Page 110 of Lyrical

“See, there you go again. I love Cassie, and I can’t be around when you talk badly about her. I think it’d be best right now if I moved out until I get my own place.”

Hell, fucking, no. “Let me guess, Cassie just happens to have the extra space.”

He sighed, shaking his head like he was frustrated.

Oh,he’sfrustrated?

I had a flicker of hope when he sat down beside me and put his hand on mine. “You mean a lot to me, Mom, and I hate fighting with you. But I also love Cassie, and I can’t put our relationship in jeopardy. As long as you’re with Chase, you’ll never accept her, and there’ll always be this stress around us.”

“Whether or not I’m with Chase has nothing to do with Cassie. I wish to God I would’ve thought to record her earlier. Then you could’ve heard her say….” I rushed to find the exact words before he stopped me. “How you’d do anything for her, and she’s going to keep you and—”

“So? What’s so bad about that? It’s true.”

“She also mentioned all the ways she’s going to ‘comfort’ Chase during the seminar. How she’s going to show him more pictures and….” Fuck, I was getting frazzled.

“Mom, that’s enough, okay? Can you not see what this guy is doing to you?”

“You are so damn intelligent, Daniel, so, how can you be so frickin’ ignorant when it comes to this woman?”

Way to go, Jillian. That’s the way to help your case.Butnothingwas working, and I was just so…. Argh. My vessels were going to start popping off one by one.

“Since when do you have such a temper?” I dropped my head down, feeling defeated. “I want you in my life, Mom, I really do. It hurts me to say this. I hate it. But I think it’d be better to stay away from each other right now. I want Cassie with me, and she doesn’t deserve the turmoil.”

My head jerked up. “What? What do you mean stay away from each other? I’m your damn mother.”

“You don’t think this is difficult for me too? To see you like this? Chase is the problem here and as long as you’re—”

“No.” That time I was doing the damn interrupting. “No, Chase is not the problem, and you’re talking crazy. We’ve always been so close. I just don’t understand any of this.” My voice had dropped down to a whisper.

“When you and Chase are no longer together, I’m sure you’ll see things differently. See Cassie differently. I can’t do this to her, and I’m sure later on you will understand.”

“No, I really don’t think I will.”

“I’m sorry. I just can’t be around anymore if Chase continues to be.” He stood up, and I almost tumbled to the floor.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “You need to decide if he’s worth it, Mom. You need to decide if he’s worth more to you than me.”

“Jills?”

My lids crept up halfway. Something was knocking me around.

“Jills?”

The noise invaded my eardrum, and I wanted to swat it away like a fly.Wait, Perry?My eyes opened more to see her practically on top of me.

I yawned. “What are you doing here? What time is it?” My desk came into focus.Oh shit.

“It’s almost noon. What are you doing sleeping?”

I sat up straight, quickly scanning the monitor. I hoped I hadn’t passed out during a call. “I don’t know. I tried starting work really early, and I got tired.” My eyes drooped. “I guess I still am.”

I glanced at the calendar. God, it was only Monday? Not even twenty-four hours had passed since the most convoluted conversation I’d ever had with my son.

“I expected to hear from you last night after Daniel left. How’d it go?”

“I’d talk about it, but I’m getting really freaking sick of crying.” I turned my head towards her. “Are you feeling all right? You look pale.”

“I feel pale.” She dragged her hands down her face. “Do you have anything crucial this afternoon?”

---