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“One of my many talents,” he boasts. “Although my culinary skills are somewhat limited, so don’t go and order steak tartare because I’ve got no idea how to cook it.”
“Steak tartare is raw minced beef formed into a patty served with a raw egg yolk on top, so technically it isn’t cooked,” I counter.
“Okay, smartarse,” he says, sliding a plate of scrambled eggs in front of me. “Eat up because Mum wants to help you shower and change before the doc gets here.”
Chapter 10
Daisy
“Now, doesn’t that feel better?” Nolan’s mother asks, motioning for me to sit on the side of the bath before she reaches for a brush and gently works it through my wet hair.
“It feels wonderful. It’s funny how you take the little things for granted. You don’t realise how much you’ll miss them until they’re taken away.”
She did everything she could to make it feel normal, but I still wanted the floor to swallow me whole. She took her time, washing me and my hair as though it was the most natural thing in the world. There was no hesitation or discomfort, just a lot of patience and care. When she was finished, she unstrapped the plastic bags she’d taped over my hands, dried me off, and helped me dress.
I can’t remember my own mother ever caring for me like this. She was too busy keeping score with my father and finding new ways to hurt him to ever notice I was caught in the middle.
“Do you have any skin allergies?” she asks, reaching into one of the numerous shopping bags she brought into the bathroom.
“No, not that I know of.”
“Good. You need to try this face cream. It’s divine.” She smiles as she dabs some onto my cheeks. “Not that you need it. Your skin is flawless. I’m quite jealous. There’s a whole range of my favourite products in the bag.”
“You didn’t need to do any of this for me,” I say.
“It was my pleasure. I adore my boys, but I always wanted a daughter.” She smiles. “Now I have two. You and Poppy.”
“Poppy’s marrying Bennett, but I’m …”
“And if I get my wish,” she says, bopping my nose, “one day Nolan might marry you.”
That’s crazy talk considering we aren’t even a couple, but I guess you could say we’re friends now. “It doesn’t bother you that I have a son with another man?”
“That sweet boy of yours is just an added bonus.”
“Am I being bulldozed right now?”
Mrs Sinclair laughs. “Bulldozed? Absolutely not. I’m simply making my feelings known.”
I stare up at her, unsure what to make of her words. There’s definitely nothing going on between her son and me, but I don’t have the heart to burst her bubble. The thought of starting something new is the furthest thing from my mind.
“You don’t even know me.”
“It’s called mother’s intuition. You gave up your career, your home, and the comfort money brought you, all to protect your son. That speaks volumes about your character, Daisy. You and that wretched woman Nolan almost married are worlds apart.”
“Did you like Amanda in the beginning?”
“She was nice at first, but there was always that nagging voice in the back of my head telling me she wasn’t all that she seemed.”
“How so?”
“Last night, for instance, when Bennett was giving Nolan a hard time about mowing lawns, you stood up for him. Amanda never did that. She’d laugh right along with him, sometimes even adding her own jabs. It was little things like that that bothered me, but over time, they became much bigger.”
“As a mother, I can understand how hard that would’ve been to watch.”
“You have no idea.” She sighs softly. “Nolan’s a good man, Daisy. And that’s not coming from a woman who sees her son through rose-coloured glasses. It’s the truth.”
A loud, unexpected knock breaks the moment, making me jump. “Doc’s here, Dais,” Nolan calls out from the other side of the door.
