Page 110 of Tangled Up In You

"Stop saying that. It's an incredible opportunity for you, but I wouldn't have a job there."

"You'd find something. You always do. You could teach yoga. I'll be making enough money for both of us, and we'll have a beautiful and free apartment to stay in."

"Why would he give you an apartment? Are you involved with this man, Mom?"

"We had a fling once, but we're not together now. He has come into good fortune and wants to share it with me. It's as simple as that."

"Nothing is ever that simple. Maybe he wants to restart your relationship."

Her mother waved that idea away. "I don't think so, but even if he did, I'd say no."

"Even with the apartment on the line?"

"It's not a quid pro quo arrangement, Molly."

"It just seems too good to be true, Mom."

"You always say that, but you're not often right."

"Just some of the time." She let out a sigh. "Why are you really here, Mom?"

"You know why…I just told you. I want you to come with me."

"Because it's Paris, or because you want to get me out of Whisper Lake, and now you have an incredible offer to lure me away? I know you didn't want me to come here."

"The offer just came up. And I didn't want you to come here, because going back is never a good idea."

"Was it that? Or were you trying to keep me away from Neil? You didn't want me to find out that you broke up with him, did you?"

Her mother's eyes lost a little of their sparkle. "You spoke to him."

"Yes. He told me that he asked you to marry him, and that you said no, which seems odd, because that's the opposite of what you told me. You said you wanted to marry him, but he didn't want you. He told you that the two of you had no future and that he didn’t want to be a stepfather."

"I don't need a recap, Molly."

She ignored that comment. "You were devastated. We had to leave immediately. You couldn't risk seeing him again. Your heart was broken."

"My heartwasbroken. I cared about Neil."

"You cared about him, but you didn't love him."

"I wanted to," her mother said quietly. "I really did. I thought I could be the woman he wanted. I even tried to be that woman, but I just couldn't be her. I couldn't settle down and live here forever. I didn't want to have more kids. I wanted to travel and see the world, and Neil didn't want any of that."

"Why didn't you just tell me that?"

"Because you were more in love with him than I was. You wanted him to be your stepfather."

"You hurt me when you told me that he'd turned his back on both of us."

A guilty expression flashed through her mother's eyes. "I didn't mean to say that. I was just desperate to convince you to go with me."

"Convince me? I was seventeen; I had no choice. But you should have told me the truth."

"I know. You're right."

"And you should have told me that you stole Neil away from Jackie Hunt."

"I did not do that," her mother said, coming to life once more with a new fight in her eyes. "Neil was not interested in Jackie. He wanted me. You can ask him that if you don't believe me."

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