Page 8 of Enemy Boss

“Right. Well, she’s got this daughter, Lucy. A nice girl by all accounts. She’s twenty five and …” my mom is saying.

As much as I love her, and I would do anything for her – or almost anything – I have to stop this before it goes any further. There’s a line between me doing my mom a favor and me embarrassing myself.

“Mom, stop,” I say. She looks at me, the surprise clear to see on her face, but she does stop. “Don’t look so shocked. You know how I feel about being set up with people. It’s cringe worthy, and even more so when it’s your mom that decides to play Cupid.”

Her shocked look vanishes, and she laughs and shakes her head.

“No, you don’t understand,” she says. “I don’t want you to date this girl.”

I laugh with her.

“Ok, sorry,” I say. “Just it sounded like that’s where it was going.”

“Yeah, I see that now, but no. Definitely not. I have learned my lesson with trying to get you boys to be anything but eligible bachelors with Liam,” she says.

I smile to myself as I finish up the last mouthful of my pasta. I definitely got off lightly there. She tried for a few years when Liam was in his late twenties to fix him up with someone. She gave up eventually, but not before Liam was about ready to emigrate.

My mom sees my empty plate and stands up from the table.

“I’ll get those,” I say, also standing up, but she waves me back down.

“I am perfectly capable of taking a few plates to the kitchen Cullen Monroe,” she jokingly chides me. “I’m only sixty-one. Don’t start looking for the nursing home just yet.”

“What? You mean I will have to cancel the visit I booked?” I say.

She swats at me with her empty hand and we both laugh. She takes the plates and cutlery through to the kitchen and I hear her bustling about. She returns with two more plates and two more forks. Each plate contains a big slice of the banoffee pie I spotted earlier and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

“Thanks mom,” I say as my mom puts the plates down and then sits back down. I take my first bite and moan in appreciation. “I swear this gets nicer every time. Heaven on a plate.”

My mom beams and I love how happy she looks in that moment. The moment passes and we work on our deserts.

“So, what were you telling me about this girl? Lucy, is it?” I say.

“Yes, Lucy. She’s just got out of a relationship. Her ex-boyfriend is a nasty piece of work. He beat her by all accounts and when she finally got up the courage to leave him, he began to stalk her,” my mom says.

“It sounds like she needs the police,” I say.

“She tried that. But because she didn’t want to press charges, she just wanted him kept away from her, there wasn’t much they could do. They advised her to get a restraining order, but like she said to Hayley, if the man is willing to beat her, and risk those consequences if she went to the police, he’s not likely to let the consequences of breaking a restraining order stop him from going after her,” my mom explains.

It makes sense. The sort of dead beat guy who would hurt a woman like that probably isn’t bright enough to understand what a restraining order even entails. I nod for my mom to go on. While Lucy’s story is sad, and I admit I am curious to know where it’s going, I still don’t really know what it has to do with me.

“In the end, she did the only thing she felt like she could do. She got a new cellphone number, blocked him on all of her social media sites, left her job and moved to a new house,” my mom says.

“Wow. That’s a bit drastic isn’t it,” I say.

My mom shrugs.

“Maybe, but it seems to have worked. She’s been in her new apartment for a week or two now and he hasn’t bothered her since then,” she says.

“Oh well, that’s something,” I say. “It’s a shame because she’s had to be the one to uproot her life even though he’s the one in the wrong. And she’s always going to have to be extra careful about who she trusts with her cellphone number, her address and stuff like that. Because I bet you that she has so called friends who will sell her out. Most people do.”

“Yes,” my mom says, nodding her head in agreement. “Hayley said the only people who have her new details are herself and Harriet, Lucy’s best friend.”

I think as I finish up my desert. It sounds like Lucy has hit a rough patch and maybe needs some money, but I know my mom would never ask me for money, especially not for someone I don’t even know. She hates that I bought her a house when my company hit the big time. She wouldn’t come to me for money for herself or anyone else. So, what does that leave? Maybe the girl is so scared she wants a body guard or something and my mom wants me to find one for her.

“The problem Lucy has now is that her savings are almost gone and she’s on the verge of having nothing to live on. Hayley will help her out with her rent and the like where she can, but she’s not exactly rolling in money herself,” my mom says.

Maybe she is going to ask for money. If she does, she can have it. As much as she needs. Lucy and Hayley must be important to her for her to come to me with this and that means they are important to me too.

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