Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
PRESLEY
“Do you really have to work?”
Kade crowds me from behind, his hands brushing the soft skin exposed from where I knotted my shirt up.
Sparks explode inside of me. I want nothing more than to say fuck it to work and be with Kade, but I can’t.
“You know I have to.”
He groans, resting his forehead on my shoulder. “I miss you, Pres. You didn’t come over last night.”
“I know.” I wiggle against him, feeling him harden beneath me. “Poppy wasn’t feeling well.”
“Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do to help?”
I shake my head, spinning in his arms. “No. She was feeling better this morning.”
He smiles, brushing my cheek. “Then how about I bring dinner over tonight?”
“I would not say no to you coming over again.”
“Done. I’ll make sure to get something everyone will like.”
His lips ghost over mine, and it causes every thought to flee my head. I don’t know how I ever went so long without Kade.
“Maybe I could spend the night after?” Kade asks.
“You really want to?”
“Presley.” His voice is firm. “There is nothing I want more than you. I will take you however I can get you.”
I look around. The break room is blissfully empty. “Maybe we could…”
“Stop macking on each other!” Betty barks, her head popping into the door. “I don’t need my top waitress to show up looking like she was getting frisky back here.”
“Hey!” Rylee’s voice cuts in. “I thought I was your top waitress.”
“Of course you are, dear.” She winks at her.
“Fuck,” Kade whispers. “Now I’m going to have to go back to work with a raging hard-on.”
“You need a minute?” I ask, smiling at him.
“Yes.” He shifts as I squirm away from him to grab my bandanna.
Tying my hair up, I adjust my shirt and grab my apron and check pad. When I turn back around, Kade is there, leaning against the wall. Looking effortlessly sexy as he always does.
“What?”
“You really aren’t making it easy on me.”
His gaze rakes over me. I feel it over every inch of my body. I can’t wait to feel him against me later.
“Back at you.”
Spinning on my heel, I leave the break room with Kade hot on my tail. Giving him a good sway of my ass to make him feel what I’m feeling.
“Presley,” he growls, crowding in behind me.
When we push through the swinging door, a burst of light and noise greet us. And standing there in the doorway to the diner is the very last person I expect to see here.
My mom.
There’s one way to kill the buzz.
“What are you doing here?”
Kade stills behind me. There is clearly no love lost between the two of them after all these years.
“Am I not able to see my daughter?”
“I’m working.”
I look around, not wanting to draw anyone’s attention to this conversation. Being that it’s a small town—Pinecrest is exceptionally nosey—all eyes are on the two of us.
She huffs, sliding her designer handbag off her shoulder and sitting in the corner booth. The one right behind Serena. No doubt her ears are primed to hear all the tea.
“Then I will be a paying customer.”
“Do you want me to stay?” Kade whispers in my ear.
Turning to face him, I can see how nervous he is. Again, something that isn’t unusual when it came to my parents. They never liked him in high school. The boy from the wrong side of town wasn’t good enough for their daughter.
“Yes.”
“I’ll wait at the counter for you.”
Tension comes off him in waves. I hate that one of the people I love most in the world feels like this around the people that are supposed to be there for me.
But they are only there for themselves.
“What can I get you?” I sigh, staring my mother down.
“A cup of coffee. Black. You know I don’t like cream and sugar.”
“I know.”
She tells me this like I might have forgotten how she takes her coffee. I walk behind the counter, grabbing a white ceramic mug and pouring her a cup of black brew.
I peek a glance back at Kade, and Rylee is serving him a milkshake. I smile, knowing it doesn’t have strawberries in it.
Dropping down across from my mom, I push her mug toward her and watch as she concentrates on me.
I used to do everything in my power to make sure my mother loved me. No matter what I did, it was never good enough. Even when Paul was in the picture, I wasn’t doing enough to be a doting wife.
“Why are you here?”
“Is that any way to greet your mother?” she spits. “I raised you better than that, Presley.”
I count to five in my head. It’s the only way I won’t snap at her.
Then I do it again.
One, two, three, four, five.
This time, I don’t say anything. I wait for her to broach whatever subject is on her mind, all the while ignoring the eyes I can feel directed to the back of my head.
Serena isn’t even trying to hide the way she’s looking at us.
This will be all over town within minutes.
Did you see Presley’s mom came to the diner?
How did Presley treat her?
Was there yelling?
There will be no yelling if I can help it.
“You cannot keep avoiding your husband.” She finally breaks the silence.
“Ex-husband,” I clarify.
Her gaze narrows. “The divorce isn’t final yet.”
“Because he won’t sign the damn papers!” I hiss, jabbing my finger on the table.
Pressure grows between my eyes. This is a conversation I keep trying to have with Paul, but he won’t hear of it.
Because where I am, so is the money.
“You love him. Your father loved him. Isn’t that worth something?”
“Does Paul love me?” I fire back, cocking a brow at her.
She bristles under my words.
“Of course he does. He married you.”
“That doesn’t mean you love someone.”
Glancing toward the counter, I seek out Kade, the person I wanted to marry who was ripped away from me. His focus seems trained solely on the milkshake in front of him.
“Presley Ann, you need to grow up. People get married all the time for various reasons. You need to be the wife your husband needs. Your father wanted him to have the company—”
“And never got around to amending his will,” I interject. “That’s not my fault it is still coming to me.”
“Which is why you need to take Paul back. Run it together.”
I shake my head. “No.”
“Then why are you working here?” Her nose turns up in disgust. “You’ll have millions.”
“Until the estate is settled, I don’t have anything.”
“You—”
“I don’t want his money.”
Mom rolls her eyes. “It’s not like it’s tainted.”
“No, but it always came with restrictions. If I didn’t behave, Dad would hold it over my head.”
Right until the very end.
“And Poppy? Could she use the money?”
I stiffen. Of course she threatens me by using my daughter. I would do anything for her. Which is why I’m working at the diner. To keep her fed and clothed.
“I am doing just fine for the two us.”
Again, she looks around with her nose held high in the air as if she’s above this place. “Are you?”
I’m done. There is no point in having this conversation with her. It’s an endless cycle. Her wanting me to go back to Paul, make amends. Me getting angry. Not speaking for weeks.
Rinse and repeat.
“If Paul really wanted me, he knows where I am. Now, is there anything else you need? I have to get back to work.”
She stands and I follow her.
“You don’t know what you’re doing, Presley. This isn’t what your father wanted.”
Cutting my gaze to Kade, I find that his eyes are locked on me. It helps to soothe the anger threatening to take over.
“Well, he had plenty of time to fix his will and chose not to do that. And he never knew what I wanted because he never bothered to ask.” I wave a hand across from me to show her the exit. “I actually know exactly what I’m doing. I’ll see you around.”
She leaves in a huff, perfume wafting behind her.
The same overly stuffy scent she’s always worn.
“Sage could work well for you, my dear,” Serena tells me. “Clear out the negative and bring in better energy for you.”
“Right.” I ignore her words, walking over to Kade. I don’t need to give her any reason to give me a reading at the moment. I don’t need to know that the meeting with my mom was a disaster and that the fortunes aren’t in my favor.
Or whatever else she might tell me.
“You good?” Kade asks, pulling me between his legs.
I sigh. “I wish things were different with her. She can’t see past me not being with Paul and how it’s not what my father wanted.”
He scoffs, anger lacing the sound. “Does it not matter what you want? Did they ever stop to think about that?”
I wrap my arms around his shoulders and rest my forehead against his. “We wouldn’t be in this situation if they did.”
“Then I will do my best tonight to make you forget all that.”
I kiss him, short and sweet. Because the last thing I want—
“I really need to implement a no macking on the customers rule,” Betty moans, dropping off a plate of fries. “Rylee is just as bad when Chase comes in.”
“Kade isn’t really a customer.”
“He’s eating. He’s a customer. Now, make sure he pays and gives you a good tip.” Betty eyes me before turning to Kade. “A real tip. None of this I’ll do it in the bedroom nonsense you kids seem to do these days.”
“Betty!” I gasp.
“For the shake and fries. And excellent service.” Kade pulls out his wallet and drops two twenties on the counter. “Would it help if I leave a five-star review online?”
Betty smiles at him, big and toothy. “Leave a one-star for all I care. I never look at those things. It’s a diner.
You come here, you know what you’re getting.
If you don’t like a burger, fries, and a shake, go to the steakhouse in Thistle Creek.
I don’t give a damn. And if you don’t like my girls?
Tough shit. I’m not letting any of them go.
Even if they have a thing for the guests. ”
Kade smiles at me.
Betty is right. I know what I’m getting here.
Stability. Kade. Making my own life.
It’s nowhere close to where I thought I’d be at the point, but being in Kade’s arms?
I’m pretty okay with where I am now.