instructor. How cliché, Susan. How absolutely cliché.”
Without another word, I turn from her. Walking out of the study, I flinch when I hear the martini glass hit the closed door with a crash.
Continuing to walk away, I make my way upstairs and toward my bedroom. I gave up the master bedroom years ago, now I have one of the guest rooms and it suits me just fine, especially since it has a lock on the door.
TENNESSEE
“Cheers!” Bethie cries as our sweet teas arrive.
“Thank you,” I say softly.
She shakes her head. “Okay, spill, babe. I want to know all about your life.”
Deciding I can’t keep anything in, I tell her what I can. “I have a two-year-old son named Holden. It’s why I want to work at Astor Investments.”
“The childcare,” she whispers. “It’s the best around.”
Nodding, I look down at the table. Then, as if she can sense that I need something more, she reaches across the table, wrapping her hand around my wrist. Lifting my head, I look up into her eyes.
“No father?”
Shaking my head, I don’t tear up the way that I used to when people would ask me. Instead, I smile. It’s fake as hell, but I learned a long time ago that you have to fake it sometimes in life, and that’s okay.
“Nope. Which is great for me, because I was able to move from Oklahoma after I finished classes without any issues.”
“Bright side.” She grins.
“Bright side.”
Our food arrives, and Bethie tells me about being single in the city. How she thought it was going to be a lot more exciting than it actually is, but that she wouldn’t trade living here or her job for anything in the world.
“Oh, Laurent. Stay away,” she says in the midst of her talking.
“Yeah, I got the impression he was kind of into himself,” I murmur.
She laughs softly. “He is more than into himself, but I guess you’re allowed to be when your father is the Landry Astor.”
“I thought he might be related to him, but I didn’t think…”
She snorts. “Yeah, he’s his oldest son. He has another one and a daughter. They don’t work for him though, only Laurent does. Sometimes they come in, and let me tell you what, second son is just as fine as the first and Landry himself. The daughter, stunning. All spoiled rich kids, but nice, they aren’t snotty like you’d expect.”
I don’t tell her that my mother was friends with Susan. I don’t want her to think that I’m like any of the Astor kids. I’m not. I’m far from spoiled, far from having any money or anything. My mom pulled this whole thing out of her hat and I’m a bit surprised actually that it really happened.
“I know you have your son, but I would really like to take you out, show you the nightlife?”
Shaking my head, I flick my eyes down to my food before I lift them up to meet hers. “I can’t. I don’t know anyone here and I’ve never left him with anyone aside from my mom. Even leaving him at the childcare center on Monday is giving me anxiety.”
“Really? Nobody?”
Shaking my head, I lift my hand and wrap it around the front of my throat. I could tell her why I don’t ever want him out of my sight, but it would make me sound neurotic.
I’m scared to death that someone will hurt him, that on top of the reoccurring nightmares that I’ve had of his father finding him and kidnapping him.
It’s all stupid really, his biological father doesn’t even know he exists, hell, I don’t even know the man’s first name. In fact, it’s been so long, my memory is so hazy from the drugs, I probably wouldn’t even recognize him if I saw him walking down the street.
“I just don’t go out. I’ve been so busy with him and with school, I haven’t dated since before he was born.”
Lifting my eyes to meet hers, I watch as her lips curve up into a grin. “Well, we’ll fix that. Some of the people in the office have teenagers, and I know they babysit all the time. Hopefully, you’ll meet them, get to know them, and trust one of their teens to watch your Holden. Then we can go out, get you a little somethin’-somethin’ and have some fun.”
I let out a snort. Somethin’-somethin’ didn’t interest me all that much before Holden was conceived. Now it just sounds kind of unappealing.