“They need to support you, no matter how badly your mom may want to go to the wedding.”
“My mom loves to be the one to share news. If she went, it would be so she could tell the neighbors how much better the wedding would have been if she were still the mother of the bride,” Annie said, feeling the need to defend her mom.
Even though her mom was nosy and opinionated, Annie never doubted how much her mother loved her. But where Annie was soft-spoken, her mother was like a freight train, and in emotional situations where Annie’s instinct was to roll over, her mother often forgot to avoid Annie’s tender spots.
Misunderstood? Absolutely.
Unloved? Never a day in her adopted life.
“I mean it’s not a huge deal if she goes—”
“No,” her friends said in unison.
“It is absolutely, categorically wrong on so many different levels,” Lynn said. “You shouldn’t even need to have this conversation. But from what you’ve said about your mom, even I know that this conversation is a must. And soon.”
“You needed to be up-front with your mom from the moment the engagement ended,” Beckett clarified. “Actually, you needed to be up-front the moment the engagement ended and your mom told Clark he was still welcome at Sunday brunches.”
“And after that call, you need to do a wash and repeat with Dickless Wonder.” Lynn covered her mouth. “Whoops, I meant Clark. Repeat after me, Anh, ‘I am not a pushover.’”
Annie did, ignoring the way her gut hollowed at the thought of confronting her parents. Even though her mom was nosy and her dad easily distracted, Annie always felt cherished. But where Annie sought meaningful connection, her father favored his own company, and her mom tended to ride roughshod over Annie’s opinions.
Growing up a tender spirit in a strident household had often caused a young, lonely Annie to look inside herself for ways to diminish the growing distance between family members. It was a coping mechanism that spilled over into even her current relationships.
Not all relationships were meant to go the distance, but she’d be crushed if one ended because she hadn’t tried hard enough.
“I think I’m going to have to do another few wash and repeats,” Annie said with a sigh, silently begging the universe for a break. “And I need to get rid of my roommate.”
“I didn’t know you had a roommate,” Lynn said.
“It was news to me too,” Annie said, although she was so tired she wasn’t all that sure she hadn’t dreamed him up. He was more like a nightmare—one hell of an annoying and sexy nightmare. “The owner of the cabin came back early, didn’t know the place had been rented out.”
“Your roommate is Emmitt Bradley?” Lynn asked, and Annie slapped her hand over her friend’s mouth.
“Not so loud,” Annie whispered. “I don’t want to be the object of the next break room gambling pool. He came home early, and no one told him about me or me about him. Trust me, he was as surprised to find me there as I was to find out he isn’t planning on leaving anytime soon.”
Lynn slapped Annie’s hand away. “I’m still stuck on the part where you spent the night in the same house as Emmitt ‘Big O’ Bradley and you came in here talking about Clark. We need another piece of pie.”
“We need to find a way to get rid of him,” Annie said. “Both of them. I need a man-free zone.”
“Easy, kick him out. If he comes back, throw his things on the lawn and light them on fire. He’ll get the message,” Beckett said, giving Diesel the empty plate. The dog licked every inch twice, then gave a grunt of pure bliss and lay back down.
“First I think I’ll pull out my contract, see what rights I have.” She would read it line by line. “The last thing I want is to live with a man right now.”
“Especially one you aren’t seeing naked on a regular basis,” Beckett said. Not for the first time that day, Annie remembered just how good Emmitt had looked in nothing but his boxers. Glowy kitties or not, the man made David Beckham look flabby.
Even worse, he made her tingle.
Claiming it was nothing more than heartburn from having the first half of her cheesecake for breakfast, she said, “I may be in the market for a new place soon.”
“You can always stay on my couch.” Beckett was back into fix-it mode. “It’s lumpy and you’ll likely wake up