Page 63 of Fair Play
“It’s all right.” Billie shrugs. “I’ve got plenty of snark if she wants to interrogate me some more.” She takes a bite of lasagna and smiles. “This is great, Mrs. C. It wassonice of you to bring dinner.”
My mother beams. “Well, I figured Rome wouldn’t want to cook, and something homemade has to be better than takeout.”
“Definitely.” Billie gives my mom a sweet smile and digs in.
Anyone who stands up to Catalina gets bonus points in my book. Not that Billie needed any—I’m already crazy about her. Watching her stand up to Catalina is hot, though.
I’m going to give her a very special reward for that later tonight.
Chapter 23
Billie
It feelslike an eternity before Rome’s mom and sister leave. We eat, clean up the kitchen and then they want to spend time catching up with him. I finally excused myself around eleven to go shower because I have a busy day tomorrow and need to get some sleep. That seems to have been the catalyst to get them to go because I’ve just wrapped myself in a towel when there’s a soft knock on the door.
“Hey—can I come in?”
“Of course.” I smile as Rome leans against the doorway. “Are they gone?”
“Finally.” He reaches out and gently pulls me against his chest. “I’m sorry about Cat. There’s a lot of baggage there because of my ex.”
“They’re still friends, right?”
“Yeah. And instead of believing my version of events—you know, her own brother—she took Denise’s side. Mom has done her best to mitigate things, get us in the same room together,but I’m waiting for an apology. Until that happens, I don’t think there’s any way for us to rebuild the relationship.”
“I’m sorry. I probably should have kept my mouth shut but?—”
“Absolutely not. I loved you standing up to her. It was hot.”
I grin. “Yeah? Me being a bitch turns you on?”
“I don’t think that’s a universal theme, but when it comes to someone trying to make you feel bad? Fuck yeah.”
“Good to know.”
“I had a romantic evening planned for us,” he says after a moment. “A nice dinner. Expensive bottle of wine. A little conversation and flirting…”
“That sounds wonderful.”
“This is part of the reason I keep my family at arms’ length. They always do shit like showing up unannounced. Not to mention bringing along the sister who was partly responsible for my disaster of a second marriage.”
“I think your mom had good intentions. And your sister, well, I believe she’s trying to make it up to you but doesn’t know how. Your mom is caught in the middle. You’re both her children, so she wants you guys to get along.”
He grunts. “Cat and I were never close. She always struck me as a mean girl. Not to mention, she was still in grade school when I left for hockey.”
“How many years between all of you?”
“I’m the oldest, turned thirty-five in January. Athena is next, and she’s turning thirty in October. Cat’s the baby and she’s turning twenty-eight in December.”
“You mom waited a while and then had two back-to-back, huh?”
“I think she had trouble getting pregnant the second time, and then she just wanted to have a third right away while she still could. Personally, I would have stopped at two.”
“That’s mean,” I say, chuckling.
“Takes one to know one. And yes, I know I sound like I’m ten years old. But Cat, man, she gets under my skin.”
“You can’t let her. Just give it back to her. Bad relationship? Throw it in her face. A time she spent money and needed your parents to bail her out? A class she failed in college? Whatever it is, you throw it back at her. She’ll learn to stop once you embarrass her a few times.”
