Chapter 15
“You missed the turn off.”
By some miracle, the rest of the dinner went without drama, with all conversation being solely about both the engagement party next weekend and the wedding of the fucking century.
There was no doubt in my mind that by the day of the actual wedding, my hair was either going to be grey from the list of demands Maya slid to me between dinner and dessert.
Ursula was about to have competition for being my most exhausting client. The difference being, at least I got to charge Ursula every time she changed her mind on a dime.
Maya, on the other hand, got to torture me free of charge, and there were still four more months of torture to take place.
Just think five more and I’ll be free from all of them.
I hadn’t decided what I was going to do after Ursula’s check cleared, but it was in the realms of telling my family to fuck off before getting drunk, dancing until my feet bled, and breaking my rule of celibacy with hopefully a toe-curling orgasm—or five.
It’d been a year since I slept with someone.
My one attempt after Daniel was a complete disaster, with a random guy from a dive bar.
I wanted someone to take my mind off everything.
I wanted to forget for a couple of hours.
And most importantly, I wanted to prove to myself I could move on as quick as Daniel did.
Unfortunately for me, my ex hadn’t quite finished ruining my life.
I couldn’t get the cheating bastard’s face out of my mind the whole time.
After forty minutes of the guy trying to get me off by rubbing my clit like he was trying to start a fire, I faked an orgasm and then locked myself in the bathroom until he left.
Safe to say, I was well overdue for a mind-blowing orgasm that didn’t come from my vibrator.
Scratch that, I deserved multiple orgasms, please and thank you.
All I had to do was endure these coming months.
Strangely, listening to them all tonight cluck on about wedding dresses, horse-drawn carriages, inviting paparazzi, and somehow training a dove to place the ring on my sister’s finger didn’t upset me the way I imagined it would.
Honestly, I was thankful for their conversation. Whatever it took to stop my mother from glaring a hole into my head with each mouthful of my dinner—a dinner meant for Elliott.
When Elliott switched his plate with mine, he did it as if it was no big deal. Like it wasn’t the most caring, sweetest thing someone had done for me.
One family dinner with my fake boyfriend and he did something Daniel never had the balls to do.
Fuck, that’s pathetic.
“You missed the turn off back there,” I repeated, “and there goes the other turn off. Are you lost?”
“I’m not lost.”
“Ah, is this one of those man things where you can’t admit you’re lost and need directions?”
“I know where I am going.”
“Which is where? Because last time I checked, both you and I live in the other direction.” I tapped the window. “There goes the last turn off. You’re lost, admit it. It’s okay, this is a safe space.”
His knuckles blanched as his grip tightened around the steering wheel. “Does your mother always behave like that?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Livi,” he exhaled, “you know exactly what I mean.”
“It varies,” I relented with a shrug. “Tonight, she was in a particularly turbulent mood. It’s like sitting in the eye of a hurricane, in the blink of an eye, she changes direction and wreaks devastation.”
The corner of his left eye twitched behind his glasses.
“I’m sorry if she said something to upset you. She can’t help herself. I knew leaving her alone with you was a bad idea.”
“I couldn’t give a flying shit what she says about me.” He finally took the next turn off and drove down a street I didn’t recognize. “What I did have a problem with is how she treats and speaks to you.”
“Ah, that.” Looking out the window, my arms wrapped around my waist. “That’s nothing new. Trust me, I’m well used to it at this point.”
“Being used to something doesn’t constitute as an excuse for someone’s bad behavior.” The car took another turn. “Has she always torn you down like that?”
Chewing the inside of my lip, I shook my head.
“Don’t get me wrong, she was never the affectionate type.
Maya and I were basically raised by Gretchen, but our mother still made some effort when she wasn’t working.
Though that effort mainly revolved around beauty treatments, diets, exercising, all that stuff to prepare us both for the world modelling. ”
Elliott remained silent, his attention fixated on the road.
“I guess the judgmental comments were always there, but worded in a way that I thought she was trying to help me. It was only when I decided not to follow the path she laid out for me that it changed for the worse.”
“Have you tried telling her how it makes you feel?”
“What’s the point? She knows her comments hurt me. She doesn’t care. Telling her how much her comments about my weight, my work, my love life, affect me only gives her more power.”
“You shouldn’t have to put up with that from anyone, especially your own mother.”
“It’ll be different soon,” I promised myself. “Soon, I’ll be able to walk away from them all.”
“How?”
“Do you remember the nightmare client I told you about? Well, it’s Ursula Melnyk.”
Lines creased his brow. “Should I know who that is?”
“Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last fifteen years,” I said. “She and her husband are the epitome of New York High Society. Socialites of the twenty-first century.”
“Never heard of them.”
“You seriously need to get a life outside of work,” I muttered. “But my point is, the amount she is paying me for her daughter’s birthday will mean I’ll finally have more than enough to repay the loan Fernando gave me to start Treasured Moments Events.”
He arched a brow. “He expected you to pay him back?”
“No, but there’s a buyout clause in my contract. If I pay back all the money plus ten percent interest, Fernando and my mother will surrender their shares and control of my company to me. And with that, I can finally put the space between us that I need.”
Something like guilt worked its way between my ribs.
As much as I knew cutting my family off was the right thing to do, it still felt wrong.
But how much longer was I going to stand by and let them use and abuse me?
“If your mother, if anyone in your family, for that matter, can’t appreciate you as the beautiful, strong, and independent woman you are, Livi, then they don’t deserve a second of your time.” Elliott’s words left no room for argument.
Between his words of praise and his ability to slip into the role of loving boyfriend so easily, it would’ve been too easy to forget that all of this was pretend.
If this was how Elliott behaved with his fake girlfriend, then I was already ever so slightly—okay massively!—jealous of whatever woman he fell in love with.
“Hope you don’t mind a little pitstop before I take you home.” He stopped the car. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
My attention snapped to the twenty-four-hour diner neon sign.
Elliott got out and walked around to my side of the car. The cool, almost midnight breeze mixed with the smell of coffee and bacon greeted me when he opened my door.
“This place has hands-down the best pie in the whole city,” he said, waiting until I was out of the car before walking toward the diner. “Their cherry pie will change your life.”
Falling into step beside him, we entered what could only be described as the place time forgot.
Seriously, the diner looked as if it had been pulled out of a 1950s television show. Black and white checkered flooring in desperate need of a bleach bath. Red vinyl booths and baby blue tables, and a jukebox in the corner that was oddly playing Benjamin Gates.
Never having met the country singer and only hearing about him through Khloe, I could only imagine his horror and disgust at his music being played in a place like this.
“Well, well, well, about time you showed your face around here.” A mid-to-late-fifty-year-old woman emerged from the kitchens. “Here, I thought you’d high-tailed back to Canada without saying goodbye.”
Elliott grasped his chest in fake pain. “You think I’d do something like that to you, Madge?”
“You have a habit of doing disappearing acts on me, lad, so it wouldn’t surprise me.” She whacked his arm with a plastic menu. “Guessing you’ll want your usual, huh?”
“Make it two, would you?” Elliott’s palm found my lower back.
Madge’s eyes nearly popped out of her skull. “Isn’t this a sight for sore eyes. Never thought I’d see the day you’d see some sense and find yourself a good lassie to be happy with.”
Heat crept into the base of my neck. “Oh, I—”
“Livi, this is Madge,” Elliott cut me off. “She owns the place, and don’t worry her bark is much worse than her bite...sometimes.” A boyish smirk tugged the corner of his lips as he dodged the menu, aiming for the back of his head.
“Careful, or I’ll take your photo off the wall.” Madge pointed to the corkboard littered with Polaroid photos behind the counter.
“Please do,” Elliott mumbled. “I’ve been begging you for months to take it down.”
My eyes, like a pair of magnets, found the picture in question in less than a heartbeat.
“You worked here?!” I half ran to the counter, desperate to get a closer look. “No freaking way! Look how adorable you are in that apron! And a hairnet!”
Running his hands down his face, Elliott groaned.
Grinning like a fool, I leaned across the counter to get a better look. “Madge, please, tell me you have copies of this! I’ll pay you whatever you want for a copy!”
The tips of Elliott’s ears reddened. “It was for a charity event. Madge forced me into it. She threatened to poison me if I didn’t help.”
“Damn right I did, lad, and I’d do it again.” Madge hummed. “Grab a booth, you two, I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
Behind the shy grin, it was almost easy to miss the deep, dark circles beneath Elliott’s glasses, the gauntness of his cheeks, and his ashen complexion in the photograph.