Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,32

Wine?” She sets the cutlery beside my plate.

“Sure.” I pick up the knife and fork, cutting into the chicken. “Thanks, Mom. I’m not sure what I would do without you.”

She sets a glass down in front of me and pours the white wine she keeps in the fridge for me into my glass. “I feel the same.”

We share a look expressing how grateful we are to have each other. Two scorned women who want their independence but find refuge in one another. The hardest decision my mom ever had to make was probably asking me to move back to Chicago.

Technically, she didn’t ask. She didn’t have to. I’d never put her in the position of feeling like she had to beg me to return.

When she called me and told me that all the issues she’d been having had been diagnosed as multiple sclerosis, I was handing in my resignation to Jagger the next day. You can imagine how that conversation went until I trusted him enough to be honest about my reasons for leaving.

Jade can still see her dad. He has the money he so desperately wanted, so he can fly here whenever he wants to see her. Even when we lived in the same city, he barely made time for her. Now that we’re back, his family only lives thirty miles from us, not that they’ll go out of their way to see her.

“So.” She slides into the stool on the other side of me. “Jade was talking about a boy named Henry today.”

From her tone I know exactly where this conversation is going.

“Her friend, yes.”

“Apparently he’s some man named Reed’s little brother.” Her eyebrows shoot up.

I roll my eyes. “Not biologically.” I chew the chicken.

“What?” Her forehead creases in confusion.

“He’s part of the Big Brother/Big Sister program. Henry’s parents died when he was young, and his grandparents raise him.”

“Oh.” Her hand covers her heart. “That’s so thoughtful of him.”

I nod, continuing to devour the home cooked meal that tastes better than anything I’ve ever made.

“She told me that Reed is really nice, and he makes you laugh.” This is my mom’s M.O., dig, dig, dig, but never ask directly. I’m not nine anymore, and the fact she knows all this information says she did to Jade hours earlier what she’s doing to me now.

“Just ask, Mother.” I set my knife and fork down.

She giggles, standing up and grabbing her water from next to the sink. “Are you dating him?”

“No.”

“Do you want to?” Staying on the other side of the kitchen island she leans forward so her face is right in front of mine.

“No.”

“Have I ever told you how much I love it when your cheeks turn pink like that?”

I wad up my napkin and toss it at her. “Mom, you know I’m not ready. He’s nice, but this Reed is Reed Warner. Pete’s best man when we were married.”

Her eyes widen and she’s quiet for a moment, thinking, assessing. She holds the crumpled napkin in her hand, reaches over, and grabs me another one from the holder.

“I never understood that friendship, but I thought maybe Reed was one of those Eddie Haskell types. You know, polite to the adults and different behind closed doors.”

“When did you even talk to him?” I ask.

She scoffs. “What is the term, cougars?”

“Mom!”

She laughs, throwing the napkin back at me. “I talked to him at the rehearsal. He was a nice kid. Wish I would have swapped them out at the altar.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t have noticed at all.” I spear a piece of chicken with my fork and continue eating.

“Well, it would’ve been the best thing I ever did.” She turns around to the sink.

“You don’t even know Reed.” I lift the wine glass to my lips.

She swivels around, drying her hands on the dishtowel, then flexes them a few times before setting the towel back down. “I know people and my gut doesn’t lie. I knew Pete was bad news.”

“How do you explain Dad then?”

Her lips turn down. “I was young. My gut sense hadn’t fully matured yet. Then I had a family and back then...”

She doesn’t finish, and she doesn’t have to because she stayed with my dad because she had nowhere to go.

“May he rest in peace,” I say.

“Or in hell,” she mumbles, but I catch it.

I don’t even hold it against her. My dad put her through more than Pete did me and I loathe him like the devil.

“Enough about your father. Let’s talk about Reed.” Her eyelids flutter.