Page 97 of My Best Bet

Mrs. Conover had no plans of letting me escape. Her brown eyes bore into me. “Why are you here?”

I coughed to clear my throat. “I was going to get the cake, I figured–”

She shook her head. “No, I mean, why are youhere? With my son?”

“B-because I love him,” I stammered. “Them,” I corrected, because Lucy’s feelings mattered too. “I love them.” It felt all wrong that I was justifying myself to her, that I was saying these words to her first.

She huffed out a laugh, like what I said was ridiculous.

My shackles immediately raised. This did not need to happen today. “I’m sorry if you have a problem with my presence, but–”

“Idohave a problem with it,” she snapped tersely, her sharp chin raised. “I know all about what happened back then. You almost destroyed him.” She pointed the cake knife at me. “You came back to finish the job? Is that why you’re here?” Her eyes narrowed to angry slits. “Because I won’t let you.”

The air left my lungs.Ialmost destroyedhim?What the hell was she talking about? Why did she hate me so much?

She breathed out a sigh, like she was gathering herself. “Leave now and we can avoid a mess. Like I said, I know all about your past… issues.” She pursed her lips. “You are a terrible influence for my granddaughter, and you are dangerous for my son. You are not welcome here, and if you push back on this, you will be sorry. Now,” she gave me a robotic smile, “are we clear?”

I gaped at her in shock.Did she just…“Did you just threaten me?”

“Yes,” she said simply.

“Colt wouldn’t want–”

She laughed. “Go and tell Colt, honey. Go.” She shooed me. “See how it goes. He’ll never believe you. I’m hismother. You’re just some tramp who waltzed in and out of his life.”

It felt like I’d been slapped. When I finally spoke, my words came out as a thin whisper. “Why are you acting like this? Why do you hate me?”

“Because you’re not good enough for him,” she snapped. “And I won’t let you hurt himagain.”

I stared at her in shock.

“Like I said, leave now and we won’t have any more problems.”

I stood there having no clue what to do.

“Hey,” Colt walked in and grasped my shoulder. “Cake ready?” His gaze dipped to my neck first, which I knew was flaming up, then to my eyes, silently asking if everything was alright. “What’s going on?” He looked from me to his mother.

His mother shrugged in innocence.

I shook my head before storming out of the kitchen.

Breathe, just fucking breathe, Meredith,I internally screamed at myself.

Colt was on my heels as I made it to the guest room to grab my jacket.

“Woah, what’s going on? Where are you going?”

Words were trapped in my throat. The whole exchange became garbled as it rolled over and over again through my brain.Destroyed him. Not welcome. You will be sorry. Leave now.And what won out, what hurt the most, was her claim that my past issues made me a bad influence for Lucy. Mrs. Conover looked at me like I was forever damaged, like none of the work I did to recover would ever matter. She had a way of finding someone’s deepest fears and stabbing right at them, then twisting the knife.

“Meredith.” Colt caught my face in his hands. His eyes were full of worry as he brushed a tear away with his thumb. I hadn't even registered that I was crying. “What is going on? Talk to me,” he pleaded.

His words seemed to break through my trance, but it still felt like my air supply had been cut off, leaving me struggling to breathe.

“Breathe, baby.”

I shook my head. “I shouldn't be here. I don’t want to cause a scene. This is Lucy’s day,” I choked out.

His eyebrows slammed down. “Lucy wants you here, what are you talking about? What scene?”

---