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“You had the guts to get up and go after your dreams. That’s worth something in my books.”
“Says the billionaire.”
“We all start somewhere.”
“I’ll call you when I hit the big time.”
He smiles. “If anyone’s going to make it happen, it’s you.”
My chest explodes with warmth.
He doesn’t have to sound so sincere about it. Is he trying to make my heart flutter?
I pull my eyes away from his. “To be fair to her, that wasn’t the only reason she didn’t like me.”
He waits patiently.
I play with the hem of my blouse. “Lucy always pictured Thad with someone less…”
Hansley arches an eyebrow. “Less… what? Stubborn.”
“Black.”
The smile drops from his face. “She was racist.”
“She was traditional.”
“You’re defending her?”
“I’m explaining where it came from. It wasn’t just my skin tone. She hated how Thad and I met too. She wanted him to get with the daughters of her friends from church.”
“Who all looked like her, right?” Hansley grits his jaw.
“She was never rude to me. Not outrightly.” I don’t know why I’m defending Lucy. But suddenly, I don’t want to admit that bigotry existed—unaddressed—for the years while I was dating Thad. “She loved her son and the feeling was mutual.”
“That’s no excuse.”
“Is your mother…” I wince. “I mean…I’m—you know. Will she have a problem with me being different.”
“You’re asking if she’ll be upset that I married a black woman?”
I nod.
“No.” He clears his throat. “Mom might be upset, but it won’t be because of your race.”
I flop back into my seat. “The videos.”
“She’d prefer I did the church thing with a fancy ceremony.”
“She must think I’m some ditzy gold digger.”
“Probably.”
I groan.
He rubs a circle over my knuckles. “She’ll get over it.”
Flashbacks of my time with Thad’s mom rush through my brain. Lucy hated my guts and I didn’t stick my tongue down her son’s throat on video and marry him in front of Elvis.
