Page 39 of Say Yes To The Fake Date

“Are you okay?”

We visited with her friend, and then I drove us back into Whiskey Run. We were both silent the whole way home, and it’s not until we get home and are walking in the house that Mom asks me if I’m okay.

“I’m fine, Mom. Just tired.”

I think she’s going to let me walk away, but I should have known better. “You’re sleeping with that Evans boy, aren’t you?”

I’m not going to deny it. It’s time I came clean. Hell, I don’t want another day like today where neither Dom nor I know how to act. I need to put it all out there, and whatever happens with the fallout will happen. “Yes, I’m sleeping with him.”

Instantly, she’s angry. “He broke your heart. Did you forget about that? He cheated on you once, you don’t think he’ll do it again?”

I blow out a breath. “He didn’t cheat on me, Mom.”

She just laughs. “Oh, is that what he’s telling you now? Of course he is, Luciana. He wants to get into your pants, so he’s going to tell you anything you want to hear.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Mom, what made you this way? Why are you like this?”

She rears back in surprise. I’ve spent most of my life just listening to what my mom says, and she’s not used to me questioning her. “Honey, I’ve been cheated on before. I know how you want to believe they’ll never do it again, and it’s all going to be okay, but if they do it once… they’ll do it again.”

I think back to the past, and as far as I know, my dad was my mom’s one and only love. “Did Dad—?”

I can’t even get the words out.

She doesn’t confirm or deny it. “It doesn’t matter now, Luciana. All that matters now is you guarding your heart, and I’m telling you that if he did it once, he’ll do it again.”

I sit down on the edge of the couch. It’s like a shock to the system to think that my dad wasn’t the man I think he was. I remember in middle school, someone made a joke about my dad sleeping with his assistant, but it all blew over so fast, it was forgotten. I never once questioned the love my dad had for my mom. Could I have been wrong? “Mom, did Dad cheat on you?”

She sits down across from me. “I don’t want to do this—”

I shake my head. “Mom, tell me the truth. I deserve to know.”

“Yes. In college, when we first started dating, but he convinced me he didn’t. And then his secretary… I’m not sure how many there were after her. When your dad had his heart attack, I had told him a week earlier that I was divorcing him.”

My mouth drops. “But why didn’t you tell me?”

She shrugs. “You thought he hung the moon, honey. So did I at one point, and I didn’t want to ruin that for you.”

I clench my hands together in my lap. “Mom,Dom never cheated on me. He told me he did because he knew that would be the only way for me to walk away from him. He took to heart what my father said to him. He believed he didn’t deserve me, and he forced me out of his life. He loved me so much… he thought he was holding me back. Heck, today, he didn’t even hug me because he doesn’t want to cause any problems between me and you.”

Her words are not filled with as much venom, but she still says, “Honey, he’s an ex-con.”

I shrug. “Yeah, but I love him. I’ve always loved him. I’ve tried to move on, but I couldn’t.”

She clenches her eyes closed, and when she opens them, she nods at me. “Okay. If Dominic Evans is who you want to be with, I’m not going to come between you. I just want you to be happy, Lucy.”

“You deserve to be happy too, Mom. You need to know that. I’m sorry for what Dad did to you—”

“Ah, ah, none of that. You have nothing to be sorry for. Don’t you worry about me. I’m going to be just fine.”

I open my mouth just as the doorbell rings. My heart starts to race, thinking that it’s Dom. I swing the door open, and the smile drops off my face. Ray is standing in front of me, and he looks mad.

I straighten my back. “What are you doing here? I told you that anything you had to say to me needed to go through my attorney.”

He rolls his eyes. “I think we’re adult enough we can work this out between the two of us.”

I shouldn’t let him in. I know I shouldn’t, but I also want this to be over. I don’t care about the money anymore but I need to get my name off of everything. “Fine. Come in.”

I stand back to let him in. He sees my mom and turns on that fake smile of his. “Ms. Raven, what a pleasure to see you again.”

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