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With a gleam like she knew something I didn’t, she replied, “I believe he feels the same way.”
The lump in my throat grew bigger, and I found it hard to form any words…so I shook my head.
When I was finally able to speak, I told her. “Earlier this morning, there was a moment between us, an intense moment, and I wanted more than anything for him to act on it, but he didn’t,” I choked out.
“Did you think he didn’t act on it because he’s seeing another woman?”
I wiped at my wet cheeks. “I thought of that. Tripp isn’t the type of man to cheat, but I also know we wouldn’t have let it go that far. I just wanted something from him. Anything that told me he might still feel the same way about me as I do him.”
Burying my face in my hands, I found myself crying yet again.
Holy shit, I’ve cried more in the last few months than I have in the last ten years.
“Oh sweetie, don’t cry.”
My hands fell to my lap in defeat. “I don’t think he feels the same way as I do, Momma. I think he’s attracted to me, but that’s it. He brushed it off and acted like the moment never happened. That one brief moment when I swore we both felt something from our past and maybe a hope for a future. Oh God, how could I be so stupid to think I could show up and things would fall back into place?”
The brush started to move across my long brown hair again.
“The first thing you need to do is take a deep breath and let it out. Then, you need to get yourself fixed up and walk into the benefit dinner like you don’t have a care in the world.”
I laughed. “Even though my world is falling apart?”
She scoffed. “It is not falling apart.”
I stared at her like she had lost her damn mind. “Where have you been the last few months? I’m going to lose the vet clinic, I’ve lost the only man I’ve ever loved, and I just broke up with a really great guy.”
I let out a long groan.
“You’re not going to lose the vet clinic, not with Tripp helping you. And don’t give up hope, Harley. We never raised you to be a quitter. Now, as for Toby…”
She placed her hands on my shoulders and leaned in. Our eyes locked in the mirror. “You wouldn’t have been satisfied with that boy. He looked like he wasn’t packin’ a big one.”
My cheeks heated, and I turned to face her, my Latino heritage taking over my astonishment at what she’d just said. “Momma, dios mío! Eres increíble!”
“Don’t chastise me in Spanish, young lady. You know I don’t know what you’re saying!”
We both laughed. “Mom, you’re married to a Mexican man. When will you learn Spanish?”
She rolled her eyes. “He refuses to help me learn.”
My father used to tell me he refused to teach my mother because when he complained about her in Spanish, she had no clue what he was saying. There were so many times my father would complain about my mother for one reason or another, but he would smile at her when he spoke. She would melt on the spot and kiss him, thinking he had just said something romantic to her. It saved many a fight in his mind.
“You know…you could learn on your own.”
Giving me a wink, she shook her head. “Now where would the fun be in that?”
I stood in the front of the floor-length mirror. A small smile lifted the corners of my lips. I looked damn good, if I said so myself. I took a pain pill to hopefully get me through this night. A dull ache in my side was currently the only reminder that I had a bruised rib.
“You are stunning.”
My eyes lifted to my mother. Her light brown hair was pulled into a ponytail and her blue eyes looked into my green. She was stunning. The fact that she didn’t look a day older than forty gave me hope that I would be blessed with the same gene of looking younger than my age.
“You have to say that. You’re my mother.”
She nudged my shoulder. “You look like me when I was your age.”
I turned to face her. “You were and still are beautiful.”
I was rewarded with a wink. “And so are you. I would have killed for your sun-kissed skin.” Her fingers twirled one of the curls that framed my face. “I need to say just one thing. Don’t get mad at me or curse me out in Spanish like your father does.”
My smile widened.
“When you walk into that room, Tripp Parker’s eyes will not leave you the entire evening.”
And like that, my smile faded. “Then I’m sure his date will be rather pissed.”
