CHAPTER 26
RILA
A loud noise made her body jolt in bed, her eyes flying open. She stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, straining her ears to try to identify what had woken her.
The arm on her stomach moved slightly and Rila turned her head, finding the man she had wanted out of her life again a few weeks ago lying on his stomach, his perfectly sculpted ass on display.
She took advantage of that moment to admire some of those posterior muscles, so perfectly defined that they could be used as a model for anatomy classes.
Even with the muscles relaxed due to sleep, she could see the boundaries of each one of them.
Trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids, supraspinatus and infraspinatus, everything.
Rila was about to trace them with her fingertip when she heard the noise again. It was her doorbell.
The man beside her grunted and tightened his arm around her, pulling her closer.
— I need to open the door, it's Jessie, she won't stop until I show up — Rila swung her legs out of bed and picked up his hoodie from the floor — She must have seen my message telling her I was suspended.
—What? — he muttered, completely dazed by sleep.
— I'll explain in a bit — she sighed and started to walk away from the bed — Wait here, I'll be back in two minutes.
She knew her friend was worried about the suspension, and she loved her for it. But as soon as Rila said that Kieran was in her bed, naked and waiting for her, Jessica would say that she would come back later and get out of there.
However, when she opened the door, it wasn't the brown-haired, brown-eyed woman standing there. No, who was waiting for her was the last person Rila expected to see.
Naomi Hill was standing in front of her in a brown overcoat, a pearl necklace, impeccably brushed hair, and a serious expression on her face.
— Mom? — Rila's eyes widened in surprise.
— Good morning, darling. You missed our dinner yesterday — her mother walked past her and Rila hurried to close the door and put herself between her mother and the stairs.
Not that she thought she would go up, but it was still better to be safe than sorry.
— How did you manage to come up? The doorman didn't call.
— Oh please, we pay this place — she spoke as if that explained everything and looked her up and down, pressing her lips into a line as she judged her disheveled appearance — Couldn't you have at least fixed your hair before answering the door?
—I just woke up — Rila huffed and crossed her arms over her breasts. What did Naomi expect? That she would sleep with makeup and curlers in her hair?
— Yes, I can see that — her mother's slanted eyes grew even smaller as she narrowed them as she focused on Rila's torso — What is that you're wearing?
The doctor looked down at the black and gold sweatshirt with the giant Boston Bruins logo in the center. The garment was loose on her, the sleeves stopping at the last phalanx of her fingers and the hem covering almost half of her thighs.
— Huh, these are my pajamas — she shrugged — I've always been a hockey fan.
Her mother stared at her skeptically, one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows raised in disbelief. It wasn't entirely a lie, Rila liked the hockey player in her bed, so by association, she was a fan of the game too.
Naomi took a deep breath and opened her mouth to say something, but a noise behind the doctor caught her attention, making her gaze shift from Rila.
— Oh — she heard Kieran's voice and closed her eyes for a heartbeat before turning to find him at the top of the stairs. Shirtless — Hi, Mrs. Hill.
He gave a short nod in her mother's direction and began to walk slowly down the steps.
— Hello, Kieran — Naomi greeted him and looked back at Rila — Let me guess, is that your blanket?
Ha. Since when did her mother have any sense of humor?
— Hm, I would say it's more like a mattress, one of those hard ones full of lumps — Rila used her chin to signal the who was now staring at them at the base of the stairs, his arms crossed over his chest making his biceps bulge in a way that was not healthy for her vagina.
That's when she realized she wasn't wearing any panties. My God, she was talking to her mother without underwear.
— Rila — Naomi breathed heavily in a tone of disappointment — I suppose he's the reason you missed our monthly dinner.
— No, he's not. Something happened at the hospital and I ended up forgetting dinner, I'm sorry — something known as I made a mistake that could have cost someone their life and got a three-day suspension.
After Purke's dressing-down, she sat in the locker room for nearly half an hour to process what had happened. Then she texted Kieran and decided she needed a drink.
When she arrived at The Secret around six, she planned to have no more than two beers and then order a cab to Hill Mansion. It would be the worst day to have dinner with her parents, but at least the alcohol would relax her enough to survive the visit.
However, Mark noticed something was incredibly wrong when just sat there and stared blankly at the wall of bottles behind the bar. So he made her a submarine. And another. It was on her third drink that she realized it was already past ten.
— I thought this ended years ago — her mother moved her index finger between them.
That sentence made her eyebrows shoot up.
— Did you know about us? — out of the corner of her eye, Rila saw surprise appear on the man's usually impassive face.
— Please, do you think I'm stupid? Of course I knew — she waved the hand that wasn't holding the luxury bag in a gesture of contempt — Anyone who laid eyes on the two of you would know what was going on.
— You never said anything — Rila frowned. Not that it would have mattered if her mother had said something, but it was strange to find out that she had known all along.
— Of course — Naomi let out a humorless laugh — I knew it was just another way you had found to challenge me and acknowledging what was happening would only serve to instigate you — she frowned too, barely a line appearing between her eyebrows thanks to the twice-yearly Botox she couldn't live without — Is that what's happening now?
Are you doing this as some act of rebellion because of what I said at the last dinner?
— What?! — Rila exclaimed, incredulous at that ridiculous thought — No, Mom.
This was never about you, not then and not now.
I'm not trying to upset you, I'm doing this because…
— she stopped abruptly and swallowed, glancing sideways at Kieran — Because after all these years, I still love him.
And he managed to make me fall in love with him again, even when all I wanted to do was kick his ass.
— Rila, manners! — her mother gasped as if she had just thrown a stone at the cross and Rila rolled her eyes.
They fell into an awkward silence, and when she looked at the player, her eyes collided with the crystal blue that always evaporated the oxygen from her lungs. Kieran stared at her intensely, there were so many things reflected in that vast blue that she had to suppress a shudder.
It was only when she turned her attention to the woman in front of the door that her brain started working normally again and she realized something.
— Wait, so you knew what was going on all that time I was suffering after the last time I went to Canada? — a bitter feeling settled in his chest and grew as he spoke — You knew I was heartbroken and you didn't even try to comfort me once.
— Would you've let me do that?
— You are my mother, of course I wanted to cry in your arms and hear that everything would be okay! — Rila exclaimed in disbelief.
She spent weeks pretending that everything was fine whenever she was around her parents.
She had even pretended to be sick for the first week so she could stay in bed all day without them questioning her.
In front of them, Rila acted as if her heart wasn't in tatters, but it crumbled whenever they turned their backs.
She suffered alone for months, with no one to share her pain with. All she wanted were words of comfort, even if they didn't help much in the end. But most of all, she wanted her mother, even if their relationship wasn't the warmest or most maternal in the world.
Naomi sighed heavily and stared at Rila with her head tilted slightly to the side, her slanted eyes filling with something akin to regret.
— I would like a moment alone with my daughter, please — she quickly turned her attention to the man at the base of the stairs.
— I'll be at the kitchen — Kieran spoke in agreement, but also as a sort of warning to Rila, showing that he would be around if she needed him.
When the player disappeared behind the walls of the other room, her mother took a deep breath and began to speak.
— My mother raised me to be a great wife and to know how to run a home, just as my grandmother taught her, and my great-grandmother before her, and so on.
I grew up watching my mother and grandmother do what I do today, and I was prepared to teach my daughter the same.
It was something that should have been easy for me to pass on.
And suddenly, I found myself having to fight with my daughter to try to make her live the way all the women in my family had always lived.
“All those times I tried to teach you about etiquette and how to be a good hostess, it wasn’t just because they were things you needed to know because you’re Hill.
It was also because I wanted to teach you something, like my mother did to me.
I wanted to give you something, you know?
But those things, organizing dinner parties, picking out the perfect dresses and making sure everything in the house is running smoothly, are all I know.