Page 58 of Broken Bonds

I search for his mouth with mine, while my hand slips under the gray shirt that he’s wearing—the one that I’m so jealous of because it embraces the muscles of his chest in the way that I want to.

We’re definitely crossing the Mississippi tonight.

“I’m sorry,” says a female voice that seems to come from the terrace. “It seems like I’m interrupting a special moment here.”

However, it’s clear to me that the speaker doesn’t have a drop of remorse.

“What are you doing here?”

Chapter 19

“Mother?” Lionel asks, leaping away from me like a child who has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I know they’ve spoken on the phone several times since we came home, but this is the first time she’s been here. “W-what are you doing here? At this time?”

While she looks at us carefully, Lionel does his best to disguise the bulge in his pants. I feel the heat rising on my face. I don’t even dare look at her. She’s the one who came unannounced, and we have nothing to hide.

“I came to see you, of course.” Of course. She said those words like it were three in the afternoon, and it was the most normal thing in the world to show up unannounced at her son’s house.

Lionel gets up with the agility of a feline and walks to where she is, kisses her on the cheek, and gives her a brief hug.

“You’re doing better, I see.” Mrs. Kral’s cold attitude changes entirely in front of her son. “I’m so happy about it, my boy. You look quite recovered.”

Lionel smiles as he drops his right arm around her. “I feel much better, and you should thank your daughter-in-law for that. She has been taking good care of me, feeding me, and making sure I take all my medications as the doctor prescribed.”

Lionel’s mother’s gaze falls on me, and although she’s still as cold as ever, I feel her melt. Maybe just a little. But hey, no step is too small.

I can’t hate this woman forever, she’s my husband’s mother, and I know how important family is. Although small, I don’t know what I would do without mine.

She puts a hand on her son’s cheek, stroking it tenderly. “I’m glad to hear that.”

Lionel smiles back and kisses her palm. They seem to have a close relationship. Nobody could say that he’s just her adoptive son. What I have in front of me is a sign of love. Flat and simple.

“We just had dinner, and I know pizza is not your favorite.” Doesn’t she like pizza? Somehow it surprises me, and at the same time, it doesn’t. She seems too sophisticated for something as mundane as pizza.

“Too many carbs,” she replies, waving her hands. “I need to stay healthy so one day I can take care of your children.”

Lionel laughs, throwing his head back. “Mom, you are healthier than me.”

“Precisely, because I take care of myself.”

“May I offer you a glass of wine?” he asks her, and she nods. “Let’s go to the kitchen then.”

My husband turns away from his mother to come to where I am and help me get up. I was thinking of leaving them to speak alone, maybe his mother has come here to talk about something personal, and she prefers to do it without me being present.

However, Lionel’s attitude is clear. He wants me to be there with them.

Once we are in the kitchen, Mrs. Kral and I sit at the breakfast bar while Lionel moves around looking for a glass and opening a bottle of white he got from the wine cooler.

“Do you want another beer, Hvezda? I think the other one must be warm already.”

Asshole, he said it with one of his patented mischievous smiles, and my neck flushes red as I remember what we were doing until we were interrupted.

“Yes, thank you,” I reply, glaring at him. He continues with the same carefree and nonchalant attitude.

“The two women in my life, sitting having a drink on a Friday night. Who would’ve known?”

His mother responds by clearing her throat. I keep staring at him, although daggers no longer come out of my eyes.

“It would be better if we could sit somewhere other than these stools,” she rebukes him. “It would be nice to see some furniture in this house for a change.”

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