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She couldn’t think about that now. It was too big. One day at a time. And this day, his mother was coming into town. “But now your mom is going to be there.”
“Why does that change anything?”
Maddie pulled back to study him. Was he really going to pretend that his mother’s visit was insignificant?
He met her eyes then sighed. “Look, I don’t want to go either. But I have to go, because I don’t know, somehow people will give more money if I’m there. And you and I decided no press events, so I thought it would be easier to take Lulu. It was either that or go as Heather’sdate.”
“No way.” She brushed past him and busied herself with gathering her computer into herbag.
“And that’s why I invited my mother.” His voice changed, as though he suddenly understood. “Does that bother you, Maddie? Did you want me to askyou?”
“No, no that’s not it.” She zipped her bag and spun to face him. “It’s that you didn’t tell me you invited your mother. You’ll be at that all night and I’m going to be on set all morning and then she’s going to be gone. I won’t even have a chanceto...”
And then it clicked.
He’d planned the timeline of Lulu’s visit on purpose. He didn’t want them tomeet.
The tightness in her chest increased tenfold, like a boulder was crushing against her. “Oh. Isee.”
“Maddie...”
He stepped toward her, but she stepped back. “No, it’s fine.” God, how had she been so stupid? They weren’t committed to each other, why would he want her to meet his mother? “It’s a big deal. Introducing someone to a parent. I get it. Seriously, I wasn’t thinking. It’sfine.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Totally fine.” Though the tears gathering in her eyes would beg to disagree. She turned back to mess with her bag so he wouldn’t notice.
“Okay.” She heard the resignation in his voice. “I’m jumping in the shower. We have reservations in Denver for dinner at five so I won’t be here when you getback.”
“Okay.”
She heard the door to the bathroom close and the first tear spilled.
Then at the sound of the door opening again, she swiped quickly at herface.
“Maddie.” He waited until she turned to look at him. He knew she was hiding tears, it read all over his face as he leaned against the doorframe. “I also really want you to know each other.”
The weight in her chest loosened. “Youdo?”
“Yeah. Ido.”
“Then do I get to meether?”
“I...don’t...know.”
The relief she’d felt a moment before was replaced with bone-deep hurt. Another tear trailed down her face, her voice gruff. “So what do you want me to do? Pretend I don’t know you? Do I need to get another hotelroom?”
“No!” He crossed to her and wrapped her in his embrace. “No, I want you withme.”
His arms made her feel better. She could feel in his touch what he couldn’t say, that he was torn, that he didn’t know how to handle the situation any more than shedid.
He pressed his lips to her forehead before tilting her chin up so their eyes would meet. “And I don’t want you to pretend anything. I can barely handle restraining myself on set. But my mother…it is big. For me. And I just thought we could maybe take it the way we’ve been taking everything else. See how things go. Maybe we can do breakfast tomorrow.”
“Okay.” She smiled. Surprisingly, a genuine smile. “We’ll see how things go. If breakfast happens, it happens. If not, I won’t take it personally. As long as I still get to sleep here tonight.”
“If you don’t, I’ll come find you and molest you in your sleep.”
“Promise?”
