Page 45 of Sinful Palace

“Remember how I was talking to her the other day?”

“Yeah.”

“She ended up telling me a few things about her life, and one thing really stuck out. She said she feels very distant from you.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“She feels like you don’t notice her, and I think she’s pretty sad about it. She’s worried you prefer your dad over her.”

“That’s insane.”

“I know. I told her that she’s definitely your favorite parent. But she said she’s still worried about it. She feels like you’re always too busy to listen to her. Like you’re nowhere near as close as you used to be.”

Guilt rocketed through my system again. I had no idea my mother felt so unappreciated. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Shit,” I muttered. “What can I do about it?”

“Just talk to her more. Help her with stuff,” Willow replied.

“Like what?”

Her brows furrowed. “Well, I told her she should work on her hobbies and follow her passions to make her feel like she has more of a life, and she told me she’s really interested in politics.”

I nodded. “Yeah, she always has been. It basically runs in her blood.”

“I know. Anyway, there’s some guy she likes, and she wants to get involved in his campaign. I told her she should do it.”

“Yeah, she should. She’d be great at something like that.”

“The thing is, she’s worried your dad won’t approve, and she’s also worried about doing it without you. She said she’d feel as if she were betraying you, because you used to be so interested in that sort of stuff when you were younger, and she promised you’d be a team.”

I scratched the side of my head. “Jesus. I wish she’d just talk to me about this stuff.”

“She said she’s tried,” Willow said softly.

I groaned, shoulders slumping. “For fuck’s sake...”

“You don’t think she has?”

“No, you’re right. She has, but I always brush her off. I always think there’ll be time to deal with it later.” I shook my head slowly. “It even happened earlier today. She said she sent me an article about something she thought I’d like, and I said I was too busy for it. I felt bad, because I knew I might’ve offended her a little bit, but I had no idea I was making her feel soterrible.”

“I wouldn’t say she feelsterrible. She just wants to spend more time with you, that’s all.”

I scraped a hand through my hair. “Fuck, I’m such an asshole.”

Willow’s lips curved into a thin smile. “Well, I won’t deny that, but I don’t think you’re a bad person when it comes to your family. You didn’t mean to ignore your mom. You’ve just been overly focused on other things. Like me and the whole Chloe situation.”

“I guess so.” I blew out a deep breath. “I’ll go and talk to her this afternoon. Who’s the guy she’s interested in campaigning for?"

“Jeremy Carlton.”

“Oh. I’ve heard of him. He’s actually pretty decent. But you’re right—Dad wouldn’t be happy about her getting involved with him.”

“I told her she can keep it a secret. He doesn’t have to know everything.”

“No shit. I can help her out with that,” I said. I cocked my head to one side, forehead scrunching up. “Why do you want me to do this, anyway? I don’t see how it helps you.”

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