Page 38 of Any Cowboy of Mine
“So, how was the rest of your night?” Brad asked, directing any and all communication to his father.
“Well, I finally got this ol’ battle-ax to join me on the dance floor,” Brad’s dad said, wrapping an arm around his wife and planting a sloppy kiss on her cheek. Brad shot a quick glance at his mom, and he would have bet his next book advance a smile played on her lips for the briefest of seconds, but it was gone before he could react to it.
“I’d have liked to see that,” Brad said, meaning it. It wasn’t that long ago that they’d all been close. At Owen and Paige’s wedding he’d danced with his mom and made her laugh so hard she had tears streaming down her face. Something had happened since then to change their relationship and besides him breaking up with Julie, he had no idea what it could be. If it was just that one event, that one thing that was setting her off, then at some point they’d have to have a talk. He missed his mom, but just as much, he missed the way they all used to be together.
“Yes, well, in order to have seen it, you would have had to have actually been at the wedding, not scampering off with some girl you just met,” his mother chimed in. And there it was. He thought it would take a few minutes for her to really get going, but man, had he underestimated her.
“I’ve known her since college, Mom. Not that it seems to matter.”
“Since your father and I just saw Steve and that girl’s friend hanging all over each other in the hotel lobby, can I assume the food you ordered is forher?” The way she said “her” made it very clear how Marge felt about Brad’s date.
“Her name is Sophie, Mom. You could use her name when you talk about her.”
“I’m hoping she isn’t going to be around long enough for me to bother committing her name to memory,” Marge said.
Brad winced.
“Now, Marge,” Alan started, but she put up a hand, her definitive don’t-you-dare-interrupt-me gesture, stopping him in his tracks.
“No, now you two listen to me. Bradley, you can do whatever it is you want in your free time, which seems to be all the time now that you’ve made it big, or whatever you want to call it, but that’s another topic we can get into later,” she started.
Great. He couldn’t wait to have yet another conversation about his novels and their success. He thought she’d be happy for him, but of course, she’d taken Julia’s side in the whole thing, feeling like he put too much of his relationship with Julia in the books. Well, yeah, he wanted to tell her. Of course he did. All writers pulled from what they knew to some degree. Why shouldn’t he have profited a little (okay,a lot) from the pain she’d put him through? The point was, he and his mom had been through this song and dance a dozen times already. He wasn’t about to get into it again.
“But you will not,will not, disrespect this family or our friends on their time, do you hear me? We were at Julia’s wedding,herbig day, and you took advantage of that with some girl you barely know. Were you trying to make Julia jealous? No, in fact, don’t answer that. I’m not sure I want to know the answer. So help me, Bradley, sometimes I feel like I don’t know you at all anymore. Success is supposed to change you in a good way, but you? You’ve let it go to your head.”
Brad took a deep breath. He was aware his mom was opinionated about his choice of careers, especially the way he’d gone about it lately, but he’d never heard her this divisive, this cruel. Even Brad’s father looked like he’d swallowed a bug. So much for expecting him to bring the cavalry.
Brad took a deep breath before responding, careful to choose the precise words he wanted to say and no more. God knew he could open up a can of worms if he wanted to.
“Yeah, Mom, I hear you,” Brad began. The smug look on her face solidified into stone.Too soon, he wanted to tell her.Too soon.“But I do not agree with you, about any of that. And if you want to have this conversation here, I’d be happy to, but you have to know I have a beautiful, naked woman in my hotel room I can’t wait to get back to. So, if you have nothing else to add, we can resume this pedantic lecture when I get back home. I love you, both. Have a safe trip home.”
As he expected—though he did admit it made him giddier to see it in person rather than just imagine it—his mom’s jaw visibly dropped, and her eyes became round orbs that almost popped out of her head. His father tried to hide a smile.
He’d said his piece, put her in her place, but he didn’t need to rub it in. She was still his mother, no matter how misguided she’d become when it came to him and Julia. At the same time, she wasn’t at all correct about her perceptions of him. He’d been working his tail off at the library, volunteering and giving back to the community that housed him while he was getting started writing. He did, however, feel slightly bad for the heartbroken look on the blonde’s face when he’d announced he had a naked girl back in his room. Sure, that was probably more information than anyone needed, but he’d needed to make his point, and by God, he had.
He hadn’t shown up to the wedding, or left with Sophie, to make Julia jealous. His mom completely overestimated how much he thought about his ex, and he would be sure to tell her that when they spoke next. A different time and a different place. He simply couldn’t say goodbye to Sophie because his mom said he should, or because it wasn’t the most opportune time for him to have met her. That might make him a jerk in Julia’s eyes, his mom’s too, but he was past caring. It was damn time he started looking out for what would makehimhappy.
His mom huffed a deep breath of air in his direction and turned to her husband.
“Bring my food to the hotel, please. I have no desire to wait where I’m not wanted.” She turned on her heels and stormed out, leaving Brad and his dad alone, both of their hands in their pockets, both rocking on their heels.
“Sorry, Dad,” Brad said. “I just really like this one, and don’t want her to get away. I didn’t mean to ruin Julia’s day.”
“Aw, son, you didn’t. Chris did a pretty bang-up job of that on his own. Listen, you got a sec? Come sit with me while we wait. I’ll tell you what I told Owen back in the day. It still rings true.”
Brad glanced at his watch again. It was 8:46. Shit. It was nearing nine in the morning. He hoped he hadn’t made Sophie wait long enough that she worried about him.
“Sure, Dad,” he said. His old man was there for him rain or shine. He could spare a few minutes to make sure he didn’t end up on both his folks’ shit lists in the same morning.
The blonde behind the counter called his name, gave a sad sigh as she handed over his food. Brad wished he could shoot Sophie a text to tell her he was on his way. Damn him for not getting her number last night, a move that seemed both a rookie mistake and glaring error right now. Add it to the vastly growing list of things he didn’t know about her that he wished he did.
They sat in silence for a minute while Alan decided on food for him and Brad’s mom. When he’d placed his order with another server, he sat back in the booth they shared, arms crossed over his chest, a contented smile on his lips.
“Okay, shoot,” Brad told his dad, taking out one of the boxes and grabbing a fork from a silverware set on the table. If he was going to talk about his love life with his dad on Christmas morning, he damn well was gonna eat while he did it. It was the only way both of them were making it out of this alive.
“Well, son, you have to know I’m talking to you on my own here. I don’t want you thinkin’ I’m including your mom in this—she’ll have my hide. God knows the woman has her own thoughts on things, and every time I try to figure ’em out or make sense out of ’em, I end up in the dog house. So you’re on your own, there. Okay? I’m not skinnin’ myself alive on Christmas, not with the pot roast she’s got in the fridge.”
“Fair enough,” Brad said, smiling. He shoved a forkful of cheesy eggs in his mouth, his stomach roaring with approval.
