Page 7 of Claiming His Prize

Todd didn’t say anything, and Allison felt new tears spark in her eyes, responding to the aching feeling in her heart.

“I’m not leaving,” she said in a low, fierce voice. “I’m not leaving, and even if you kicked me out, I wouldn’t go back to my parents or to Roger. I wantyou.”

That startled a laugh out of Todd, and the bands around Allison’s chest relaxed.

“I’m not going to kick you out,” he said, holding her tighter, if that was even possible. She wriggled back against him, encouraging the attempt to get even closer. “I was just thinking, maybe you should try talking to them again, that’s all.”

“I’m not going to them, they can come to me,” she replied a little hotly.“They’re the ones acting ridiculous.”

“You could give them a demonstration on how to act, be the bigger person and make the first step,” he said, although there was now a tone of amusement in his voice.

She shook her head. “That will just make them feel as though they’re right.”

“Not if you stick to what you want. Then it will just show them you still want to talk and try to work things out.”

Stroking the back of his arm, Allison played with the dark hairs, trying to make them stand straight up as she thought.While she did miss her parents because they were her parents, she wasn’t sure she was ready to make the first move.After all, her father was the one who had pretty much kicked her out of their house, telling her she wasn’t welcome back until she was ready to let him dictate her love life.Her mother never went against what her father said.Both of them cared too much about appearances and their own social climbing and not enough about her.

Part of her felt if they really loved her, they would realize she should be allowed to live her own life—work if she wanted to work and date who she wanted to date—whether or not they approved. Told she had to live by her father’s dictates or be unwelcome in their house, made her feel as though she wasn’t loved by them at all.And the idea she should have to approach them first, risking confirmation of their lack of love, risking a second round of rejection... Well, she wasn’t sure she could handle that.If they came to her first, she would know they were putting her before their pride and social status.

But she didn’t want Todd to feel like he was the cause of the rift because he truly wasn’t. Possibly, he was a symbol of how she was going to decide things for herself, but he definitely wasn’t the entire reason.

“I’ll think about it,” she said finally.

He gave her a hard, little squeeze, as if he wanted her to know he appreciated the compromise, but he wasn’t entirely pleased she wasn’t immediately taking her suggestion.

Unlike her parents, however, he didn’t reject her, just held her tight as they fell silent and finally drifted to sleep.

* * *

Three days after the housewarming party, Allison was in the school library when her mom called.Of course, since her phone was on silent, she didn’t know until she left the library after finishing her research and took out her phone to turn the volume back on.Chewing her lip, she stared at the missed call and voicemail notifications.

Part of her dared to hope, maybe her mom was calling to make a peace offering. The sinking sensation in her stomach was her more pessimistic side disagreeing.She should have expected this, really. After all, her parents had told her straight out, they wanted her to get back together with Roger. Then they’d gone to work on him. Now, it was time for the follow-up.

Almost a standard business model. A straight-on hit, followed by one from the side, then the follow-up. Best to send in the more sympathetic party—i.e., her mother. Wouldn’t do for her father to show himself backing down. A kind of familial good cop/bad cop, with a side of heavy manipulation.

Getting into her car, she decided to let the engine warm up while she listened to the message. Spring was coming, so was graduation, and she was looking forward to both.While she liked cold weather at first, she was always ready for it to start warming up by the time it finally did. She would also be happy to be finished with school, so she could just work full time instead of splitting her time between work and classes. Especially since then, her evenings would be completely free to spend with Todd rather than doing homework.

Tightening her lips, she tried not to get her hopes up too much as she dialed her voicemail and put in her password.

“Hello, Allison.” Her mother’s elegant tones resounded in her ear, managing to sound concerned and cool—the sound of home. “I was hoping to hear from you before this, but since you haven’t called... Your father and I know you saw Roger this past weekend and hoped you might have some... news for us.We miss you, sweetheart. We hope you make the appropriate decision, and we’ll see you soon.”The words cut through Allison like knives, but the biggest cut of all came as pleading entered her mother’s voice. “Come home soon, dearest... We love you. I want my daughter back... please...”

Guilt and fury fought for space in Allison’s emotions as her mother hung up, and the voicemail asked if she wanted to delete or save the message.She saved it, wiping away the treacherous tears at the corners of her eyes.The last bit of her mother’s message was so emotional, not at all cool or elegant, as if she truly did miss Allison and wanted her back.Yet... the love her mother spoke of, that welcome back, was obviously conditional on her acquiesce to her parent’s expectations. Her mother wouldn’t even say Todd’s name or reference she was in a relationship already, much less that Roger was. Did they not know about Roger and Diana? Or did they simply not care? Allison found it all too easy to believe both scenarios.

3

When Todd came home that night, Allison was busy baking. The kitchen was warm from all the use the oven had been put to, and there were several trays of baked goods on the kitchen island. She was decorating sugar cookies with homemade icing while she waited for her salted caramel butter bars to be done.Fortunately, for both her and Todd’s waistlines, it was easy to get rid of baked goods. All she had to do was take them into work, and it was like vultures descending on a feast.

She’d come a long way from the days when she’d made chocolate chip cookies to help her relax.While she didn’t consider herself a great cook or baker, she’d learned a lot, and enjoyed trying out new recipes—especially on days like today when she was upset. The more she thought about her mother’s voicemail, the more upset she got. Considering how much her mother said ‘we,’ her father obviously knew her mother was calling, although he wouldn’t lower himself to talk to the daughter he’d cast out until she was back under his thumb.

Further incensing her was the complete lack of regard for anyone’s desires other than their own.Somehow, she couldn’t see Roger hiding his new relationship from her father, he was far too honorable and honest, which meant her father knew, even if her mother didn’t, and at least one of them just didn’t care.The absolute disregard for anyone’s lives but their own made her furious, and she’d worked out that emotion, kneading bread.In fact, she’d gone a little overboard kneading the bread, and it hadn’t come out very well, but at least she’d felt better after pounding the poor dough for almost an hour—until her arms were too tired to do anymore.

The fact her parents were trying to tempt her back into their fold with the promise of their love, rather than just loving and accepting her for who she was, was the worst part.Yes, we will love you, but only if you do what we say.That hurt the worst. Despite how they were treating her, Allison still loved her parents unconditionally, the way it was supposed to be. She kept telling herself they didn’t mean it the way it sounded, but that’s how it felt right now. Especially since she didn’t feel like her arguments were particularly convincing.

Standing in the doorway to the kitchen, Todd looked damn good in his black suit, crisp white shirt, and the red patterned tie he was loosening from around his neck.Eyeing her almost warily, he draped his jacket and tie over the back of the couch before sitting at one of the stools at the island, next to a tray of pinwheel cookies.Poking at one, he found it was warm but not hot and picked it up as Allison gave him a little smile. She set down the cookie she was icing and picked up the next one.

“So, what’s wrong?” he asked.

It was useless to pretend nothing was.Even if she hadn’t told him about her penchant for baking when she was upset, Todd could read her like a book.The sheer amount of baked goods would probably tip off a much less observant man.

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