Roping the Cowboy Billionaire - Emmy Eugene Page 0,21
to come out of his mouth, but he believed the right thing would.
“I broke up with Alex all those years ago, because she was cheating on me with two other men.” He refused to duck his head, as if he were the one who should be ashamed. He wasn’t—at least not anymore.
In the beginning, he’d felt like such a failure. Such a loser. Such a weakling.
“I knew for almost a month before I canceled the wedding. She never apologized, and she never gave the ring back.” There, that was it. The words he’d been hiding inside were gone now, and he didn’t need to go on and on. He wasn’t going to bad-mouth Alex. Mom could do what she wanted with the information; the important part was that she now knew it, and that it no longer seethed inside Blaine’s heart, mind, and chest.
“It’s been a long five years,” he said. “I’m not one-hundred percent sure if I’m ready to date again, but I’ve started seeing someone new.”
Mom’s eyebrows went up, the apple pie completely forgotten now. She still held the paring knife in the ready position, but she hadn’t so much as twitched since he’d said Alex’s name.
“It’s Tam,” Blaine said, wondering when she’d say something and save him from his own babbling. “She loves apple pie, and if I take that to her, I’m going to win some major boyfriend cred.” He grinned, told himself to stop talking, and looked from the half-done pie to his mother’s still-stunned face.
Like flipping a switch, her shock disappeared, and anger took its place. “That woman,” she spat. “I should march right down to that hoity toity little office of hers and dig around in that desk until I find that ring.”
“Mom,” Blaine said, shaking his head.
“She has no right to treat you like that.” She picked up the apple she’d been slicing and started hacking at it. “How dare she? Who does she think she is? Little Miss Rich and Famous?” She scoffed and dumped the unevenly sliced apples into the bowl with the others. “Please. That commercial she was in wasn’t even that good.”
She pinned Blaine with the sharpest look he’d ever seen—and Mom had been plenty upset when she’d found out Blaine had broken up with Alex in the first place.
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
Blaine shook his head. “You’re not wrong, but Mom—”
“I can’t believe her. And all this time, she said nothing to me about it. Did you know I sat beside her just three months ago at that equestrian military event? She even had the audacity to ask about you. If I’d have known, I’d have shoved that flute of champagne right down her throat.”
“Mother,” Blaine said, somewhat surprised, but not really. His mother carried fire in her spirit, and no one crossed her. “I’ve wanted to shove stuff down her throat too, I guess.”
She met his eye, and the two of them burst out laughing. As quickly as that started, her laughter morphed into tears and sobs, and Blaine stared at her in horror.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, gasping for breath. She rounded the island, and he stood to embrace her. She was easily a foot shorter than him, maybe fifteen or sixteen inches. But she carried such strength in her frame, and she held him with such love that Blaine’s eyes pricked with tears as his heart opened to his mom again.
“I should’ve asked you what was really going on,” she said. “I should’ve listened to you more. You’re a good man, Blaine, and even if she hadn’t cheated, and you just didn’t feel right about marrying her, that’s valid.”
Her shoulders shook for several long seconds, until she calmed and stepped away. She wiped at her eyes, and everything in Blaine’s head felt too hot.
“You’re smart, and you’re handsome.” She cradled his face in her hands and smiled fondly at him, her eyes watery again. “Out of that mess of boys, God gave me a son with a heart of gold, and a mind to know how to use it.”
“Mom,” Blaine said, because he sometimes hated his heart of gold. “I love you.”
Tears spilled down her face again, and her voice sounded pinched and tinny as she said, “I love you too, my precious boy.” She hugged him tightly again, and Blaine stood in her arms though he was much bigger than her, and felt all the cracked and jagged pieces inside him start to mend.
After another several seconds, she stepped past him and went to