Page 36 of The Bachelor

“Because taking a selfie in a meeting is more professional than just asking her if I can snap a picture?” The image amused her.

“Good point. Damn, that’s a shame.”

Avery flopped onto the couch and put her feet up on the ottoman. “It is.”

“Avery Skye O’Leery, get your dirty boots off my ottoman.”

Some things never changed. “Sorry, Mama. But don’t you think it’s weird that I’m going to meet Chance? I mean, he is my half-brother.”

Her mother gave her a searching stare that made her want to squirm. “In blood, sure. But y’all were raised completely different. I don’t know Chance, but don’t get any ideas about confessing the truth to him, Avery Skye. People don’t take kindly to poor bastard relations popping up out of nowhere.”

“That’s not what I am,” she said stubbornly, even though she knew it was true. It wasn’t Chance’s responsibility to be kind to her, especially when she would be confirmation that his father had been unfaithful to his mother. “I’m not going to say anything, though. I don’t want to end my career before it starts.”

“Good. Do you want something to drink? I’ll get you a sweet tea.”

Because sweet tea fixed everything according to Dawn O’Leery. “No, I’m fine.” She pulled her boots off and blew her hair back out of her eyes. She had shared a lot with her mama over the years. Hopes, dreams, disappointments. Heartbreak. But they’d never really talked about sex. She was reluctant to now, but considering Lauren was the only one she’d told about Shane, she really wanted to talk to someone who knew her, inside and out. So it was time to get personal.

As soon as her mother was on the couch next to her, resting her hand on Avery’s knee, she sprung it on her. “So when I got to Nashville I hooked up with this guy.”

Her mother’s eyebrows shot up. “You mean, like you met up with him somewhere? Did you meet him online?”

“No, I um…I met him on the street when I left my purse in Ben’s truck and I had no money or phone. He bought me a coffee.” This was the awkward part. While she and her mother had certainly talked about sex, it was about how she hadn’t had any, not that she had. But she forced the words out. “And I slept with him.” It sounded a whole lot more impulsive than it had actually felt at the time. That night, it was as though she’d been bewitched or something. Taken in totally by his calm, soothing demeanor and thoughtfulness. He hadn’t been pushy then. Now he was and it was confusing her.

I want you to be mine. I just want you to know that.

Good grief, his words had been ringing in her ears nonstop for the last twenty-four hours.

“Oh!” Her mother looked shocked. “Well. Okay. Are you upset about it?” Her grip tightened on Avery’s knee. “Wait. Honey, are you pregnant?”

“No, no!” Avery said hastily. She would have mentioned that right away if she were.

“Thank God.” Her mother’s voice was dripping with relief. “Not that a baby isn’t a blessing but that would put your dreams on hold and that’s not what you need right now.”

“Exactly.” The thought gave her the heebie-jeebies frankly. She wasn’t ready to care for another human being and she couldn’t believe her mother had done it solo. “The problem is, I didn’t know he was famous. He’s actually going to be in that meeting Monday and I’m embarrassed. Really embarrassed.”

“Oh, Lord. Does he know you’re going to be there?”

“Yes. He’s the one who got the meeting for me. Though he says it’s not because we know each other, you know…that way.” Intimately. Ugh. She couldn’t bring herself to say that out loud in front of her mother.

“So you’re wondering if he’s just stringing you along? Honey, I don’t think he would set up a meeting with Jolene Hart, risking his reputation, just for some fun.”

When her mother put it that way, it did sound hugely arrogant on her part. Like she had a golden vagina or something. “You’re right. I just don’t know how to act. That’s why I came here this weekend. I needed to get away. I don’t want to do anything stupid before the meeting.” Like have sex with him. She needed a distraction from the temptation to text him and ask him things she had no business asking.

“I think that was smart of you. Anyway, let him chase you for a while, then he’ll get tired of it. They always do.” Her mama winked. “I should know.”

“That’s what I aim to do. Just walk the fine line of not giving in to him, but not being rude either.” She rubbed the back of her head. She was starting to feel the tension ease. “So tell me about how you met Buck Rivers again.”

Her mother made a face. “Oh, why do you want to hear that old story? Dumbest choice of my life. But it resulted in the best gift ever—you.”

“Because apparently, I too can be swayed by a charming man with money, even if I didn’t know he had money. I don’t know. I just want to hear it.” It had never been that she wanted a father figure in her life so much as she had always just been curious as to what Buck Rivers looked like and sounded like in person. If her father was a total unknown, inaccessible, she doubted it would even matter. But over the years, Buck had been the oddest tease. She could read about him, hear the songs he wrote, know where she likely got her songwriting talent from—but she could never talk to him. It was weird.

“They had this crazy-big house, him and his wife. It was notorious for wild parties, lots of drinking and drugs. Their son Chance was about six years old at the time, and I thought it was BS when my co-workers told me that he was like a party favor, rolling joints for guests. But I saw it with my own two eyes when we were there to cater one of the parties.” Her mother pulled her feet up and tucked them under her butt. “We were essentially invisible in that crowd of the rich and famous in Nashville. No one introduces the catering staff to anyone beyond the chef and the housekeeper. I was too young, too new to Nashville. I had no clue who Buck was, that he was the owner of the house we were in or that he was married. Our company did parties there the second Saturday of every month and he was always there, and he started talking to me, coaxing me into the music room, pointing everything out like he was a tour guide. He talked about himself in third person. ‘Look at Buck’s Grammys.’ ‘Look at this cigar collection. Buck keeps it in this secret humidor that looks like a painting. See how Buck goes cheap on the furniture? All this stuff is knockoffs.’ Later I realized he was amused that I had no idea who he was. It was a big joke to him.”

Her mother made a face, shaking her head. “I was naïve and he was a charming son-of-a-gun. When I realized he was married, you know I never wanted to tell him about you. But I did, out of guilt, thinking he might want to be involved with his child. He was a complete jerk about it.” She shrugged. Whatever hurt she might’ve felt about Buck’s reaction was clearly long past. “That was that. It was his loss. You’re the best daughter any mother could ask for.”

Avery could say for certain her mother had never made her feel like a mistake and whatever anger she must have felt at Buck back then, she had let it go. Her words now made Avery’s throat tight. “Thanks, Mama.” Even if it no longer bothered her mother, it bothered her that Buck had deceived and manipulated. It had always made her sad. But Buck Rivers was dead and her mother had long ago come to peace with it. “I still think you should have sued him. Not because I ever wanted anything, but because he should have had to share the burden with you.”

“But you weren’t a burden,” her mother said gently.

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