AllFreeNovel
Share Us
JAKE
Putting on the charcoal suit I’d purchased with Ryan’s advice, I wondered if I was making a huge mistake. Standing in front of the mirror, I tugged on the stiff collar that threatened to choke me. I didn’t recognize the man staring back at me. I wasn’t used to wearing anything dressier than a clean pair of jeans.
I’d never even owned a suit before. Never had a need for one. Didn’t know why I’d given in and bought one now. How had one woman changed me in such a short time?
Sweat trickled down my back. It was partly the unseasonably warm spring day and my nerves. I didn’t look like me in this get-up. I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t. Who was I kidding?
I already knew what Lily’s parents would think of me. I didn’t need to make a better impression with a suit when I could never quite get the grease out from under my short nails, or the smell of it off my skin. I wasn’t the man for her, and they’d know it the second they saw me, if they didn’t already.
My phone buzzed on the dresser. Grateful for a distraction from my downward spiral, I answered Ryan’s call. “Yeah.”
“You thinking about bailing?” Ryan’s tone was tinged with amusement.
“I couldn’t do that to Lily.” But I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t considered it. I was prepared to handle Lily’s mother, a judgy socialite who thought she was better than me. I’d dealt with people like her before, and I’d decided long ago not to put myself in these situations. I’d always fall short.
“Are you sure you’re okay to go?” Ryan asked, his voice measured with concern.
“I will be.” I drank water from the glass I’d placed on my dresser. I should drink something harder, something that would make the night go smoother, but that wasn’t me. I knew I needed to be sober to handle the night ahead. “I won’t back out.”
But I wasn’t sure it was good for my confidence to go. No matter how much I’d built myself up over the years, I’d never lost the inferiority complex I’d carried around as a kid.
“Just remember, you’re a successful businessman.”
I clenched my teeth. “It doesn’t matter if it’s true. It only matters what they think of me.”
“You’ve got that backwards. It’s what you think of yourself that creates your reality. Not the other way around.”
“I don’t follow.”
“If you walk in with confidence, like you own the place, it will throw her parents off.”
“She won’t sense my weakness and go in for the kill?” I felt lighter having Ryan talk me down. I wasn’t left alone with my familiar thoughts.
“That’s a little more dramatic than I was thinking, but yeah. Kind of what I was saying.”
“I appreciate you trying to help, but we both know how this is going to go.”
Ryan groaned. “Have you been listening to anything I just said? You set the tone for the evening. Not the other way around. Take control.”
I looked in the mirror, trying to see what someone else would. I was attractive. I didn’t look bad in this suit. It just felt wrong. This suit—hell, this party—wasn’t me. “I’m not sure I have it in me.”
Ryan was quiet for a few seconds as if he was mulling over his answer. Finally, he asked, “How much do you like Lily?”
“A lot.” My answer came easily. Lily had quickly become my soft place to land, and I couldn’t imagine not seeing her at the end of the night.
“Then you need to be the man she needs tonight if you have any hope of a future with her.”
I dropped to the edge of the bed, my head falling between my shoulder blades as I massaged the tension in my neck.
“Why can’t she just cut her mother off?” That’s what I’d done. I only saw my mother when Hailey wanted to. She’d shown up out of the blue a few months ago, but if it was up to me, I’d never see her.
“It’s not that easy for everyone. Lily’s mother may not be perfect—”
“But she’s not as bad as mine,” I finished for him, running a hand through my hair.
“Lily might want to set boundaries but never completely cut her off. And you have to be okay with that.”
“I don’t have to like it.” My voice felt like sandpaper. I hated that Lily was upset anytime she saw or talked to her mother. Hell, each time she caught sight of that ridiculous party invitation, I saw the uncertainty in her eyes. Her mother had the power to cut her to the quick just by Lily thinking about her.
