Page 100 of Smolder

I tensed, and Sebastian released my hand to lay his on my thigh. His calm reassurance helped.

“You lived with my dad. Do you truly think you could have made it any more difficult?” The question came out harsh, but I’d meant it to. She was the monster under my bed after all.

She tensed, and a pained look flashed in her eyes. “I guess … well, I hoped that Maude would make sure you had a good life.”

“She did,” I replied. “Grams is the best mom a girl could have. But she started forgetting things my senior year of high school. She has full-blown dementia now.”

Jill’s eyes widened. “Oh no,” she whispered. “I didn’t know. I’m so sorry. She was the only reason I thought I could stay there. But I was young and selfish. And Vinson made it difficult. I found out later—years later, in fact—that I’d been suffering from postpartum depression. I hadn’t known that was a thing or anything about it when I had you. But when I had Alvie, my son, I had a very bad case of it. The doctor diagnosed me and gave me medications to help. I knew then that was what had been wrong with me after you were born. I think … at least, I want to believe that if I had known that, I’d have stayed or taken you with me. No. I know I would have taken you with me. I was just scared that I couldn’t be a good mother. It was the postpartum doing that to me. I felt the same way with Alvie.”

I sat there, knowing I should respond—or at least that she was waiting for me to. She had a reason for why she had left me. Somehow, that helped. A weight eased inside me that I hadn’t realized was there.

“Grams was great. Really. Dad didn’t make life easy for her, but she handled him just fine until she couldn’t anymore. By then, I was old enough to step in and take over.”

The server appeared at our table, and I turned to look at Sebastian.

“What can I get y’all to drink?” she asked as she barely glanced at Jill and me. Her main focus was Sebastian. It was something I had gotten used to with him.

He looked down at me. The concern in his eyes, the understanding, made me want to curl up against him and let him handle all my problems. I wouldn’t ever do that, but it was so tempting.

“Lemonade?” he asked me.

I nodded. “Yes, please.”

He motioned for Jill to order. The server asked him if she could get anything else for him, and he asked for bread to be brought to the table as he looked at me. When she walked off, I wanted to grin because she was clearly not happy that she hadn’t held his attention.

“Can I ask how you two met?”

I turned my gaze back to Jill. There was a soft smile on her face as she watched us.

“I witnessed her hustle two men at a game of pool one night while having a drink. Couldn’t take my eyes off her. Then, she made me work for it. Took me stalking her to get her to agree to a date,” Sebastian replied with a smirk on his gorgeous face.

Jill’s eyebrows shot up, and I wanted to laugh at his summary of how we had begun.

“That’s not exactly how it happened,” I told her, biting back a laugh.

He slid his hand over my back and leaned closer to me. “Yes, it is. I’m not embarrassed by my instant obsession.”

Jill chuckled. “Well, I can understand why he did it. I’m sure you’ve had boys falling at your feet since puberty. Now, tell me about thishustling men at poolthing.”

I shrugged. “My best friend, Anya’s, soon-to-be brother-in-law owns a pool hall. He used to let me go there, and I’d make some money.”

“Hustling men at pool, you mean,” she urged.

I nodded. “Yep.”

“She’s quite the entrepreneur,” Sebastian told her. “I’ve convinced her to come work on my family’s ranch with me though. I don’t much care for other men flirting with her.”

The server returned with our drinks and a basket of bread. Sebastian told her to give us a few more minutes to decide on food and sent her on her way.

Jill picked up her water and took a sip. Other than telling me about the postpartum depression, she hadn’t mentioned her son. My half brother. I was curious. I wasn’t sure I wanted to meet him yet, but I found I’d like to know about the only sibling I had.

“I’ll admit,” Jill informed him, “after we spoke on the phone, I googled you. I wanted to know who this man was, calling me about my daughter. It was impressive. The Shephard Ranch, that is. You’ve won a lot of horse races.”

Sebastian took a drink before responding, “Yes. We’ve been in the business for decades.”

She turned her gaze back to me. “And you’re not in college.”

I wanted to laugh—and not the amused kind either. “No. I’m not. With Grams’s dementia and Dad drinking away all our money, it wasn’t something that worked for me. Even with the scholarships I received, I couldn’t move off and leave Grams.”

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