The Bachelor: a one-night stand boss romance

Chapter 17

Shane’s wordswere all Avery could think about. That, and that the entire future of her career was hanging in the balance of what she did next.

She very impulsively took the four-and-a half-hour bus ride to Kentucky after work on Friday. She’d had twenty-four hours to contemplate what Shane was offering and her head and heart were twisted in knots. She was nervous as hell about her song being performed and she needed to tweak it at her mama’s house, while filling up on some good cooking and reassuring hugs.

Her mother was petite, a tiny woman in jeans and a flannel shirt with an enormous purse slung over her shoulder. She had everything in there, from snacks and a lucky feather to duct tape and a knife. It had been the eighth wonder of the world to her as a child, and seeing her mother standing at the bus station at eleven o’clock at night, looking tiny and excited, that familiar handbag over her shoulder, made Avery want to cry.

“Hey, Mama,” she said, shuffling forward with nothing but her guitar on her back and her own purse. She hadn’t even packed clothes, figuring she’d wear whatever she’d left behind. It had been a snap decision.

Her mother’s smile fell off her face. “Baby, what’s wrong? Is this about Ben?”

She pulled Avery into her arms and Avery let her, even though she was four inches taller than her mother and she had to bend like a palm tree to put her head on her mother’s shoulder. “No, it’s not Ben. Mama, I did something stupid.”

“Well, let’s go home and talk about it. Nothing is so awful it can’t be fixed or forgiven. Except for murder.”

“Well, good because I haven’t killed anyone. Though I admit, I did want to punch Ben in the face a few times. I feel truly over that though. He did me a serious favor. I was holding on to a childhood relationship and I’m not sure why.”

They walked out of the bus station to her mother’s truck, Stan. It was old and noisy but her mother always joked he was the only reliable man in her life, and sadly, it was true. The drive back to her childhood home wasn’t long and while her mother chatted about local gossip Avery settled into silence and let the familiarity calm her anxiety.

When they pulled in the drive, she noticed her mother had her fall décor out, an explosion of scarecrows and pumpkins, and she grinned. The house was a tiny house, small enough that Avery had spent the majority of her youth desperately seeking an ounce of privacy from her mother. But now she wanted to hug the house. She hadn’t considered herself homesick, but she realized she had been. It was exciting as hell to be working at Rusted Truck, but at the same time it was overwhelming. She was scared to go to that meeting Monday because what if Jolene Hart thought she sucked? What if Chance Rivers took one look at her and realized she was a dead ringer for his father—which she was—and didn’t want anything to do with her. What if Shane said something inappropriate and she was let go? It was a lot to worry about and she’d rather do it here than in her shared apartment back in the city. Her roommates were nice girls but she hadn’t really had a chance to get close to them and it wasn’t fair to Lauren to fret about the meeting when Lauren was dying for the same opportunity.

Once they were inside and her guitar was off her back, her mother smiled again. “I just can’t get over that you have a meeting with Jolene Hart and Chance Rivers! I wish you could take pictures. I know you can’t because that’s not professional, but maybe you can take a quick one, without her knowing, just for your mama.”

That made her laugh. “How do you suggest I do that?”

“Pretend like you’re taking a selfie.” Her mother demonstrated posing, pursing her lips and sucking in her cheeks. “But you’re really taking a picture of her.”

“Because taking a selfie in a meeting is more professional than just asking her if I can snap a picture?” The image amused her.

“Good point. Damn, that’s a shame.”

Avery flopped onto the couch and put her feet up on the ottoman. “It is.”

“Avery Skye O’Leery, get your dirty boots off my ottoman.”

Some things never changed. “Sorry, Mama. But don’t you think it’s weird that I’m going to meet Chance? I mean, he is my half-brother.”

Her mother gave her a searching stare that made her want to squirm. “In blood, sure. But y’all were raised completely different. I don’t know Chance, but don’t get any ideas about confessing the truth to him, Avery Skye. People don’t take kindly to poor bastard relations popping up out of nowhere.”

“That’s not what I am,” she said stubbornly, even though she knew it was true. It wasn’t Chance’s responsibility to be kind to her, especially when she would be confirmation that his father had been unfaithful to his mother. “I’m not going to say anything, though. I don’t want to end my career before it starts.”

“Good. Do you want something to drink? I’ll get you a sweet tea.”

Because sweet tea fixed everything according to Dawn O’Leery. “No, I’m fine.” She pulled her boots off and blew her hair back out of her eyes. She had shared a lot with her mama over the years. Hopes, dreams, disappointments. Heartbreak. But they’d never really talked about sex. She was reluctant to now, but considering Lauren was the only one she’d told about Shane, she really wanted to talk to someone who knew her, inside and out. So it was time to get personal.

As soon as her mother was on the couch next to her, resting her hand on Avery’s knee, she sprung it on her. “So when I got to Nashville I hooked up with this guy.”

Her mother’s eyebrows shot up. “You mean, like you met up with him somewhere? Did you meet him online?”

“No, I um…I met him on the street when I left my purse in Ben’s truck and I had no money or phone. He bought me a coffee.” This was the awkward part. While she and her mother had certainly talked about sex, it was about how she hadn’t had any, not that she had. But she forced the words out. “And I slept with him.” It sounded a whole lot more impulsive than it had actually felt at the time. That night, it was as though she’d been bewitched or something. Taken in totally by his calm, soothing demeanor and thoughtfulness. He hadn’t been pushy then. Now he was and it was confusing her.

I want you to be mine. I just want you to know that.

Good grief, his words had been ringing in her ears nonstop for the last twenty-four hours.

“Oh!” Her mother looked shocked. “Well. Okay. Are you upset about it?” Her grip tightened on Avery’s knee. “Wait. Honey, are you pregnant?”

“No, no!” Avery said hastily. She would have mentioned that right away if she were.

“Thank God.” Her mother’s voice was dripping with relief. “Not that a baby isn’t a blessing but that would put your dreams on hold and that’s not what you need right now.”

“Exactly.” The thought gave her the heebie-jeebies frankly. She wasn’t ready to care for another human being and she couldn’t believe her mother had done it solo. “The problem is, I didn’t know he was famous. He’s actually going to be in that meeting Monday and I’m embarrassed. Really embarrassed.”

“Oh, Lord. Does he know you’re going to be there?”

“Yes. He’s the one who got the meeting for me. Though he says it’s not because we know each other, you know…that way.” Intimately. Ugh. She couldn’t bring herself to say that out loud in front of her mother.

“So you’re wondering if he’s just stringing you along? Honey, I don’t think he would set up a meeting with Jolene Hart, risking his reputation, just for some fun.”

When her mother put it that way, it did sound hugely arrogant on her part. Like she had a golden vagina or something. “You’re right. I just don’t know how to act. That’s why I came here this weekend. I needed to get away. I don’t want to do anything stupid before the meeting.” Like have sex with him. She needed a distraction from the temptation to text him and ask him things she had no business asking.

“I think that was smart of you. Anyway, let him chase you for a while, then he’ll get tired of it. They always do.” Her mama winked. “I should know.”

“That’s what I aim to do. Just walk the fine line of not giving in to him, but not being rude either.” She rubbed the back of her head. She was starting to feel the tension ease. “So tell me about how you met Buck Rivers again.”

Her mother made a face. “Oh, why do you want to hear that old story? Dumbest choice of my life. But it resulted in the best gift ever—you.”

“Because apparently, I too can be swayed by a charming man with money, even if I didn’t know he had money. I don’t know. I just want to hear it.” It had never been that she wanted a father figure in her life so much as she had always just been curious as to what Buck Rivers looked like and sounded like in person. If her father was a total unknown, inaccessible, she doubted it would even matter. But over the years, Buck had been the oddest tease. She could read about him, hear the songs he wrote, know where she likely got her songwriting talent from—but she could never talk to him. It was weird.

“They had this crazy-big house, him and his wife. It was notorious for wild parties, lots of drinking and drugs. Their son Chance was about six years old at the time, and I thought it was BS when my co-workers told me that he was like a party favor, rolling joints for guests. But I saw it with my own two eyes when we were there to cater one of the parties.” Her mother pulled her feet up and tucked them under her butt. “We were essentially invisible in that crowd of the rich and famous in Nashville. No one introduces the catering staff to anyone beyond the chef and the housekeeper. I was too young, too new to Nashville. I had no clue who Buck was, that he was the owner of the house we were in or that he was married. Our company did parties there the second Saturday of every month and he was always there, and he started talking to me, coaxing me into the music room, pointing everything out like he was a tour guide. He talked about himself in third person. ‘Look at Buck’s Grammys.’ ‘Look at this cigar collection. Buck keeps it in this secret humidor that looks like a painting. See how Buck goes cheap on the furniture? All this stuff is knockoffs.’ Later I realized he was amused that I had no idea who he was. It was a big joke to him.”

Her mother made a face, shaking her head. “I was na?ve and he was a charming son-of-a-gun. When I realized he was married, you know I never wanted to tell him about you. But I did, out of guilt, thinking he might want to be involved with his child. He was a complete jerk about it.” She shrugged. Whatever hurt she might’ve felt about Buck’s reaction was clearly long past. “That was that. It was his loss. You’re the best daughter any mother could ask for.”

Avery could say for certain her mother had never made her feel like a mistake and whatever anger she must have felt at Buck back then, she had let it go. Her words now made Avery’s throat tight. “Thanks, Mama.” Even if it no longer bothered her mother, it bothered her that Buck had deceived and manipulated. It had always made her sad. But Buck Rivers was dead and her mother had long ago come to peace with it. “I still think you should have sued him. Not because I ever wanted anything, but because he should have had to share the burden with you.”

“But you weren’t a burden,” her mother said gently.

It was what she always said.

Avery sighed. It shouldn’t matter to her. There was no getting any apology from a man who had passed on, and he probably wouldn’t have offered one anyway, even if a child support suit had resulted in DNA proof she was his daughter. Normally she didn’t bug her mother about it either, it was just that it felt raw and real to her given everything that had happened with Shane.

And the fact that she now might be meeting Chance Rivers. Her half-brother. What a weird label when it truly meant nothing to her other than they happened to share the same sperm donor. But that didn’t explain why she felt nervous. Or why she did want to see Chance face-to-face. It mattered to her that Chance’s reaction to her was positive, even though he would have no clue who she was. That would be enough for her, if he was friendly.

“Just remember, learn from me. Keep it together and never let a man control your destiny. I was no virgin when I went to Nashville, as everyone in this damn town will tell you, but even experienced, I was still taken in by some pretty words. Don’t let anyone do that to you.”

“I think I already did,” Avery said regretfully. But Shane wasn’t a bad man like Buck had been. She couldn’t put that on him. He’d been decent to her, treated her right. Made the sex wonderful. The night had unfolded naturally, without any manipulating.

“Just be yourself in that meeting and don’t let him rattle you.”

“So how’s your love life?” she asked her mother, needing to change the subject.

“Oh, honey, I’m in a spell so dry the trees are begging the dogs to lift a leg.” Her mother looked amused. “I seem to have an unrealistic view of how old I am. I don’t want to date a sixty-five-year-old but those are the only ones interested in me. Well, them and the twenty-five-year-olds who want a mama.”

Avery couldn’t prevent herself from wrinkling her nose. “Sixty-five? You can’t be serious.”

“Dead serious. Some of them are nice, some are handsome, some are both, but they all want to talk down to me. Tell me how I could mow the yard differently, or what beer I really should drink, or how I need to save for my retirement. I’ve been taking care of myself for almost thirty years, I really don’t need someone to offer to fix what doesn’t need fixing.”

“That’s just stupid, of course not.” She hated to think of her mother being lonely. “So date a twenty-five-year-old then. They’ll worship the ground you walk on.”

“You wouldn’t be embarrassed if I did that?” Her mother made a face. “I am forty-five, you know.”

“No. I don’t care who you date as long as he treats you right and you’re happy.” That was the truth. Gossips be damned. Live and let live. She wished more people did just that and she wished she hadn’t wasted so many years being who she thought people wanted her to be.

Sure, she couldn’t say that she would be thrilled to witness her mother snuggling up to a guy her age, but as long as it wasn’t someone she went to high school with, she would just deal with it.

“I doubt I’d ever actually do that because I’m not aiming to teach a boy to be a man, but thank you, hon.”

“Think how good they’d look naked.” Avery grinned.

“Avery!”

If she wasn’t mistaken, her mother was blushing. That made her laugh.

“Don’t laugh at your mother.”

“Don’t pretend to be shy. You’re the one who hooked up at a house party.”

Her mother slapped her knee. “Don’t sass your mother. It’s disrespectful.” But the corner of her mouth was turning up. “What can I say? It was a good house party.”

That made Avery laugh even harder.