AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why in heaven’s name would you be upset about something like that?”
He picked up one of the flyers and stared at it. The words blurred as his thoughts shifted to Megan and how she was probably feeling at this very moment—probably no better than he was. His appetite was gone and his heart felt heavy. Every muscle in his body seemed to weigh him down and make him want to close all the doors and shutter the windows so he could sit in silence.
“Daniel? What’s going on?”
Finally, he met his mother’s gaze. “I don’t think I should be doing it.”
“I think I have to ask you to expand on that.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t even know the book tour was coming to this area. I didn’t know who the author was. I had no plans to host something like this.”
“Then how…”
Daniel couldn’t control his movements even if he wanted to, he shot a look toward the bookstore across the street. It was brief but his mother caught the motion. She turned to see what he’d been looking at. When she brought her gaze back to him, there was a strange kind of look on her face. It was a mixture of understanding and sympathy.
“I thought something like this might happen.”
He stiffened, unsure of how he should respond to her. This wasn’t what he’d expected her to say. He’d been so careful. So had Megan. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Her smile widened and she leaned onto the counter. “Once you outgrew your teenage years, I’ll admit it got harder to read you. But I’m still your mother and I can still see what’s right in front of me. You and Megan. How long has it been going on?”
“What? Nothing’s going on between Megan and me,” he scoffed.
His mom lifted one brow and gave him that look—the one he’d always hated when he was in grade school.
Daniel groaned. “What do you want from me, Mom? We’re not together.”
“And I would assume that your attitude lately has more to do with the fact that you’re not.”
With his head bent over, he lifted his brows so he could peer at his mother. Power like hers should be illegal. She shouldn’t be able to read him like she was doing. He tore his gaze away and glowered as he pulled out a handful of straws to refill. Why weren’t any customers coming in to pull him away from this terrible conversation?
What he wouldn’t give to have someone walk in right this very moment and give him an excuse to send his mother away.
“So are you going to tell me or are you going to force my hand?”
“What does that even mean?” he muttered.
“I’m more than happy to go across the street and find out from Megan what’s—”
“You wouldn’t dare,” he blurted, his head snapping up. Megan might be on better terms with his mother than she was with him but that didn’t mean his mother had any right to go over there and ask about him.
“Then tell me. What’s going on?”
He contemplated the kind of consequences he might have to deal with if he were to tell his mother where to shove it. Definitely more than he was bargaining for. On top of having her ask Megan about him, he’d probably get an earful from his father. Daniel released a heavy sigh. His whole body sagged. “Fine. But you can’t breathe a word of this to anyone.”
She drew a little ‘x’ across her chest and her smile returned.
“Will you relax? It’s not exciting. It’s more sad than anything else.”
His mother frowned. “I’m so sorry sweetie. I didn’t realize it was that serious.”
He could have lied right then.
Heshouldhave lied.
But he didn’t.
“I thought that we had something great. We were helping each other out with our businesses. If someone was looking for something specific, I’d send them her way and vice versa. We were supporting each other and getting along great. She wasn’t so bad once I got to know her.” He could feel the heat crawling up his neck as he admitted the one thing he thought he hadn’t been prepared to tell her. “The thing is, she’s still obsessed with her bookstore.”
