Page 31 of Unrealistic Expectations

“Are we understood, Laurie?”

Her mother stopped short and turned to Galvin. “I’m leaving, aren’t I?”

“You’re very welcome for the hotel and flight change.” Galvin was really turning the screws. Jessica would never have the balls to dress down her mother like this, but her mother would never comply with her. But Galvin was a man—a big, strong, handsome, charming man. And her mother was so accustomed to following the whims of a man, she couldn’t turn off that conditioning on a dime. This might be the only time in history that Jessica was grateful for the patriarchy.

“Thank you, Galvin,” her mother said, though everyone knew that she really meant, “Fuck off into space.”

Galvin ignored it and tapped on his phone for a few moments. “I wish I could say it was a pleasure to meet you. Your car will be outside in a few minutes. You’d better go.”

Her mother didn’t meet her gaze as she walked out.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Galvin was a little nervous to look at Jessica after her mother left, but he couldn’t avoid it forever. He knew that he’d overstepped, but her mother had pissed him off. Jessica hadn’t even seemed like herself when her mother was here. It was as though she’d shrunk into the smallest version of herself, and he couldn’t stand it.

He slowly turned and faced her. To his surprise, she didn’t look pissed. And, to his delight, she looked like herself again. She was always beautiful to him, but the way she looked at him now stole whatever words he’d planned to use to reassure her in that moment.

“I’m sorry about her,” she said.

Why was she apologizing for her malevolent floozy of a mother? He wanted to tell her that he admired her for surviving a childhood with that woman. He wanted to gather her up in his arms and hold her until he was sure she was okay. It was unfamiliar, and he’d never felt so enmeshed in a relationship before. “No need.”

“Well, I’m sorry you needed to spend thousands of dollars to get rid of her. My way probably would have been cheaper.”

“But it would have cost you more in the long run. She would have kept coming back.” He’d used the voice he generally only deployed on contractors who tried to cheat him on materials.

“She’ll come back anyway. She always does.” Jessica flopped onto her couch, and he sat right next to her.

He might not really have the right to give her forehead kisses and reassurance, but that didn’t change the fact that he wanted to. He would give her whatever she needed. “What do you need?”

Jessica was leaning back so her head was resting on the back of the couch, and she was staring at the ceiling. She sighed and turned to him. “I don’t need anything.”

He didn’t believe her. He knew that she was trying to be strong. “Did Luke just let her talk to you that way?”

Jessica nodded, and Galvin added that to the long list of reasons he hated that guy. Wasn’t that one of the main reasons that people did long-term relationships? To have someone around who would always take your side against people outside of the relationship? Galvin wasn’t even her real boyfriend. He was just her fuck buddy with PR benefits, but he knew that she’d really been in a tight spot if she’d invited him into that shit show.

“Where’s your dad in all this?” She hadn’t shared much about her upbringing, and he totally understood why after today. But he wanted to know every bit of her story.

She shrugged. “We never met. And I don’t know who he was. Laurie said that he died, but I’m pretty sure that was a lie just like everything else.”

“So it was just the two of you until you went to college?” He couldn’t believe that she’d survived that. And it explained why she was so tightly controlled. She’d had to be, growing up around the utter chaos of that woman.

“Most of the time she had a shitty boyfriend.” The way she said that made his stomach drop. He wondered if any of the shitty boyfriends had put their shitty paws on Jessica. It made him want to hunt them down and rip them limb from limb.

Galvin was an easygoing guy. No one would ever guess that he was capable of feeling the depths of rage he felt just thinking about something bad happening to her. He barely recognized himself. But he didn’t let most people get close enough to arouse his own instinct to protect.

But Jessica was right there. He didn’t think she knew it, but there was no way he was letting her go after this PR relationship ended. He just couldn’t do it.

“I think you need a hot bath and a decent meal,” he said.

Jessica shook her head. “You’ve done enough for me today. I feel like I could sleep for about a thousand years.”

“Sleep for a thousand years at my house, then.” He really needed her to say yes. He couldn’t let her stay here, alone. And a change of scenery would do them both good. “You know my place is cozier than yours is, and I have all the stuff to make you pasta carbonara. I also ordered some desserts from that place you love on Fairfax.”

“Did my mother warn you that she was coming to town so you could stock up on comfort food?” she asked with a slight smile. His company might not be all that appealing, but he knew her well enough that she wouldn’t turn down carbs on carbs.

“And I have wine that will wash away the taste of that antifreeze your mother was drinking.”

“You’re going to think this is wild, but she hates good vodka. She started bringing Popov along with her when she showed up, so I started stocking it. That way, she couldn’t make fun of me for being too fancy for her. I don’t even like vodka that much. That was more of a Luke thing.”

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