It had never bothered me as much as it had bothered Asher. Still, I was curious.
My mom shrugged. “That doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you know how to keep yourself out of the trouble that rich people bring.”
“I can handle them. I’m never alone there, we’re usually a team of about six. Don’t worry about me. You know I’m always watching my back.” I patted her arm. “It’s a good thing for me.”
She was quiet for a long time. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. Don’t be upset. Everything is good.”
She didn’t seem like she believed me, but she let me off the hook, regardless.
“Vale.”
Her phone vibrated on the counter, and she washed her hands quickly and took the call.
“Mrs. Linton?” She stepped away to talk.
I continued my work on the food on the table.
She returned after a few minutes, her usually animated face pale and drawn.
