Page 109 of Bossy Hero

“Well, I love this for you, Mom. Honestly. Big Al’s hot. Get it, girl.”

A grin sneaks its way onto my face. “Yeah, he sure is.”

“How long?” she asks.

“How long have we been dating?”

“Or banging. Smashing. Smushing. Whatever you call it.” She snort-laughs. “Obviously, you were hitting it when he followed you to California, right?”

“Yep.”

And that was the first timehesaid he loved me.

“Before that?” she prods for more answers.

Welp. Might as well spill it.

“Alan’s been in my life for a long time, darling,” I confess.

“How long is long?”

“Sixteen years.”

She inhales so deeply that the back of my head caves in from the loss of air pressure in the room.

Kidding.

“Mother! Sixteen years? And you kept it a secret the entire time?”

“Well, we weren’t together all those years,” I explain, then tell her about the night we met and the emails that followed for years.

“Hang on,” she says, finger raised to halt my story.

“What?”

“I’m remembering something from many years ago, when Leo got that medal. That night, Dad showed up at the ceremony and caused all the drama. And it was Big Al who threw him out. Literally.”

Despite there being no question, I know what she’s asking. “We hadn’t done anything but flirty talk in emails at that point. But Alan had made it clear he was interested in dating me.”

“Ouch. Then you left with Dad.” Air hisses through her teeth. “That must have sucked for Big Al.”

And for me.

That night was... rough for so many reasons.

“So then after that?”

“The first time we kissed was when he came for Leo’s welcome home party.”

Sammy’s tone shifts slowly, tension settling around us. “Oh yeah. I remember that night.”

All traces of her good humor evaporate, no doubt because memories of her abusive ex-husband Craig have slipped in. The fuck nugget who made her fake her death.

Rest in hell.

“Anyhow. When we moved to Florida, we became closer friends and eventually started seeing each other.”

“While I was... gone?” she asks.

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