My Forbidden Doctor - Stephanie Brother Page 0,12

floor toward my mom, my heart rate jacked up, and my knees struggled to bend with each step. My collar tightened around my throat, and I clenched and released my jaw hard.

"Mom—"

My mom's bright, brown eyes flew to mine at my call, and I forced a smile. She looked happy as she popped up, her wrinkled face glowing as she rounded the table.

"You look beautiful."

"Oh, Carl." Leaning to kiss her cheek, my smile widened at her breathlessness, and she hugged Laurie as I pulled out my sister's chair. "Laurie, you look amazing! What a surprise!"

"Yeah..." Laurie sat down to fold her hands in her lap, her sequin, black dress draping over her legs smoothly.

Rounding the table to help my mom sit, I couldn't help but notice how Augustus hadn't stood up to be introduced. Out of the corner of my eye, he seemed nervous, almost, and I pursed my lips to hide my frown.

"So, this is a nice restaurant. I thought we would've gone to somewhere with seafood considering the season."

"Oh, well, Augustus and I had planned to do seafood, but there was a problem with reservations at The Golden Pearl—"

Wait a minute, I just ran into Melissa there the other day. Those tacos were amazing.

"I thought Italian food was a good idea. Don't you eat too much seafood all the time, anyway, Carl? Aren't you tired of it?"

"The same dish can be made as differently as there are people in the world, Mom. There's no such thing as getting tired of it." My reply earned me a soft sigh, and my mom shook her head as I sat down in the only chair unoccupied. Having four people put me directly across from Augustus, and he actively avoided looking at me as I straightened my jacket. "So, how long have you been dating?"

"Oh, well, we're not dating... just casually seeing each other." My mom blushed out of the corner of my eye, but she only spoke up when it was obvious that Augustus wouldn't.

My opinion of him tanked hard, if that was even possible, and I tore my eyes off him with no intention of giving him another thought.

Posh as it seemed, when I asked someone a question, I wanted that person to answer. I expected someone to stand and greet me in a situation like this. Hell, it was common courtesy to shake my damn hand, at least.

Once again, Laurie and I shared a discreet frown when our mom's attention turned to the waitress who materialized between her and I.

Chapter 7

Melissa

Twiddling my thumbs while I waited to be called, I couldn't stop thinking of what Terry had said. Days had passed, and him comparing my asthma attack to my dad actively hitting me with a car consumed my every waking moment. In times like this, I wished I had a job just to get my mind off it, and I debated getting one long before when I'd planned it.

My mom had too much money, some would say, but I could live comfortably and relatively easy. She'd left me twenty-five million dollars, and my dad five million, because she'd not gotten around to changing her will. Staring at a particularly deep crease in the carpet, I frowned and scrunched up my nose.

She'd had an appointment to cut my dad out after they'd fought about his cheating a few too many times. There was a week, maybe, between getting in that accident and getting free of my dad.

"If she hadn't died, but divorced him, it'd be a lot easier not to see him." My voice was overly loud in the quiet, empty waiting room, and I tensed when I felt questioning eyes on me. Blinking hard, I tore my eyes off the carpet to find Carl gazing at me under brows knit with questions. "Oh— I didn't hear you."

"I certainly heard you, Melissa. Is everything alright?"

I stood up hastily, holding my purse under my arm as I nodded curtly.

Gesturing me with a wave of my own file, Carl held open the door for me. My knees wobbled as I ducked a little under his arm, and the fine hairs on my back bristled when his weighty gaze slid down.

But he was quick to catch himself, and Carl cleared his throat roughly before leading me through to an exam room.

"Does this have anything to do with your dad and that asthma attack you had?"

Again, I nodded, and I set my purse on the exam table to hop up and stuff my hands