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“But you can be excited about your wedding. I sure am. Are you having it here? Or back in Texas? In Dallas, or do you want it in Midland?” My mom spat her questions so fast that there was not a space to answer any of them.
I didn’t know how to even tell her about it all right then and there. If she kept throwing questions like that at me, then I was going to blow a gasket and toss them out of my apartment.
Gavin slid an arm around my shoulders and interrupted my mother’s tirade. “I’m sure you had a long flight, getting here. Why don’t we do dinner tonight to discuss all the finer details?” he suggested smoothly. “Whitley and I both have to get to work. I’ll make a reservation, if that suits you?”
My mom nearly swooned. A man taking charge. I almost rolled my eyes. I would have if I wasn’t so grateful that he’d shut her up. Had he seen that I wasthis closeto strangling her?
He glanced down at me, and I mouthed a thank-you.
“That sounds good to me. Where are you staying?” I asked my parents.
They rattled off the hotel, just south of Central Park. It was nice, but it wasn’t Percy Tower. That sounded like my parents.
Gavin insisted they take his car downstairs. I thought my mom would kiss him, but in a matter of minutes, he had them out of my apartment without a fuss. He sent a text to his driver before glancing up at me.
“Wow,” I muttered. “Youhandledthem.”
He blinked at me. “That’s half of my job.”
“Is it?”
“Pretty much. Lots of meetings and charisma and directing people to do the things I want.”
“Well, you were excellent at it,” I admitted. “I’ve never seen anyone get my mom to do anything she didn’t want to do.”
“So, you have that in common?” he teased.
“Hey!” I swatted at him. “I’m nothing like my mom.”
He snatched my hand up and pressed a kiss to it. “You’re still wearing the ring,” he said softly.
I tugged my hand back self-consciously. “I’d taken it off. I was just … trying it on again.” My cheeks colored. I started to tug it off. “You can have it back.”
He stilled me. “Keep wearing it. We’ll have to figure your parents out before you take it off.”
“What the hell am I going to tell them? We’re going to have to stage some elaborate breakup at dinner.”
“Hold on.” He set his coffee down and then put his hands on my shoulders. “Let’s figure this out.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then, help me understand.”
I wrenched away from him. “You’re exactly the kind of guy my parents want me to marry.”
He gave me a quizzical look. “Thank you?”
“Gavin!”
He laughed. “What? Should I be insulted that your parents like me?”
“They don’t like you. They don’t know you,” I insisted. “They only care that you’re a King from Texas oil money and that I’m finally letting a man take care of me.”
“Is that so bad?”
I snorted. “Gavin, I’m telling you that all they have ever cared about is me marrying the right guy and giving up my life for him. Thatisbad. And worse,” I said as I began to pace, “when they came to LA to see me, my mom wasfuriousthat I was dating Safia. She barged out of there after insulting my girlfriend and taking my dad with her. They’ve never accepted me for who I am. I don’t want them to accept me for this.” I glanced up at him. “For something that isn’t even real.”
Gavin’s face hardened at those words. “I see. Well, that’s terrible of them. I have to imagine that your relationship with your girlfriend was every bit as real as any of your other relationships.” His voice was hard and unyielding when he added, “More real than this one.”
