Page 93 of Totally Off Limits

It didn’t matter. In the long run, this was for the best. She had to live her own life, for better or for worse, and now she was captain of her own damn ship. It wasn’t her fault that her parents felt like she’d mutinied.

But she could do this. She would finish out her degree in less than a year if she put her nose to the grindstone and, if the relationship with her parents became too unbearable, she could always find a good preschool for Mia. Until then, though…she had to deal with this uncomfortable situation.

As she pulled up her car to their grandiose house, she tried to focus on how it was still plenty light outside instead of the darkness brewing inside her. Maybe she and Mia could have a picnic dinner at the park a few blocks from the condo.

That thought helped lighten her step as she walked toward the front of the house.

Before she could even get to the entrance, her father stepped outside. “Do you have a few minutes, Sierra?”

Just the tone of his voice made every muscle in her body tighten. While growing up, her father had never been a harsh taskmaster (that had been more the realm of her mother). He was often the parent who feltdisappointedthat one of his children had done or not done something he’d felt they should.

So why the hell did this feel like an ambush?

Well…if she were being disowned, she might as well get this shit over with now. “Sure.”

When he held the door open for her, she walked through. From behind, her father said, “We’re out on the deck.”

As she made her way through the house, her father behind her the entire time feeling much like a jailer escorting her down death row, her brain tried to assess what was coming. If they were cutting ties with her, she might have to spend the entire weekend trying to figure out her Mia situation.

It would work out. This could be for the best. The push she needed to finally move on with her life.

On the deck, her mother sat at the large table covered with an umbrella. It wasn’t until Sierra forced her legs to keep moving that she noticed Layne and Jasper on the lawn playing with Mia. Her mother stood as she got closer to the table in that stately pose she’d had as long as Sierra could remember. “Have a seat.”

Why the fuck couldn’t she relax?

Sitting exactly opposite her mother, Sierra glanced again at her daughter far off, wanting to simply snatch her up in her arms and run away forever. Her father sat to her left, between her and her mother, facing the yard.

Wanting to seem willing to listen—her typical pose as the daughter who tried like hell to please her demanding parents—Sierra faced them, noticing the tea service in front of her mother for the first time.

“Would you like some tea?”

“No, thanks.”

Without asking, her mother poured tea for her father. “We wanted to talk with you for a bit, Sierra.”

“That’s what dad said.”

On cue, he began talking. “Your mother says you’ve been running off every evening when you pick up Mia.”

A slight flicker of anger touched her nerves—because it wasn’t just her who’d been acting strangely. But raging at them now wouldn’t accomplish shit, and she knew it. All it would do would be to make her feel upset and furious, ruining her whole evening.

No more. It was time to be an adult.

So she nodded. “I didn’t think you guys wanted to talk to me right now.”

After filling her own cup, her mother set the teapot back on the tray. “You’re right, Sierra. We needed to process the scene you made at the barbecue. You left quite a mess to clean up.”

It was time to accept her role in all of it. “I’m sorry, mom. It just hit me right then that I didn’t want to marry Austin.”

“And you didn’t stop to think that it was an entirely inappropriate time?”

Stay calm.“You’re right. It wasn’t. But there would never be a good time for what I had to say. Trying to settle for Austin would have made for a miserable life—for both of us.” As her mother’s mouth started to open, Sierra shook her head, raising a hand with an index finger pointed up, hoping her mother understood she wasn’t done talking yet. “I know Austin will make an excellent husband for the right woman—but that woman’s not me.”

“Because you’re in love with that Mickey Morton character.”

“I could blame it on that, but it’s more than that. I will never love Austin like he deserves to be loved—and that would be unfair to him and me.”

While her mother sucked a deep breath through her nose, her father slowly nodded his head like he often did. Were they waiting on her to say more?

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