Chapter 5 Liza
LIZA
“Hold on a minute.” I raised my finger, letting the driver of the red convertible know that I was almost done pumping gas. He’d already slammed his horn, but I couldn’t make the pump spew faster.
The man threw his hands in the air as if I was making his bad day even worse, but I could’ve told him a thing or two about bad days. I had no control over the amount of traffic at the gas station, so he needed to lay off my ass and move along.
My parents had called me over to their house this morning, meaning I wasn’t in the best of moods.
A forced visit with the fam never boded well.
They had, no doubt, heard the rumors about what happened at the country club last night.
Based on the way my mom had stuttered into the phone, they were concerned.
Not just the kind of concern you had when you worried about your child’s grade in math class. This was a whole other level of stress.
I didn’t blame them. Our family wasn’t exactly high class, barely middle class, and the rumors that had circulated in a few short hours had solidified that fact.
“Miss, are you done?” The driver of the convertible tapped his fingers on his steering wheel and hung his head out the window.
“Does it look to you like I’m done?” The fucking nozzle was still in my tank, and I still had my hand on the trigger.
Asshole.
A small twinge of guilt washed over me. It wasn’t fair for me to take my stress out on this guy, not any more than it was fair of him to be a prick, but I’d only managed a few hours of sleep the night before.
I’d tossed and turned all night. Maybe if the impatient driver saw the dark circles under my eyes, he’d take pity on me and back his attitude the fuck up.
I finished pumping and replaced the gas cap before hopping in my car. I gave him a sarcastic wave as I drove off toward my childhood home. Going home was always annoying. I was on my own now. Last thing I wanted was to go backward.
Ty Keller’s face popped into my mind, and I jerked the wheel to the right, almost driving off the road. Not because I was startled, but because the picture of him in my mind made me want to jerk something.
Why did he have to be so goddamn handsome?
The reaction I’d had the night before was completely unlike me.
Yes, I’d had little crushes as a teenager, and I knew the difference between a hot guy and one that had been hit with the ugly stick too many times, but Ty had attributes.
So many fucking attributes. How was a girl supposed to remain immune?
He was on a completely different level. His jet-black hair was just a bit too long, too shiny, too everything.
That alone was enough to cause any woman to stumble over her words.
But when you combined that with his striking gray eyes and chiseled jawline, it was like any form of rational thought I’d ever had dissolved.
He’d cast a spell on me, or some other magic was in play, and that scared the absolute shit out of me.
I didn’t need any distractions in my life, especially not one as powerful as Ty Keller.
I needed to focus on myself and make sure my catering business didn’t suffer due to my inability to function like a normal person, thanks to my encounter with Ty last night.
Sabrina seemed to think everything would go smoothly from this point forward. “You’ve met your fated mate, the hardest part is over,” she’d said as though she had firsthand knowledge of the process.
I didn’t believe it; not for a second. Apparently, neither did my parents.
I pulled up to my childhood home. It was a small ranch-style house with white vinyl siding that Dad had upgraded years ago after a wind storm, and blue shutters at each of the windows.
The front yard was full of memories where I had spent countless hours playing tag with my siblings, digging for worms, and chasing the neighborhood cats.
The memory that stood out the most was of me running around with a red bucket collecting tulips from my mom’s garden. I could still picture how bright and yellow they were against the lush green grass and the warmth of the summer sun on my skin.
If only things were still that simple. Life had a way of kicking you in the ass. Just when you thought things were on the upswing, you had to meet your fated mate in front of the entire pack. I’d been wearing a waitress uniform, for fuck’s sake.
“Hey!” I called from the front foyer. “I’m here.”
The clicking of nails on the floor alerted me to an incoming attack from Chip, the family dog. He jumped up, balanced his front legs on my shin, and whined, pawing like he was trying to climb me, ready to be held.
“Hello, boy. How are you? I’ve missed you.” I cuddled him and kissed the side of his face as he licked my chin. He seemed to have missed me. It was nice to be missed.
For a chihuahua, he was surprisingly calm. Well, compared to other chihuahuas I’d met. He wriggled and writhed until I set him down, allowing him to smell my shoes to try figure out where I’d been.
If he only knew what I’d been through the past twenty-four hours, he might’ve been more sympathetic instead of walking away—likely in search of his food bowl—once he’d tired of sniffing me.
“There she is.” My mom walked out of the rounded doorway that led to the kitchen with a dish towel draped over her shoulder.
She was the one who taught me how to cook. I wouldn’t have anything or be anything today without her. Seeing her made me feel at home again. A sense of relief washed over me, calming my frayed nerves. This place and these people always had that effect on me.
“Hi, Mama.” I wrapped her in as big a hug as I could without causing her worry and waited until she pulled away before I let go.
She ushered me into the kitchen and began to tell me about all the home-improvement issues that still needed to be fixed and the ones that were no longer a concern.
“Your dad finally fixed that leak in the back bedroom, though I didn’t think he ever would.
He’s just so busy with his practice, it’s hard to get him to commit to anything related to this old house. ”
She might’ve called it this old house, but she loved the place. She’d added touches of herself over the years and updated them as she changed. Thanks to that, there was no mistaking this was her place, no matter how much she complained about it.
“The house looks great, Mom.” I gestured to the kitchen. “You keep it spotless, as always.”
“It may look great on the surface but this house is a lot older than you. It’s starting to fall apart from the center. Looks can be deceiving, you know.” As she went to stir a pot of soup on the stove, I grabbed a piece of bread from the countertop.
“So, what’s new with you? How’s business?” She eyed me suspiciously, no doubt trying to figure out how to broach the subject of Ty or to entice me into bringing him up. There was no way she hadn’t heard about last night’s fiasco.
I took a deep breath, then huffed out an exasperated sigh. “It’s been interesting. You already know I catered the lunar mating ceremony.” Mom had been one of my first calls as soon as the contract was signed. I paused when Dad entered the kitchen, smiling as he walked straight toward me.
“What did I miss?” He hugged me and kissed me on the forehead, just as he’d done every day when he came home from work since I was a baby or when I came to visit.
Mom raised her eyebrows. “She was just starting to tell me about the catering job at the lunar mate ceremony last night.” She gave him a look that I probably wasn’t supposed to see of lifted eyebrows and wide eyes. It as much told him to be quiet as it did ask a question.
He didn’t pay much heed. Instead, Dad’s face fell.
“Ah, yes. I’m sure that was quite the event.
How did it go?” His tone had shifted from one of interest to one of concern.
He’d probably been down at the barbershop or the hardware store or wherever men his age got their gossip.
So, he’d probably heard enough already to know it wasn’t good…
if he didn’t know the whole story. Chances were, he’d already been made aware that even if my fated mate had wanted me, his family did not.
“Well, you know. There’s always room to improve, but it went all right,” I said slowly, trying not to give too much away in case they’d not heard every shitty detail.
“It started out like a usual event. Some of my staff called in sick, so I had to fill in as a waitress.” That wasn’t so unusual.
It happened, and I dealt with it when it did.
That was the mark of a good, solid business.
“Everyone I spoke to had wonderful compliments about the food. But then ...” I trailed off, my gaze shifting back and forth between them.
“We heard about your encounter with Ty Keller.” Mom turned the stove off and turned to face me, giving me her full attention.
“Oh, I’m sure you did.” I bit off a chunk of bread, thinking about the rumors that had been flying around town.
“It was horrible. I was standing there, and then I could hear them all saying that I’m not worthy of Ty and his royal family.
” The absurdity of it wasn’t lost on me.
I wasn’t in his social group or his economic class, but I wasn’t anything to be feared, either.
“For God’s sake, they’re all acting like I’m some kind of homeless criminal. ”
It was insulting and hurtful. Kind of ridiculous, too, since I had been raised by wonderful people who valued life and happiness, courtesy and kindness.
“Now, Liza.” Dad placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. “Don’t listen to the naysayers or focus on their immature gossiping. We know your worth and we raised you to recognize it, as well.”
He was right, of course, because my father was always right. It begged the question of why I was allowing the words of others to influence the way I felt. But the public humiliation still stung.