Page 113 of Merciless

“That son of mine will be a man capable of great romantic gestures,” Elizabeth’s voice came from behind me.

“I think that can be said for both your sons,” I took the daffodil pendant between my fingers.

“Probably,” her eyes followed the movement of my hand. “Sylvia just told me you decided to stay in California after graduation.”

I had finally summoned the courage to share my plans with my mother. I told her about my dream of opening a bakery. I was skipping college after all. She didn’t like it, I could see it on her face, but she kept her mouth shut, which was a huge progress.

“I always thought I needed to go somewhere else to be happy,” I tried to explain to Elizabeth. “To get away from my mother. Turned out I needed other things. I’m at a good place right now. I don’t want to…”

“Screw it up?” she asked.

“Ah,” I pretended to be shocked. “You’ve been under some bad influence I see.”

Elizabeth laughed.

“I love it when Lucas comes back home from college, but it’s so nice to live in a house where no one says the F word every ten minutes.”

“He looked happy. He had a lot of fun on your account.”

It was hilarious. He used every possible minute to tease his mother and it made everyone laugh their asses off.

“He’s a smartass,” she waved my comment off.

“Did you two talk about me?” I finally asked the question that was nagging me for days. Elizabeth’s gaze moved around for a few seconds before she answered.

“I think I meddled enough in your relationship. I should stop.”

“Now?” I cocked my head with a smile on my face. “I just want to know if he’s still mad at me.”

“Did it look like he’s mad at you?” Elizabeth sounded amused.

“No. I even thought we were going somewhere, but he probably was just being friendly while I drooled all over him like a bulldog.”

“You should ask him,” Elizabeth suggested.

“I…I probably won’t.”

“Why not?” Elizabeth looked intrigued.

“It’s too complicated now. Maybe if I hadn’t left for England, things could be different. And he’s probably over…”

Elizabeth looked at something behind my back and cut me off.

“Hm. Okay, honey. It’s your call,” she planted a kiss on my forehead and turned her back on me. “See you later.”

Mm, okay. That was weird. I followed her with my eyes, but I didn’t see anything that would make her leave in the middle of a conversation about her son, but she must have had a reason. I focused back on Troy and the girl he was into, and they had melted the ice while I wasn’t looking. They were watching something on his phone and laughing.

My mother was nowhere in sight, and I didn’t want to look for her around the house. Too much trauma there. I didn’t think she would pull the same shit from five years ago, but I wasn’t risking it.

I went outside. The backyard had some renovations. There were two sunbeds next to each other in one corner, and I decided that would be a perfect place for me. I could just lie around and think.

So, I positioned myself on one of them, and I closed my eyes. The first image that popped inside my head was Lucas’s face. His smile. The way he lifted his brow when he was provoking me.

“You are flirting with me, nemesis.”

It felt so good him saying those words to me. We rarely had a chance to spend more than two minutes alone after that conversation, but I had the feeling he would actually want to talk before he left for Seattle. And then he just came yesterday morning to say goodbye. He waved at me like a was his grandma.

“What are you thinking about?” a male voice asked, and it melted my insides. I squeezed my eyes shut even harder.

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