Page 39 of I Choose You

“Brooke,” she answered a moment later. “You silly girl. You don’t have to knock.”

Didn’t I? I never wanted to intrude. Just in case someone was over. Pop-ins weren’t cool.

“Hi, Mom.”

“I’ve got dinner in the back.”

I winced, stepping inside. “Sorry I’m so late.” She ate much earlier than I did, but I hadn’t been able to escape the office any sooner.

“Oh, no. No worries. It’s so nice outside, I thought we could enjoy the garden.”

I wrapped my arm around her back in a side hug as we went through the house. The familiar scents of old carpet and English breakfast tea hit me, and I inhaled a deep breath. Home. She was right about that.

Outside on the back patio, I shielded my eyes from the setting sun. While the home was worn, the overgrown garden lent so much charm I hated to think of her living anywhere else. She’d cultivated so many plants back here, and it would be impossible to recreate it elsewhere.

She grimaced as she lowered into a rusting wrought-iron chair across from me.

“Your knee is bothering you again?”

She dismissed me with a wave, getting right to dishing out our salads. “I was weeding and forgot to use the kneeling pad, is all.”

I glanced at the bed that looked the least wild. Beyond it, I spotted the mismatched siding she’d replaced. Even if she didn’t move, updates would help.

Maybe with this Wagner deal, I could get a bit of an advance on a raise? I could dream.

After small talk and eating the salads and roasted chicken, I couldn’t dismiss Kaden lingering in my thoughts.

“Hey, Mom. Do you remember the twins from high school? The boys in my grade?”

She smiled and wiped her mouth. “Of course. Blond and blue-eyed. I always thought they looked like displaced surfer boys.”

With the physique to match.

“Why do you ask?”

I told her about sending out an acquisition email and ending up seeing Kaden.

“Well, how about that? It’s a small world, huh?”

It was amazing it could seem like one in the city, but I nodded. “Sure is.”

“I imagine their father is doing well too,” she commented. “I read a bit about their company in Forbes.” She rubbed her fingers together to indicate money and whistled.

I stacked our plates and chuckled. “Yeah. I know.” But seeing Kaden again, I hadn’t been struck with an image of wealth. I knew he had money, but he didn’t flaunt it.

I had never told her about what happened senior year. Shame, embarrassment, and plain old humiliation merged into an ugly mood. We were close, and she would have been a good listener, but she was biased. Not only because she was my mother and anything she said would’ve been supportive and loving by default, but also because she saw the good in everyone. She was a firm believer that not every villain was completely bad the same as the heroes weren’t strictly good. At that time, I wanted to avoid having to explain and defend myself.

“Maybe you should look into dating one of those boys.”

I rolled my eyes, but my sassy, impulsive reaction wasn’t only for the reason she likely guessed. I had never liked being told what to do. Her suggestions to date more often fell on deaf ears. But I already had.

Right?

Kaden ending Sunday night with a kiss changed things. That hadn’t been a business meeting. It hadn’t felt like too much of a date until his farewell. Yet, I wondered if I’d already blurred the lines too much to keep track of it all.

I’d teased him with that straw. He knew it. I knew it. And that sure as hell wasn’t professional. It wasn’t strictly friendly either.

“You need a man in your life,” she said.