“You know perfectly well what. You’re pressuring her when she doesn’t need it. Esme will find love, but she’s not going to find it if you’re breathing down her neck and trying to force it. She doesn’t work like that.”
Mom sighed and unfolded her napkin with more force than necessary. “She makes things harder than they need to be. Stubbornness isn’t going to make her happy. And there are plenty of people who find love in arranged matches. She’s just trying to be difficult.”
“Have you considered that maybe she’s grieving just as much as you are?”
“That’s not possible.”
“Yes. It is. You know it is.” She said nothing, so I kept going. “The worst thing imaginable happened. You lost the other half of your life. And I get it, becauseI’mstill grieving too. You’re holding on to everything you need to in order to feel normal.”
Mom came from money and old society where arranged marriages and careers made purely of donating to non-profits and charities were commonplace. My career scratched that itch for my mother because of the public relations aspect. She loved curating public image, and it was easy to do it for me.
Trying to break away from that image was an entirely different conversation.
Esme had never been interested in acting or the kinds of careers my mother admired. She’d always followed her own rhythm, just like our dad.
A sigh fell out of Mom as the waiter placed her salad in front of her. “Is that so wrong?”
“Of course not.” I softened my tone. “I’m not judging you for grieving. But Esme is grieving too. You lost your husband, but we lost our dad. I’m saying that you and Esme aren’t grieving the same way. Pushing her into an arrangement purely so she’s not single is only going to make her push you away. That’s not what you want.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I worry about her being by herself. Even though you are— youweresingle, you’re surrounded by people all the time. She’s alone in that house, and I don’t think it’s good for her. Elias wouldn’t have wanted that. He would have known how to talk to her.”
“It’s not the end of the world if she’s single. I hope she won’t be, because I want her to be happy, but she’s never going to care enough about public perception to settle.”
Not for the first time, I wished Esme could see the softer side of our mother. Even before Dad died they hadn’t been close. They were so different that they clashed. Friction had always been part of their relationship. Mom did love her. She just had a hard time finding how to show her love in a way Esme could feel and appreciate. And vice versa.
“Well.” Mom straightened, and I knew talking about Esme was over. She smiled at me. “We’ll see what happens. Instead, tell me about these men.”
“They’re rock stars.”
She rolled her eyes. Something she almost never did, but was also something I’d only seen her do when she washappy. Not in the last year. “I know that. I’ll do my best not to judge. Yet.”
We laughed together.
If finding my pack put a crack in my mother’s grief, even one as small as this, it made everything better.
“They’re—” I sucked in a breath as my chest filled with that glow I never wanted to lose. “They’re perfect.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
________
EVA
“For the record, I do not like walking blindfolded,” I squealed as I was pulled up off my feet and held by arms that smelled of bourbon and mint. Liam. “What are you doing?”
“Not enjoying walking with a blindfold has a very simple solution. Not walking at all.”
I snorted. These men.
The last two months had been a whirlwind of nothing but joy, sex, and learning to live with each other. It was both easier and harder than I thought. The beauty of it was that we knew webelonged together, so when there was friction or a disagreement, we could take the time to work it out.
Luckily there weren’t many of those.
They met Mom and somehow managed to charm her even though she tried to resist. Though it probably helped that she didn’t really have a choice but to accept them.
“Here we are.” Liam set me on my feet. “Now you can open.”
I pulled off the blindfold and grinned. My newly renovated nest was in front of me. Deep shades of berry along with traces of gold. The deep bowl of cushions, amazing and lush, was tempting me to dive in like a pool. A bunch of folded blankets and throw pillows waited along the edge for me to make it mine.
