He ground his teeth and called his mother.
“Hi, Brennan. Everything okay?”
“Yes,” he said. “Lila just canceled on me tonight. Are you free?”
“I’m sorry. It’s our poker night and I’m hosting it at my house. Otherwise I could.”
Sadie Austin deserved to enjoy her retirement and he wouldn’t stand in the way of it.
“Not a problem. I’ll just cancel.”
His mother laughed. “You’re loving the fact that an excuse fell into your lap for that, aren’t you?”
There was no use lying. “Kind of.”
“You need to put yourself out there more. Not everyone is like Rene.”
“Thank God for that. Could you imagine a world where everyone was?”
Lying. Cheating. Manipulating. Then abandoning their child.
The last didn’t bother him. It only made it easier for him to get full custody and raise his daughter the way Becca deserved.
In a loving household.
Just not a full family.
A single parent... like he’d had.
But it was a loving household and he was thankful his mother showed him it could be done.
“Give it a chance. Stop deciding before you even get to know her.”
“You gave no one else a chance,” he said.
“Times were different back then. Your father was my first and only love. I couldn’t go through that again. You haven’t experienced love yet.”
“Nope,” he said. “Or not like what you did.”
“That’s right. So keep trying until you do. Reschedule.”
“I won’t have much of a choice. It’s that or bring Becca.”
That had merit. Though he was positive it wasn’t the date that Celia had in mind. It could aid with the awkwardness of a first date.
“Great first impression,” his mother said.
“I don’t need to make a great first impression. She approached me, not the other way around.”
He’d done his damnedest to pretend he hadn’t seen what she’d been throwing his way. Women like that weren’t what he was interested in.
That was how Rene and he got started and the last thing he needed was any reminder ofthatrelationship.
“Don’t be cocky,” his mother said.
“I get that from my mom,” he said, laughing.
“You really get it from your dad.”
