Page 140 of Crazy In Love
“We don’t need to discuss this, Margaret. We haven’t been fair, and you know it. Just apologize and agree to give our daughter what she deserves, and has deserved for a long time. This is nonnegotiable for me, and as an equal-stakes holder, I will fight you on it. And Jacoby is in agreement with me, as I’m sure your mother would be as well.”
Mom looked away, and then nodded. “I’m sorry if we’ve been unfair. I just didn’t want to hand you everything on a silver platter.”
A silver platter? I wanted to laugh. But I wasn’t here to make things worse. So I forced a smile.
“I appreciate the apology. Thanks for meeting with me. Jacoby said he’d draw up the new contracts, and we can all sign them.”
“Is that really necessary?” she gasped.
“Unfortunately, I think it’s very necessary at the moment. But hopefully with time, I won’t feel that way down the road.”
My mother looked stunned by my words, and I stood up as they did the same. We hugged goodbye and agreed to meet for dinner next week.
I wanted to fix things with them.
But I had boundaries now, and they’d need to respect them.
I made my way to the Honey Biscuit Café. Eloise was in town, since they had a break in their hockey schedule, and Henley, Lulu, and I were all meeting her for dinner.
I gave Oscar a quick hug, and he patted my shoulder. “Don’t you ever settle, Emilia Taylor. You deserve the best.”
It was probably the sweetest thing he’d ever said to me.
I guess people had grown used to seeing me and Bridger together, and they were quickly figuring out that something had changed.
“Thank you. You’re very observant,” I teased.
“Not at all. That mopey ex of yours looks like someone ran over his puppy. He was in here the other day, and when I asked him about you, he said he hadn’t seen you in a while. When I told him he was a fool to let you go, I thought he’d get mad.” He shrugged as he led me to the table where the girls were seated in the back.
“And did he get mad?” I pressed. Why was I asking? Why did I care so much?
“Nope. He just looked me dead in the eyes and said, ‘Biggest mistake of my life.’”
My chest squeezed at his words.
Bridger hadn’t come to talk to me, outside of the one text that he sent every morning.
I nodded. “Thanks for letting me know, Oscar.”
He winked and walked off as I slipped into the booth with the girls.
“I have a surprise for you,” Lulu said, reaching into her shopping bag. “I know you’ve been down since your breakup… but this just might help.”
She pulled out four advanced reader copies of the next book by Hannah Chase. It wasn’t due out for several months.
“How did you get these?” Eloise shrieked, and then covered her mouth and looked around to make sure no one had been offended by her outburst.
“My mom has a client who works at the publishing house, and she got us each a signed copy.” She handed them out and then wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “I figured you could use a nice escape.”
“You have no idea,” I said.
And that was the damn truth.
thirty-nine
. . .
Bridger
