I had no idea why either one of them would tell her that at this stage, let alone how Alyssa even knew about Nate.
“Run that by me again.” I had to have heard that wrong. Right?
She let out a chuckle. Anytime she could catch me off guard, she thought it was a riot.
Yeah. Real funny, Ma.
“Why the fuck are they gossiping about my freaking love life? Toyou?”
The way she cackled on the other end made me feel like I missed some vital piece of information in the conversation somewhere. “Apparently, the two of them get together once a month for some sort of girls thing where they have drinks and gossip. Your name came up, and Victoria was telling her about some new man in your life.”
Shehmmphed, obviously upset at having been left out of the gossip as I groaned at having been dragged into the gossip.
“There’s nothing to tell right now. We went out for one dinner. That’s all. I like him, but I’m not sure if it’s actually going to go anywhere.” I wasn’t going to tell her I knew it was mutual, or that he’d beenenthusiasticin his pursuit of me.
On one hand, I didn’t want to encourage her, but also, with my history, I didn’t want to concern her with something that was probably harmless.
There was some shuffling around on the other end of the phone and I could tell Ma was getting comfortable. Oh boy. I was in trouble.
“But you like him?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I muttered. “I’m not sure it’s going to go anywhere. He’s nice, but we’re just… different.”
“Different?” She said the word like it was a foreign concept, as I made my way to the kitchen and started pulling out ingredients to make some breakfast.
I let out a sigh. There was no easy way to get out of this. She was like a dog with a damn bone. Or a fucking bloodhound.
“It was one date. Don’t make it into more than it was.” Hopefully, I sounded more confident and stern than I felt. But by the sound she made, I wasn’t sure she agreed with me.
“Hmm. Well, to hear Victoria talk about it, she just made it seem likemore, that’s all.” There was no missing the hopeful tone in her voice. And it made me feel like an asshole.
I didn’t answer her for a moment, putting the phone on speaker and leaving it on the counter so I could concentrate on scrambling my eggs. Because, a gourmet cook, I was not. I’d be lucky if they were not black or rubbery, and edible by the time I got done torturing them on the stove.
Sighing, I bit the bullet as I poured the egg and milk mixture into the heated pan. “Ma. You know I love you. And I know there is a guy out there for me, and I know I’ll find him. Eventually. I’m just not sure Nate is the one.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the spatula in my sink full of dishes and hurried to wash it so I could flip the eggs before they could burn.
“Well, if he’s a nice guy and he treats you right, then I think you deserve that, even if he isn’tthe one. You should still let yourself enjoy it while it lasts.”
The innuendo could have been spotted from the moon. And that was a huge pile ofnope. No way was I standing there,listening to my mother talk about my sex life, or make implications about it.
My cheeks heated, thinking about the things Nate and I had gotten up to, about the way I called him Daddy, or how much I loved the way he got rough when he fucked me, holding me down, his hand on my throat. Somehow, I didn’t think my mother would be making jokes if she knew the truth.
“Please, just drop it.” I scraped at the eggs a little harder than necessary, but I’d rather take out my frustration on them than Ma, who I knew meant well.
The silence on the other end made my heart drop. I didn’t mean to upset her. I just didn’t want her to expect more from my situationship with Nate, because I wasn’t even sure what to expect from it. Besides a mess.
An ashy smell pulled my attention back to the task at hand. With a start, I looked back at the stove and yelped when I realized a thick, gray smoke wafted up from the frying pan.
Shit!
I grabbed the pan and turned the burner off as I dashed toward the sink.
“Hold on, Ma!” I shouted toward the phone as I dropped the pan in the basin and turned on the water.
She chuckled knowingly. “Burn your breakfast again?”
A low grumble emanated from my chest as I tried to figure out why I was so fucking bad at cooking. It was a devastating character flaw, knowing I could burn water. Unfortunately, it was as embarrassing as it was true.
