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“We should talk at dinner tonight,” Mr. Standish continued. “Frankie could use a new car, and we could look into that as well.” He stole a look at me, and I think my face was frozen somewhere betweenwhat the fuckandget out of my house.
When he kissed my mother, I turned away. I really didn’t want to watch that. The last bit of toast went down like a lump, and Tiddles stared up at me almost mournfully. No one was getting rid of my cats. If I had to get my own damn apartment, I’d figure it out. I had savings. I could make it work.
It wasn’t like I didn’t know how to look after myself.
My mother’s fingers bit into my arm and jerked me around. “What the hell was that?” The hissed demand carried tremendous accusation.
“What the hell was what?” No way I would roll over on this one. As uncomfortable as all this made me,shewas the one who brought him there. “Maybe I should ask you the same thing. Why ishehere?”
“Because he’s my fiancé,” she snapped. “You’ll be more respectful. He’s willing to help you, Frankie. All you have to do is be nice.”
“Help me?” She was joking, right?
“Yes. School. A car. He can make your life easier.”
Easier.
Right.
“I don’t want his money.” I didn’t want anyone’s money.
“Fine, you don’t have to take it, but you could at least do me the courtesy of beinghappyfor me and supporting me. Sometimes, I wonder what I did that made you so damn selfish.”
Me.
Selfish.
I pulled my arm out of her grasp. “Maybe you should look in a mirror.” Not pulling my punches, I glared. “Maybe you should think about the fact in yourhappinessyou’re sinking someone else’s marriage and someone else’s family. You’re not getting rid of my cats. You want to move in with him. You go right ahead. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You know,” she said. “When I was pregnant, I could have given you up for adoption.”
Not the first time she’d ever said that to me.
“Maybe you should have, Mom, maybe then I’d have a real family.”
The slap I saw coming a mile away, and it stung when it landed. Even when the tears sparked to my eyes, I refused to shed them.
“You ungrateful little—”
Someone knocked on the back door. Tiddles had vanished sometime around the moment we’d raised our voices. Now, Mom stared at me before she glanced at the door.
I backed away, then unlocked the door to find Coop standing there, eyes worried. His sandy blond hair was disheveled, like all he’d done was run his hand through the hair. His eyes narrowed, then he looked past me at my mother.
“Cooper,” she said briefly, then looked at me. “Your friend can wait outside while you put up the cats.” The expression she leveled at me promised a hell of a lot more trouble if I fought her on this.
“I’ll be a minute,” I told Coop.
“Want me to hold your backpack?” he asked, but that wasn’t the real question. Was I okay was the question written all over his face, and no, I really wasn’t.
I gave him a tight smile. “Sure. I’ll just be a sec.” I slipped out of the straps, and he took it and caught my hand. The squeeze he gave me reminded me I wasn’t alone. After he stepped back, I closed the door.
“Frankie,” my mother said. “When we go to dinner tonight, you will behave yourself. Am I clear?”
“Crystal.”
“Eddie said he’d have a dress sent over for you, so I’ll leave it in your room. Dress appropriately.”
Fuck.
