Page 28 of Forever His This Christmas

“I know. Come on, I want to go see the Eiffel Tower,” Abby pleaded pulling her towards the monument. They spent agestaking pictures of it, with it, and around it, and she couldn’t stop the smile that lit her face as she watched Abby. This was what she needed; this was precisely what she needed to focus on rather than her love life.

“Ah the joys of traveling with one’s siblings,” a voice to her right mused with a light accent. “Your sister seems to love my city, what of you?”

“I’ve always loved Paris,” she stated as Abby came back towards her. “Ready to go?”

“There’s a movie in the park tonight…can we go? Please? I can only imagine what people at my school will say hearing about this ‘what I did this summer’ story.”

“Sure sweetie,” she agreed sliding her arm around Abby as they began to leave.

“What must a man do to get your name beautiful?” the guy asked stepping out in front of them. Him calling her beautiful did nothing for her. Not the way Corey said it did. Not even the accent made it attractive.

“It’s Mom,” she answered, and his gaze went from her to Abby and back in surprise.

“What was that about?” Abby questioned when he let them leave without anything else said.

“Just some playboy trying to find his way into my bed. Don’t worry I know all the tricks and will not be fooled by them.”

“No? So then, you and Corey…”

“Abby, can we please stop talking about Corey? It’s over between us.”

“I just don’t understand why. I saw the photos you didn’t want me to see. I saw the way he looked at you in them. He’s in love with you.”

“Sometimes love isn’t enough to make something work. Sometimes you have to let go in order to move on, to find what you’re really meant to have. That’s what I’m doing. Stayingwith Corey would have kept me in place and that’s not what we need. If we’re going to do this, we have to do it together, entirely together. So, no more questions about Corey and whether or not I did the right thing, got it?”

“Okay, I promise, no more questions about why you’re not together anymore. Does this mean that you’re going to not date though, cause I’ve seen the way guys look at you? They’re all going gaga over you.”

“We’ll see how it goes. First, we’re going to finish our vacation, then we’re going to get settled in Chicago, and then we’ll see about letting someone else into our lives. Aunt Diane will be bringing the rest of your things, so we need to make sure we’re back in time to meet her, okay?”

“Okay…vacation mode on, love life questions off,” Abby agreed making her laugh as they took the next steps together.

Chapter 9

“Mom, I can’t find my algebra homework. Have you seen it?” Abby called from the living room as she finished her conversation with her assistant regarding the last-minute meeting that had come up on her schedule.

“It should be on the desk Abby. I told you to put it in your bag last night,” she added grabbing it before dropping a kiss onto her forehead. “Go you’re going to miss your bus.”

“Thanks Mom, you’re the best,” Abby said with a grin before rushing out.

Lisa shook her head, letting out a breath as she grabbed the files for the meeting, which meant she would have to go into the office today instead of working from home. It was the best part about the job, and she loved being able to work in her lounge clothes instead of dressing up every day. It also gave her more time to spend with Abby but that obviously wasn’t happening today.

She rechecked her information before getting dressed, groaning when she heard a knock on the door. It was likely her neighbors again, wanting her to have dinner with them or something worse. The couple was big into alternativerelationships, and she was tired of telling them she wasn’t interested in anything they suggested.

She opened the door and stood there in surprise for a moment before getting over it and growing annoyed. “What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you too Lisa, yeah the drive was great, the family’s great too,” Gerald said taking a step towards her. “Are you going to invite me in or not Sis?”

“Not, I didn’t invite you so just leave.”

“No, not until we talk,” he replied and the look in his eyes said he’d spill everything right from where he stood if she didn’t let him in. She wasn’t sure exactly what he was likely to say but it wouldn’t be pretty from the way he was acting.

“Fine, come on in, but I have to be out in less than an hour to get to my meeting on time,” she said stepping back to let him inside. She closed the door and stared at him waiting for him to talk.

“What the hell is your problem?” he asked getting straight to it. “You haven’t answered anyone’s calls in months. Youmovewithout telling us anything. It took me three months to figure out where you were. Your supposed best friend hasn’t heard from you in ages, she didn’t know what you were up to, didn’t know you’d broken up or moved out of the city when you lived right next door to her! Not to mention the fact that you broke up with theoneperson that we actually liked. Do you honestly enjoy screwing up your life?”

“Are you finished?” she asked when he finally shut up. “Good,” she said at his nod. “Then listen closely because I’m only going to say it once. It’smylife. If I want to take a promotion and move without telling you nosy ass people where I’m going, then I’m going to do it. Now get out of my house so I can get to work. Some of us make our own way in the world. Some of us don’t rely on Mommy and Daddy to provide themwith jobs. Some of us worked our asses off to get where we are and aren’t about to let others ruin it for us. This is my life, if you don’t like how I live it, then get the hell out.”

“God, I thought you’d finally grown up. When you were with Corey, you seemed like an actual human being who cared for more than just them self. Do you know how much you hurt him—do you? I do because I saw him a month ago when I was in New York looking for you. He looks like hell but all he told me was that you’d left to move here. You used Dad’s tiny heart scare to break up with him and then don’t have the decency to even make sure he’s still breathing. Yeah, I’m sure you were very concerned about him. It’s always been about you, hasn’t it Lisa? If you weren’t the center of attention, then you didn’t care. For once in your life, put someone else ahead of you and call our mother. She’s going frantic trying to get in touch with you. I don’t need her dropping dead of a heart attack and having to take on the running of the resort. I like my life the way it is, whether you think I worked for it or not.”

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