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“You’re up early,” Tammy said.
“I wanted to get an early start on some layouts.” I blinked between her and Melanie. “What about you guys? Do you and Mrs. Stewart have plans?”
“I swear, Selena, you can call me Mel,” her mom said again for about the billionth time.
I sighed. “I’m sorry. You can take the girl out of West Virginia, but you can’t take the West Virginia out of the girl. I feel like it’s hard enough to stop saying ‘ma’am’ or ‘sir’ up here in NYC. I can’t just call my mom’s friend ‘Mel.’ It’d be too weird.”
Melanie shrugged and straightened her perfectly coiffed golden ponytail behind her shoulders. “Well, whenever you want to, I’m cool with it. I want to be that fun mom.”
Tammy giggled. “You are. Fun moms take you for Sak’s shopping sprees.”
“Ooh, that explains it,” I said.
“What?” Tammy asked, crossing her arms over her chest, acting mock offended. “I could be up before seven a.m.”
“Not if a sale or a threat at gun point isn’t involved.”
“That’s completely not true. Mom, tell her she’s wrong,” Tammy replied.
Mrs. Stewart chuckled. “I am going to take the fifth on that one. I had to bribe you with pancakes to get you to consent to be up early this morning.”
“I thought you wanted to be the fun mom?” Tammy pointed out.
Mrs. Stewart sighed. Then she turned off the burner and moved the pancakes all to a stack on one plate. “I feel like even if I did every irresponsible thing I could think of, from dragging you to every concert, theme park, and fashion show on three continents, then I’d still be the more boring parent next to your dad.”
I was glad I hadn’t drunk any of the juice laid out on the table yet. If I’d been sipping anything, I would have coughed it back out once Brandon was mentioned. Oh shit. It wasn’t like anyone knew what was going on, except possibly his secretary, Gina. Nothing was yet, exactly. We’d had an intimate moment and a fun time at the fashion show. Aft
er the dressing room, we hadn’t had sex or even done anything afterward. For all I knew, he’d be willing to throw me back to the sharks. I liked the way he made me feel, but I knew all about Brandon Duncan’s reputation. Who didn’t? I knew I was likely to end up as discarded as Tammy’s mom.
Another reason I should have said no last night. Another reason to cut and run.
“You’re not boring,” I said, finally finding my voice. “You’re great.”
Tammy nodded. “Like when you let me borrow your black Am Ex today? Totally gonna be a blast.”
Her mom nodded and set the plate before us. I grabbed a few pancakes; I might as well eat something before the work day started. My stomach was already gnawing at itself; running around as an intern took a lot of energy.
Besides, a traitorous voice in the back of my head said. If Brandon wants anything else today, then you’ll need all the strength you can get.
I shook my head and tried to make sure I didn’t let any more of those thoughts bubble to the surface. The last thing I wanted was to let my secret come out.
“Besides,” I offered, trying to cut my pieces up as fast as possible. “You’re great to be around.”
“I guess, girls, I’m just being paranoid. I heard that your father has a new girlfriend. One of the people who went to the Swagger part for Vera Wang said he had some girl half his age on his arm.”
“Which,” Tammy said, her tone clipped, “is why you married Bert in the first place. Dad’s just gonna be Dad. I love you both. It’s just he’s going to try and pretend he’s not fifty for about the rest of his life.”
Her mom snorted. “I can see Brandon now with a walker at the old folks’ home telling some young nurse he’s only thirty. That’s so true.”
I forced myself to giggle and then added, “See? Not a big deal. Don’t worry about anything, Mrs. Stewart. I’m sure that it’s all just rumors again.”
She shrugged. “I shouldn’t let it bother me, but I resent how he works through those girls like tissue paper. The thought of him one day dating someone literally Tammy’s age, or younger, makes me want to throw things.”
Well, at least I’m older than Tammy by a few months.
Sighing, I set my plate aside and made a huge show of checking my cell phone. “Well, I have to get going. Like I said, always a layout to do or coffee to fetch.”
Tammy frowned at me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
