Page 76 of The Situation
“Oh, honey. That’s something almost every woman thinks about at least once in their life.”
“Fucking a younger man?” I ask, plopping the pie in the preheated oven and setting a timer.
She laughs. “Well, yes, that, too.”
I turn on the tap and rinse the dishes before putting them into the dishwasher, all the while my thoughts are still with Aurora. I didn’t see her in the office today. Jackson said she and Tally had meetings elsewhere and would be gone most of the day. Luckily, there was more than enough work to keep me busy—but not enough to keep her off my mind.
“I’d imagine that she’s in a place in her life where she’s been through some shit, survived even more shit, and she’s now looking for a soft spot to land. But she doesn’t trust anyone because everyone has let her down. And when she looks in the mirror, she’s no longer young and beautiful in her eyes.” Mimi’s delicate shoulders lift and fall. “Being a woman can be hell.”
“Try understanding one.”
But as the words leave my mouth, I’m reminded of Aurora’s mention of fuzzy blankets.
“Instead of living my life in survival mode and just getting through each day, I’m trying to craft a life that feels good. Soft. Feminine. Like my life is wrapped in a fuzzy blanket, if that makes sense.”
She laughs. “Women aren’t that complicated if you really want to understand them. This one sounds like she’s not been valued or feels she’s given more in her relationships than she’s received. And she’s going to make you work for it, Tate. You won’t win this one over by pussyfooting around.”
“I just want to be loved, dammit,” I say, fake crying.
This makes Mimi shake her head and chuckle.
“I’m gonna tell you one thing right now,” Mimi says, closing the dishwasher and starting it. “I can’t have you hanging around here every week, moping about some girl. I’ll share you with her, but I’m not sacrificing my Tate time to save hers. You’re gonna have to shit or get off the pot.”
My jaw drops. “I haven’t even known her a week yet. Give me some time.”
“Do ya listen to anything I say?”
“Every last word of it.”
“Then start drawing the connections with that big brain of yours.” She heaves a breath as she sits in her recliner on the other side of the bar. “She turned down dinner and then showed up. She told you it was only for one night, right?”
I nod, unsure where she’s going with this.
“She left you the next morning,” Mimi recalls. “She’s telling you over and over that she doesn’t believe that you’ll continue to be there for her. I’d bet a dime to a donut that she’s felt neglected in her previous relationships.”
“Why do you care so much, Tate? Isn’t this more trouble than it’s worth?”
“Who knew you were a love guru?” I ask.
“You’d be surprised. I was quite the rascal back in the day.”
“Mimi, I have no doubt.”
I take my usual spot on the couch beside her recliner and watch a Western we’ve already seen several times. The weather is beautiful, so I figured she’d want to go on a golf cart ride and terrorize the neighborhood, but she hasn’t mentioned it.
I study her, taking in the bags under her eyes and the spots on her skin. She’s starting to look her age. She’s beginning to look tired.
It scares the shit out of me.
When Jason married Chloe, her grandmother came with the package. Jason moved her into his renovated guest cottage so she could have her own space. Between me, Ripley, and Renn, I think she gets more visitors than our own mother.
If Mom would stay stateside longer than a week every two or three months, we could see her more often, too.
“We got a new security guy,” Mimi says.
“Yeah, I heard that was happening. We received a memo a couple of months ago telling us that Landry Security was hiring new personnel and that we should expect to see new members on our security teams.”
She points a bony finger at me. “Well, I don’t like my new guy, and I told Jason as much.”
