AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Katie!” I reach out to grab her shoulder to turn her to me, but that is all I get out before she turns sharply without my help and her hand slaps my face.
“How dare you!” she seethes, her hands now fisted by her sides. While my cheek stings, I leave my hands down, hurt, but happy that at least she is talking to me. “You lied to me. But if that is not bad enough, you bring our private situation and make it a public scene at my place of employment. Now your mother will have a major setback in her recovery because of me.” Her breathing labors as I watch her chest rise and fall. I run my hand through my hair again, taking a breath, feeling shittier than I already did. I didn’t think before I acted. I just wanted to tell my mom who I was with, not taking into consideration that Pinkie was not ready and her workplace is not the right setting.
“My mother won’t die. She has too much misery to instill upon everyone for that,” I grit out as I rub my stinging cheek.
“You need to leave me alone,” she says, her voice now calm but filled with sadness as her shoulders slump a little.
“Not going to happen.” I’m just going to go for it. I have nothing to lose at this point.
“We are over. Whatever we had can’t continue.” Her eyes plead with me, anger leaving her body, and I feel her presence softening. Her words are lackluster at best. She doesn’t mean them, not one bit.
“No, we are not. I want you. I want you in my life. My crazy fucking life, with my crazy-ass mother, but my life just the same.” I need her to understand. I’m desperate for her to.
“We are too different,” she says with a small shrug, like it is gospel.
“I don't care. Different is good,” I banter back just as quickly.
“It is never going to work.” Swallowing roughly, she looks unsure.
“It will work if we both want it to.”
“Eddie…” she breathes out, shaking her head, and Ifeelit. She is almost back to me. I reach out and take her hand, and she lets me. I squeeze it in mine, wanting to feel her a little more as I step closer to her. She looks up at me, her blue eyes glistening under the overhead lights.
“I want to be with you. I want to make you bad pasta carbonara; I want to fix your sink; I want you to bandage me up when I hurt myself. I also want to take you to nice restaurants, hang out with my brothers and my niece, maybe take trips to faraway places and eat goat balls…” I say, my heart in my mouth. I watch her suppress a laugh, smiling ever so slightly up at me.
“We… We are not doing this here, okay? You should go back to your mother.” My first instinct is to shake my head and disagree, but I understand. She deserves all my respect, and I need to save this conversation for when she’s not at work. I want to circle her waist with my hands, pull her close, keep her with me, but that will have to wait until we’re truly alone.
"Promise me we can talk later. Promise me you won’t shut the door on us entirely,” I basically plead with her, my eyes searching hers.
“Yes. I promise,” she says softly, and it is the sweetest surrender I have ever heard. She doesn’t let me get another word in before she walks around me and back out the door. I take a moment and pull in a deep breath before I follow her out and walk back to my mother’s room. It’s progress, and I will take anything she gives me.
Harrison is standing outside Mom’s room and looks up as I approach.
“She is being assessed by the doctor,” he says, concern lining his expression. He’s trying to gauge how things went with Pinkie.
“It’s fine. I think it’s going to be, anyway,” I say, answering his unasked question. She may not have budged much, but she smiled a little, and I am taking that as a win. The noise of the busy hospital hits my ears, the hum of chatter, machines, a phone ringing, all bringing me back to reality. My eyes immediately seek out the nurses’ station, where they rest on pink hair and the sparkling blues I miss more than anything.
“Eddie,” a soft feminine voice says from the side, and Harrison and I both look up.
“Governor,” she says a little more formally as Valerie Van Cleef walks down the hallway toward us, carrying a large vase of white flowers, almost bigger than her head.
“Valerie,” I say as Harrison offers to take the flowers, putting them on a nearby chair as we wait outside Mom’s room.
“I was so upset to hear of your mother’s health worries,” she says in a soft, sincere tone.Out of all the women that my mother could set me up with, Valerie is the nicest.She isyoung and beautiful and is currently dressed and acting like a woman of high society. High heels, perfect curled hair, full face of makeup, and a dress that does everything it should. She is just not the woman I want.
“Thanks for coming. Beautiful flowers,” Harrison says, giving her a small smile, always trying to win the votes.
“Of course. How are you doing, Eddie?” she asks, her hand coming to rest on my shoulder. To anyone on the outside, it would appear we know each other well. She is a friend, here to lend her shoulder for me to cry on. But I hardly know her.
How am I?That’s the million-dollar question. Mom’s health is one thing. Obviously, we are worried, but from what I saw of her earlier, she is going to be totally fine. But my eyes flick over Valerie’s shoulder to the nurses’ station, and if looks could kill, Valerie would already be in the morgue. Pinkie's eyes are glued to where Valerie’s hand rests on my shoulder.
“Fine, under the circumstances. Nice of you to drop by.” I offer her a small smile, keeping my hands firmly in my trouser pockets. In the moment of silence that follows, I hear the familiar click of a camera. Harrison hears it too, because both our heads whip around, and we see a familiar paparazzo leaning around a corner.
“Security,” Harrison grits out to his nearby team, and they spring into action. My shoulders stiffen even more as I look to the ceiling. Exhaustion and frustration seep into my bones. This was a setup. A total setup. Even from her hospital bed, my mother has concocted a scene in order to get society talking. I can see the headline now.
Edward Rothschild is comforted by Valerie Van Cleef at his mother’s bedside.
“Oh, Eddie,” Valerie says, obviously coming to the same conclusion and dropping her hand immediately. I step away just as quickly. The two of us completely set up.
