The Lying Season (Seasons #1) - K.A. Linde Page 0,78

I was. I just didn’t think that was possible. Not when she continued on this way as if my wants and needs and feelings didn’t matter.

So, I stuffed the guilt in my back pocket and held my hand out. “The key.”

And to my shock, she took out the gold key and placed it in my hand. I closed my hand around it, and it felt like a ten-pound weight. My mother looked sad. But then it cleared away as fast as it had come, and she just returned to indignant.

“If you didn’t want me to help with your apartment and wardrobe, you could have just said so,” she sneered.

Then, she turned on her four-inch Manolo Blahnik heel and exited my apartment, leaving all the new and old furniture where it was. And two disgruntled movers with two new chairs in the hallway.

Sam took one look at me and closed the door before the movers could come inside. Leaving them to work it out with my mom.

And then I collapsed in on myself. I crumpled into a heap on the hardwood floor, holding my head in my hands and shaking. I couldn’t believe that had just happened. I’d always had a volatile relationship with my mother, which had only gotten worse over the years of my defiance. But it had never come to a head like that.

“Hey,” Sam said. He sank to the floor, pulling me into his chest. I leaned hard against him, letting his warmth wrap around me. “It’s okay.”

“Is it?” I whispered.

“It will be.”

“I just told my mom to get out of my apartment.”

“You were justified,” he reminded me.

“I know,” I whispered. “But I hate it.”

“That seems reasonable. You probably wouldn’t be human if you didn’t hate what had just happened with your mom.”

“I just…had to stand up for myself.” I pulled back and looked into his eyes. “I couldn’t keep letting her stomp around in my life so carelessly.”

“You did the right thing. She crossed the line and was unrepentant.”

“I didn’t like how she’d talked about you either.”

He stroked my hair back. “I don’t care what she says about me. I’ve heard it all before. I know that I don’t belong here with a girl like you.”

“Hey, don’t say that. That’s dumb.”

“You’re so far out of my league that it’s not even funny,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh.

“You are not.”

“Lark, you are an Upper East Side princess. I’m a nobody from nowhere, who used to do construction. It’s okay for me to admit that. I’m not ashamed. But I’m not giving you up because of any of it. I still love you.”

I hiccuped, and a small smile came to my face. “I love you too.”

He cupped my jaw and drew me into a kiss. “Now, are you really going to be okay?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure. I feel like the ball is kind of in her court. But I know my mom. She’s not going to try to make amends. She’s going to try to pretend like it didn’t happen until I give in and make up with her.”

“Just give it time. You don’t have to do anything about it today.”

“I don’t need this right now. Not with the primary so close and Thomas’s fucking casino party.”

“Hey, don’t add stress if you don’t have to,” he said. “We don’t have to go to Thomas’s party.”

I arched an eyebrow. “And miss you taking him for all he’s worth? I don’t think so.”

He laughed. “We’ll see how it goes. But really, if it makes you uncomfortable, we could just have a night in.”

“No, I think I’d like a night out with our group. I miss having them all together. It was like having a new crew in the Hamptons.”

“It was nice to feel like I belong.”

I smiled. “This is where you belong.”

He pulled me up off of the floor and into a hug. “Yes. Yes, it is.”

31

Lark

“You really told her to give you the key back and to get out?” English asked with wide eyes. “And that you were no longer her daughter? Holy shit!”

I laughed softly and shrugged. “Yeah, I was enraged. To put it mildly.”

“Jesus Christ! I can’t imagine going off like that. I’m not close with my parents, but still!”

“Yeah. I don’t know what to do about it. I’m still angry. I just need more time to calm down before I can talk to her again.”

“Well, I definitely think this will get your mind off of it,” English said as the elevator opened onto the