Page 97 of Billion Dollar Mistake

I help my parents with their bills. I don’t have anything to spare right now. My needs have to wait. The car is fine. The mechanic last saw it over a year ago and said it’ll be fine for a while if I don't drive long distances. Which I don’t do.

I can’t mention any of that. We’re way too early in this relationship to have that topic thrown at him.

I don’t want him to be with me because he feels sorry for me. I want him to be with me, for me.

“I need to get home. My dad needs to eat by a certain time, and he’ll be asleep early. I want to catch him.” I say urgently. I’m not lying to get out of this conversation. It’s unfortunately true.

“Can I follow behind you in my car?”

I roll my eyes and tap his chest playfully. “No. Don’t be absurd, go home. I’ll be fine.”

His eyes are still locked on my car. He won’t leave until he gets something to put him at ease…

“How about I text you when I get there?” I offer.

He stays silent for a long moment.

“Fine,” he eventually grumbles.

I grab the sides of his face and bring it close to mine. I seal my lips onto his. He kisses me back. His body softens the longer we kiss.

“I’m still not happy,” he whispers between kisses.

“I know,” I say back, my whole body sinking into his. “But you’ll get over it.”

Chapter 24

Jeremy

“What are you doing for your birthday?” Grams asks. She’s sitting beside me in her chair while I’m on the sofa. The TV is on with one of her awful soaps. Who knew that a soap opera could last for twenty-five years? Me. I didn’t think anyone would watch it. But I guess I was wrong.

I turn my head to face her, closing the newspaper I was reading. “I haven’t made any plans yet. It’s not a big milestone.”

She waves her finger around. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a milestone. Everything should be celebrated, I...” She stops herself from talking. “I’d love to meet this woman we spoke about last time.”

My mouth lifts at her save.

“I want you to meet her.”

I realize I almost said before you go... And I hate that it popped into my mind.

Why is it so hard?

Why is life so unfair?

A part of me knows I shouldn’t feel guilty, and I should accept what is in the future and have her meet Nova. But none of my previous exes met my grams, so if Nova did, it would be a big fucking deal.

“We just started dating. Throwing her to the wolves might be a bit much.”

“We’re family, not animals.”

“Are we talking about the same family?”

She laughs. “Please. Why don’t you have her come here for dinner?”

“A dinner with the family?”

“Yeah.”

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