Page 30 of The Holiday Boyfriend

Mom rolled her eyes while Edna chuckled as she watched us.

“You really outdid yourself this year, Bella. Everything is delicious,” she said.

“Thank you, dear. I can't take all the credit, though. You had your hand in more than half the dishes,” Mom said, patting the younger woman on the hand.

Edna had stars in her eyes as she looked at Mom. Edna was about ten years younger than my mom and had moved into the house next door around the same time I'd moved out five years ago.

When Mom learned that Edna didn't have any family to spend the holidays with, she invited her to join us, and since then, Edna has spent almost every holiday with us. And as the two of them grew closer throughout the years, I'd noticed how Edna's eyes always followed Mom.

Mom had said I was dense, but I guessed the apple never fell far from the tree. I watched as the two of them were still in their position. Mom's hand was still covering Edna's, and their gazes were locked for much longer than was normal among friends.

I narrowed my eyes at them and gave them another ten seconds while I finished the rest of my stuffing. When neither of them seemed to have the intention of moving, I cleared my throat.

“Is there anything you two want to tell me?”

Both of them jumped at the sound of my voice, their hands retreating to their laps like I couldn't see them.

Mom blew air through her lips and waved her hand in the air. “What? Of course not. I'm too old to be dating,” she said with a forced laugh.

“And I'm…I'm…” Edna's voice was originally very soft, but this time it sounded barely above a whisper. Her words trailed off at the end, as if even she was unsure of what to say. She peeked at my mom, but seeing that Mom was eating like nothing had happened, she hung her head to look at her own plate.

My heart went out for Edna, but I didn't know how to help her. Heck, I didn't even know how to help myself.

I thought everything had been going well with my arrangement with Austin, but it felt like something changed while he was on his business trip in the city. I got the sense that he was drifting further away from me with every passing day.

The doubts had anxiety blooming inside me and I was eager to see him again so that I could prove everything was all in my head. It didn't help that he'd texted me earlier saying that he was going directly to his parents' place instead of dropping home first, like he normally would. All evidence pointed that he was avoiding me, and I didn't know why.

“Besides, a sweet and talented young woman like Edna could have anyone she wanted, isn't that right?” The words were said in a casual manner, but I caught the little tremble in Mom's hand as she forked another mouthful of food.

“No, I—” Edna sat up and stared right at my mom, seeming as if she was ready to speak up her mind and make my mom eat her own words.

I watched them quietly, wondering if I should make up some bullshit reason to get out of there and give them some privacy. As I was about to excuse myself to get a drink refill in the kitchen, Edna's shoulders slumped and I saw the courage leave her eyes.

Mom was looking everywhere but the younger woman, so she didn't catch the sadness that appeared to be looming over her. I shook my head and tried to signal my mom with my eyes, but the dense woman only looked at me with confusion.

“Speaking of talent, did I tell you about the new project Edna's been working on? She had this idea to take her dried flowers and arrange them into a mini bouquet inside a glass ball that can be used as hanging decorations or Christmas tree ornaments. The online folk have gone crazy over them. Edna, dear, you have to make sure to save us one to put on our tree this year.”

Mom's eyes were shining as she told me every little detail about Edna's new venture. Meanwhile, the woman in question stayed silent as she let Mom speak, looking bashful. A happy smile had replaced the gloom from earlier.

The rest of dinner went by much more smoothly than the start of it. Conversation stayed on Edna's crafts and the online business she had selling said crafts as well as the garden Mom helped out with.

They chatted together so smoothly, almost finishing each other's sentences. The chemistry between the two women was blatantly evident, so why did Mom seem so clueless about it?

I wondered if Mom was subconsciously ignoring the signs as a way to protect herself from opening up to someone else. The divorce with my dad had taken a hard hit on her heart, considering the reason for the split was because the man couldn't keep his dick in his pants. Dad was decent enough to pay child support until I became an adult, but after that, I'd basically lost all contact with him.

I never understood why some people were never satisfied with what they had, especially when they already had the most amazing person by their side.

This was one of the reasons why I wanted to be exclusive with Austin even if we weren't really dating. Maybe it was selfish to impose my own personal ethics onto him, but when I was seeing someone, that person was enough. Nobody else even entered my eyes. Of course, another major factor was that I didn't want him to be with anyone else.

The idea of Austin dancing with some random person at the club had my chest tightening. He wasmine, and I wasn't going to share him. Our agreement was till the last dance, and I was going to take advantage of every single moment of it.

With the three of us working together, the after dinner cleanup went by quickly. We crashed on the couch afterwards to watch a movie with Mom sitting between the two of us.

My belly felt ten pounds heavier from the meal, and I could feel a food coma settling in. As I was drifting off, my phone vibrated on the coffee table, but I was too sleepy and comfortable to answer it.

Mom leaned over to check on the ID and said, “It's Austin.”

I immediately jumped up from my spot and grabbed the phone to take outside so that I didn't disturb their movie. “Say hi to him for me!” Mom called as I walked out into the cool evening air.

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