Page 2 of Save Me

Her mother, doing her best to look innocent, stood by the sink pretending to be washing dishes.

“The water’s not on and there isn’t even anything in the sink!” she snapped, slamming her purse down on the stainless steel workstation, causing the contents to fly out everywhere. Muttering a curse, she frantically scooped it all up before facing her mother. “How could you do that to me?”

“Do what?” Kate Donovan asked sweetly. “Fix you up with a very nice, respectable man?”

“He just tried to put his hand in my mouth!”

Kate looked at her oddly. “Why would he do that?” Then she paused. “Oh…because he’s a dentist. It’s what they do.”

“He’s not a dentist. He’s a periodontist, and yes, there is a difference because he described it for over forty-five minutes! And I don’t care what he does for a living! You don’t put your fingers in someone’s mouth in the middle of a restaurant!”

“We’re really just a pub; we’re not very formal…”

“Mom!”she cried and stomped her foot. “That’s it! Enough! You need to stop with this! I don’t want you fixing me up with anyone! Ever!” Her voice grew louder with each word and yet her mother’s expression was completely serene. “I’m serious. If you ever do this to me again, I’ll…I’ll…I’ll mess up your computers!”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Ryleigh,” Kate said wearily. “Besides, we know a dozen people who could fix the computer.”

This was getting her nowhere.

Again.

If she was going to put a stop to this, she was going to have to do something drastic.

She just had no idea what that was just yet.

Picking up her purse, she glared at her mother. “This isn’t over. From now on, I’m not coming here when you call with some sort of emergency. You’re like the boy who cried wolf. I don’t trust you, and I’m never going to believe you again.”

A loud sigh was her mother’s only reaction.

“Why can’t you just leave me alone on this?”

“Because you have terrible taste in men and I’d like to see you settle down. You’re not getting any younger and I want grandchildren.”

“Need I remind you that Arianna and Will are planning their wedding and I’m sure Liam and Tessa won’t be too far behind? I don’t see why I’m the only one you’re fixated on.”

Kate stepped in close and gave her a soft pat on the cheek. “Such a pretty girl. Why can’t you find a man to go out with more than once?”

There were so many answers to that question, but the only one to come out was, “Because you keep fixing me up with jerks and weirdos! If you’d just leave me alone and let me date who I want, I guarantee you I’d go out on more than one date!”

It was amazing lightning didn’t come down from the sky and zap her right there on the spot. She’d gone out with several men of her own choosing and none of them had resulted in second dates either.

Was she a little picky? Maybe. But she wanted a man who was intelligent, funny, good-looking…someone who understood her geeky side and didn’t mock her for it.

And definitely someone who didn’t stick their fingers in her mouth over dinner.

“Ryleigh,” her mother began patiently. “You see this as me picking on you, but I’m your mother and I see how you push people away. You’re too young to be this set in your ways. No one is perfect and maybe if you stopped trying so hard to show the world how much you know, you could let someone in.”

On the surface, it sounded like the perfect thing a mother should say to her daughter.

But Kate Donovan was no ordinary mother.

“Maybe you could put the same effort into doing your hair and buying some decent clothes as you do into proving how smart you are and…”

And there it was.

Inwardly, Ryleigh sighed.

Liar.

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