Page 113 of Dirty Rich Cinderella Story

“Hi, mom. Everything okay?”

“You always ask that,” she says. “Every single night. I’m okay. Stop worrying. I’m off work tonight. I’m going to make dinner and I want us to talk.”

“About what?” I ask, my heart thundering in my chest. She either knows about Cole or she wants to move out again. “Am I meeting your new man?”

“Oh no,” she says. “Not yet. Soon maybe. Are you working late?”

“Cole, my boss,” I amend quickly, “he has a partners meeting tonight, so our team is off early. I can bring my work home.”

“I’ll see you at seven, then?”

“Yes,” I say and when we disconnect I feel a warning in my belly. Something is up with her. I’m on my feet with that thought walking toward Cole’s office. His temporary secretary, Mia, is on the line and disconnects.

“Is he alone?” I ask.

“Yes. You want me to buzz him?”

“Please,” I say, when I really want to barge into his office, but I’ve been doing this whole formal thing since she arrived.

She buzzes Cole. “Lori is here to see you.”

“Send her in,” he says.

I walk to the door, open it, and shut it again. “I have to stay at my apartment tonight.”

He sets his pen down. “Why?”

“My mother wants to have dinner and talk. She brought up moving out to make things easier on me a month ago, and now I’m afraid she knows I’ve been gone. Maybe she thinks I’m avoiding her.”

He stands up and rounds the desk, and I lean on the door. “What if she thinks it’s about her?”

He steps in front of me, his hands coming down on my shoulders. “She doesn’t. That isn’t this.”

“I’m never home.”

“Maybe it’s time to let me meet her,” he suggests.

“I don’t even know what this is. I’m not going to present you as my excuse for not going home. That could make it worse.”

“Or better.”

“I just need to be with her tonight and you have a meeting anyway. Okay?”

“Okay. Text me after you talk to her. I’ll call you as soon as I’m out of my meeting.”

“Okay.”

He does then what he never does at work. He pulls me to him and kisses me. “Come home to me tonight if you can.”

Home.

My God, I’m really living with him. My mother is not a fool. She knows. What if people here at the office know?

***

I don’t see Cole before I leave the office. He’s in a meeting that rolls into his partner meeting, but he still manages to send me a text right as I reach my apartment door: I’m crazy for you. I want to meet your mother.

I suck in air and let it out. I’m crazy for him too, but right now I just feel a little crazy in general. I open the door and find my mother in her scrubs, slipping her purse over her shoulder. “There’s a bus that just overturned on the highway. The hospital needs me for a couple of hours. I’m sorry, honey. Mac N Cheese is in the oven.” She rushes toward me and hugs me. “I was so looking forward to a mom and daughter dinner. I should be back by midnight. If you’re up, we can have hot chocolate and talk.”

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