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I turned to look at him, nonplussed. I still didn’t know what alcohol I liked.
He chuckled. “I’ll pick something you like.”
I reached up and gave him a lingering kiss, still unable to believe that everything was over and that he didn’t have to go to Moscow—a worry I didn’t even know about until today. “Thank you.”
He gazed down at me, his green eyes blazing with tenderness. “Are you ready for this discussion with your mom?”
“Yeah, I’d say it’s long overdue. I say we have the conversation today, get drunk, and never talk about it again.”
He smiled and rubbed his thumb down my cheek. “Sounds healthy.”
“Oh, now you’re the expert on healthy relationships?”
He grinned. “That’s right.”
I rolled my eyes and turned toward my mom’s booth. Mom and Hannah were both gulping down their respective drinks when I sat down on Hannah’s side of the booth.
Mom put her wine glass down with a resounding thud. “I don’t even know where to start,” she began, her hands tunneling through her hair.
“Just start at the beginning. How did you even meet Armstrong? I can’t imagine him coming to the diner,” Hannah remarked.
“I wasn’t working at the diner when I met him. You were just a baby, Hannah, so I know you don’t remember, but I worked at a club when you were little. A gentlemen’s club. It was high-end. I was just a waitress, not part of the entertainment.”
Hannah and I stared at her in astonishment. Our mild-mannered, timid mother working at a men’s club?
“Were there strippers and stuff?” Hannah blurted out.
Mom blushed. “No, not like that. There were women around, I think they were escorts, but I was oblivious. I just worked there because your dad, well, Hannah’s dad was so unreliable and the last time I let him come back, he stole all my money and anything else of value. I needed money fast, and this place paid extremely well.”
“Okay, so you met Armstrong at the club?” I asked.
Mom nodded. “Yes, he came in often. At first I was intimidated by him, but he was so charming and handsome and powerful. He paid attention to me and left me obscene tips. I was grateful and surprised by his generosity.”
“I think I see where this is going,” Hannah murmured, reaching for her rum and coke.
“Well, he stayed after my shift one night and asked me to sit with him. I was so shocked and flattered that he’d want to sit with a waitress. I didn’t realize at the time that he thought…well, I was even more shy back then, and the outfits we had to wear were pretty tight and revealing. I know I always seemed ill-at-ease when I worked. Because of that and my age—I was only nineteen at the time—Thomas thought…he thought I was a virgin. He obviously didn’t know that I’d already had Hannah.”
“He targeted you because he thought you were a virgin?” Hannah's mouth curled in distaste. “Ew.”
“Unfortunately, your father was the only person I’d ever been with, so he wasn’t too far off. I was inexperienced, but definitely not a virgin.”
“So, what happened?” I urged, eager to get more details on the relationship history, but not so much on my mom’s sex life.
She rubbed her face as if trying to remove the red from her cheeks. “Well, he bought me a couple of drinks and led me to one of the rooms in the club and, well, you know…”
“Emmy was conceived?” Hannah asked bluntly.
“Gross. You didn’t have to say it like that,” I grumbled.
“Basically, yes, but the experience was kind of traumatic.”
“He hurt you?” I asked in trepidation.
“No, he got really angry. See, he thought I was a virgin and when he figured out I definitely wasn’t, he was furious. He called me names, accused me of misleading him, and threatened to ruin me. Right when it was over he threw me out of the room and got me fired from the club.”
“Oh my god, what a creepy asshole,” Hannah said, her mouth turned into an angry frown.
“Yeah, seriously, what the hell?” I echoed.
