everything, Matt. You have no idea. She’ll embarrass me. She’ll embarrass you—”
“Do you really think anything your mother does could change the way I feel about you?”
Something in his voice made her pause and glance at him, but his expression revealed nothing.
How could she explain that what they had was special and perfect and she didn’t want it tainted?
“You don’t know her.”
“I’ve known her almost as long as I’ve known you.”
“But you’ve never seen her in full flow. You don’t know what she’s capable of.” She stumbled as she pulled on her yoga pants. “What is she even doing here? Please get dressed. If my mother sees your chest, I can’t promise you’ll be safe.”
She closed the door between the bedroom and the living room and reached the door as her mother pressed the bell.
Crap, why couldn’t she have a normal mother? Someone who called a few days before and arranged Sunday lunch?
Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. “Mom! This is a surprise.” So was the realization that she’d forgotten her underwear. She was naked under her yoga pants and her breasts were loose and free.
Fortunately, her mother seemed distracted. “I went downstairs first. You didn’t tell me you’d moved.”
“It’s only temporary—”
“You lent your apartment to that sweet girl with the baby. I know. I apologized for waking her, but she told me that she’d been up since five.”
Frankie wondered what else Roxy had told her mother. “What are you doing here, Mom?”
“You’re my daughter!” Her mother’s voice rose. “Do I need an excuse to visit my daughter?”
“It’s eight o’clock on a Sunday morning.”
“You’re always up early. You were the same when you were little. You and your father, thick as thieves, giggling away as you planned your adventure for the day.” It sounded like an accusation, and Frankie tensed in anticipation of the conversation that lay ahead.
Were they going to be revisiting the past or was this about the present? More excruciating details of her mother’s current relationship?
“Come in. I’ll make some coffee.”
“Thank you.” Her mother’s tone was brittle and she was paler than usual. “What are you wearing? It looks like something you bought in a man’s store. It swamps you.”
Given that it was Matt’s T-shirt, Frankie decided not to answer that. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving, but I don’t want to eat. I have this body because I watch what I eat. I look after myself. I exercise, I have a really tight butt—”
Frankie cringed and hoped Matt wasn’t listening. “You’re looking great, Mom.”
“So why do men leave me?” Her mother’s face crumpled. “Why do men always leave me? What do I do wrong?”
Frankie froze, caught unawares by the sudden eruption of emotions. “Dev left you?”
“He said he wanted to find someone his own age who could give him babies. I told him having kids is overrated but he wouldn’t listen to me.”
Frankie wondered why remarks like that still upset her. “I didn’t know you were serious about him.”
“Neither did I. But it turns out I am. We had fun together.” She started to sob and the sound hammered away at the barrier Frankie had erected between herself and her mother.
“Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.” Shaking, she put her arms around her mother and guided her to the sofa. Listening to her sobs made her chest ache. She was right back there, fourteen years old and faced with a parent who could barely drag herself out of bed every morning. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
“How can it be? I’m fifty-four next month. Fifty-four. My life is over.”
“It’s not over, Mom.”
“I will never, ever find a man I can depend on.” She flung her arms around Frankie, enveloping her like an octopus as she sobbed onto her shoulder. “You’re the sensible one, not me. You’ve built a life that doesn’t involve men. You have a great job, lovely friends and most of all you’re independent. You never, ever give away your heart. You have more sense.”
Frankie thought about Matt, getting dressed in the next room.
She thought about all the things they’d shared. The deeply personal parts of herself and her life that she’d revealed to him and she desperately tried to block out the small, traitorous voice inside her that was telling her to listen to her mother.
“Mom—”
“What? You’re going to tell me this is my own fault for getting involved. And you’d be right.” She blew her nose hard. “You’re right to avoid relationships, Frankie. This is what they do to you.” The tears flowed and Frankie