Page 82 of Be Your Anything
“And thank you for meeting with us on such short notice,” I add, settling back into my chair and bringing my glass to my lips.
Once Trent has left the table, my mother bats at me with a free hand. “It’s not even noon, Lucas. Cool it with the whiskey.”
I grin at her then tilt my glass back and finish it off in one go. Letting out an uncultured, smacking sound of refreshment, I place the crystal tumbler back on the table.
“Do you want to order anything else?” I ask her, my eyes connecting with the server’s. She moves in our direction immediately.
My mother rolls her eyes, but I can see the sparkle behind them. “Well why not? You heard the man—he has astanding tabhere.”
The sarcasm in her voice makes me laugh, something I enjoy since it happens so rarely when my mother is around.
“Mom, don’t tease. He was just being nice.”
She rolls her eyes as I lift my glass at our waiter, signaling that I’d like another.
“Sure, but he assumed we don’talsohave a standing tab here,” she says, her tone exasperated. “As if we’re only allowed to be in here becauseheallowed it.”
I wince, realizing I need to cut this off at the knees or else suffer through a lecture on the patriarchy. I don’t want to discuss that today, not at the end of a long week.
“It wasn’t too long ago when you used to have a drink with brunch—a few drinks, actually,” I interject, trying to shift the subject away from Trent’s good intentions and back to my mother.
She narrows her eyes at me. “It has been years, and you know it. I have my three-year chip in my damn purse if you wanna see it.”
But I can tell she’s teasing.
This is one of the things I both love and loathe about my relationship with my mom. She was young when she had me, so in some ways, we’re more like friends, or maybe more like she’s a cool aunt I grew up with.
I know she loves me to death. I know she’d do almost anything for me. But that doesn’t change the fact that she wasn’t really a mother to me growing up and still isn’t one today.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s probably for the best. I don’t have some crazy sadistic streak that should have been spanked out of me as a child, and she doesn’t see the need to control me.
But itisa delicate line to walk, a tightrope that can sometimes feel like it’s so strained it might snap and leave me plummeting to my death.
“Everything sound okay with you? In regards to the meeting?”
I take the rare opportunity of having my mother in front of me to make sure I clear the air as quickly as possible. I might be in the habit of avoiding most things in life—problems, decisions, arguments—but I don’t do that with her.
Probably because she has the amazing ability to separate her emotions from her logical mind, allowing us to talk about things that might upset other people.
Like the continually growing size of my wealth and what I’ve done with it in regards to Hannah and Ivy.
“Obviously I think you’re a little bit crazy, but that’s never seemed to get in your way before,” she says, giving me a little bit of a grin. “Have you talked to HannahorIvy about this, though? Because it definitely affects them.”
I shake my head and lean forward, resting my forearms against the edge of the table and folding my fingers together. “I’ve only seen Ivy a few times since I found out she was aware that I’m her brother. It didn’t really seem like a good time to bring this up.”
My mom nods. “Thanks for telling me about her, by the way. I had no idea Henry fathered other children, let alone the daughter of someone I know.”
That was the reason I’d met my mother thirty minutes early, before our Friday morning meeting with Trent—to talk to her about Hannah, who she already knew about, and Ivy, who she didn’t.
Being the person to tell her that the only man she ever loved slept his way through town and fathered multiple children was not a fun conversation to have.
But she took it well.
As well as can be expected.
Meaning she won’t drink her emotions away, but she will find some other way to deal with them, most likely involving her Black AmEx card.
Shopping is definitely her preferred method of therapy.
