Page 15 of Mysterious

I roll my eyes at the less-than-subtle suggestion I see in her expression as she wiggles her eyebrows. “Not that.”

Faking innocence, she shakes her head and opens her eyes wide like she can’t believe I could think she was suggesting he and I had sex in the dressing room. “What? It might have happened. You never know. Since you were so happy, I was just wondering.”

“I was happy because I knew I was safe when Liam showed up to take over security. Once I knew he was in charge again instead of Michael, I was able to relax and have the best show of my life.”

“What was your mother thinking with bringing Michael back? Is she intentionally trying to sabotage you? I can’t believe she did that even after you told her not to. Have you talked to her since the show?” Ainsley asks before taking a sip of champagne.

I shake my head and down my entire glass. “No, and I don’t want to. I’m still so pissed at her that I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my cool and not fire her for what she did tonight.”

“Really?” my life coach asks in utter shock. “You wouldn’t really fire Andrea, would you? I mean, she’s not only your manager. She’s your mother.”

“Then she should act like either one of those goddamned things. She didn’t do her job as my manager tonight, that’s for damn sure. As for acting like my mother, well, she hasn’t been good at that job for a long time.”

I stop myself before I get too upset again. I can’t think about my mother’s antics tonight. I want to stay in this good mood for when I go to speak to Liam in a little while, and everything about my mother’s behavior will only make me angry again.

Holding out my glass for Ainsley to refill, I force myself to smile and forget about all of the madness. “Tonight isn’t for that. Tonight is to celebrate a great show, and that’s what I’m doing. My mother will have to wait until tomorrow.”

Wiggling her eyebrows again, Ainsley gives me a knowing smile. “So what are you planning to do to celebrate?”

I look around at the group of people who’ve been with me through thick and thin and then back at her. “This? You act like I have some secret plans to do something else, Ains. This is it. I’m going to finish this glass of champagne and then I’m going to take a hot bath full of bubbles. And if I don’t fall asleep in the tub, I’m going to relax with a mud mask on my face because I swear to God my skin felt like it was blowing up with zits under all that makeup tonight. It’s been a while since I had to wear that much.”

“You looked gorgeous, just in case you’re thinking you didn’t.”

Something about the way she says that makes me curious, so I ask, “Why would I think anything else?”

She shrugs, but since she’s Ainsley, she can’t help but tell me what’s on her mind. “I just thought maybe someone had said something negative about how you have to look for when you’re on stage.”

I know what she’s saying, but she’s wrong. Liam never said a word about how I looked. I’m not even sure he noticed.

“Well, you’re wrong. Nobody said a thing about my makeup or the quantity I had to wear tonight.”

Holding her hands up in front of her, she pretends to surrender on this point. “Okay, fine. I just wanted to make sure that you know you look beautiful no matter how much makeup you wear.”

“Why do you always think the worst of him?” I ask, startling her with my very pointed question.

“I don’t.”

“Yes, you do. You never have a nice thing to say about him, and now you’re accusing him of making me feel bad about wearing stage makeup when I never said a word about him even mentioning it. You know, I have thoughts of my own. I can decide that my face feels gross with all of that covering my skin all on my own.”

I see I’ve hit a nerve when her expression shows how hurt she is by my words. “I wasn’t trying to say that at all. I know you can make your own decisions. You might forget, but I’m a big fan of you doing that. I have been since the day you hired me. I’m just worried that he’s got this wholesome thing in his mind about how women are and that’s not you.”

Instantly, I feel defensive. “Why? What has given you the impression that he’s all about people being wholesome? I’ve never seen that in him. Liam is simply a good man. Why can’t you just accept that and be happy that I like him?”

By the time I finish speaking, my voice is far too loud and everyone turns to stare at me, ceasing their conversations to pay attention to ours. Ainsley throws them all a dirty look, and they resume talking, but I know they heard me say I like Liam.

So what? I like my bodyguard. I wish everyone would stop acting like it’s the crime of the century or the most scandalous thing since Catherine the Great decided to hang out with horses.

I stand up from the pool deck to leave before I start to feel as unhappy as I did when I was dealing with my mother earlier. “I’m going to go take that bath. Enjoy the party,” I say, looking down at Ainsley.

“Please don’t go yet, Mia. I’m sorry. I think you misinterpreted what I said, and I want to fix that,” she pleads.

But it’s no use.

I didn’t misunderstand what she said now or every other time we talked about Liam. She doesn’t like him. I don’t know why, and I don’t care. She doesn’t have to like him.

“It’s fine. No harm, no foul. I just need to go relax.”

Turning to look over at everyone enjoying themselves, I raise my glass in the air and smile at them. “To a great show with great friends! Enjoy, but remember we have to do it all over again tomorrow night!”

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