33. Theo
Theo
Irounded on my mother. “What the hell is your problem?”
“What is my problem?” Her eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Theo?”
I yanked my jacket tighter against the wind, giving myself something to do with my hands, so I didn’t strangle her with them. “I told you. Looking for the truth.”
A crafty expression crept across her face. “Ah. I get it now. Finally, your playboy ways are paying off. I take back every unflattering thing I ever said about them.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I saw the way that woman looked at you.” She patted my arm. “She has feelings for you. And you’re going to play her and get what’s coming to us.”
My mouth fell open. “I—what? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” I didn’t know what was more preposterous—her suggestion that Liv was falling for me, or her insulting accusation. Both our mothers were batting a thousand today.
“I see,” my mother said, with a condescending roll of her eyes. “So you’re not sleeping with her, then?”
“That’s none of your business!”
“She’s a Carter, Theodore. I’d argue that makes it my business.” Her lips lifted in a smirk. “There’s no need to put up a front with me. I’m proud of you. You’re going to get the drop on those WASPs and clear our name.”
All my hard work, everything I’d done for our family, and manipulating a woman into my bed under false pretenses was what earned her approval?
I shook my head, fighting to keep my voice down.
“I am not trying to ‘play,’ ‘get the drop on,’ or otherwise abuse Liv’s trust in me.
The fact that you think I’d do that is…well, you’ve made your opinion of me quite clear.
Let’s just say that I hope I never meet your expectations. ”
The wind gusted, blowing my mother’s thinning hair back from her face. She pursed her lips in disgust. “I get it now. You have feelings for her,” she spat.
“Where the hell did you get that from? I barely know the woman. Just because I’m a decent human being who doesn’t want to trick her into divulging personal information doesn’t mean there’s anything else going on.”
“So you’ll just trick your family, is that it?” The blood rushed to my mother’s sallow cheeks. “I bet you haven’t even told your brother, have you?”
“I—that’s not—”
“You do have feelings for her,” my mother said again. “Otherwise you would’ve been straight with us. You’ve put a Carter before your own flesh and blood.”
“I haven’t put her anywhere!” I gestured at the space between us. “Do you see her around here, Mother? I don’t think so! Because guess who drove her off?”
“And that just gets under your skin, doesn’t it,” my mother hissed. “You hate that she knows who you really are. That you can’t put on your fancy-pants show for her. After everything, you wish you were one of them.”
“That’s not true!”
“I raised you boys.” Her voice caught. “I’ve done everything for you, I worked myself to the bone. And of all the people in the world, this is who you choose? It’s like a knife in my heart. There’s only one reason why you’re doing this: to hurt me and your grandmother.”
Despite myself, a part of me wondered if my mother was right—if I was drawn to Liv because I knew it would send my mom off the deep end. The thought made me want to throw up. “Look,” I said, desperate to bring this fuckup of a conversation to a close, “cut the crap. How much do you need?”
She blinked at me, her lower lip trembling, then gave up the pretense. “Two hundred?”
There was no point in asking her what she needed it for, or where the generous allowance I gave her each month had gone. I dug my wallet from my pocket and pulled out a handful of bills. “Here. Try not to spend it all on booze, will you?”
“I need it to take care of your grandmother!”
“Sure you do.” I refrained from mentioning that Grandma Susi was doing just fine in the assisted living facility I paid for. “Just take it.”
As she shivered and slipped the money into her battered purse, I took a closer look at her. The jacket she was wearing was too thin, not appropriate for November in New York at all. Surely she had a winter coat? Should I buy one and send it to her?
Heaving a sigh, I took my own jacket off and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Here.”
Her eyes found mine. They were glassy, filled with tears. “Oh, now you care about me?”
I buried my hands in the pockets of my jeans. “Don’t be dramatic, Mom. You can hate me just as much when you’re warm, okay? There’s no need for you to freeze to death. I have other coats.”
She buttoned my jacket, looking suddenly very small, like a child wearing their parent’s oversized clothes. “I know you’re angry, Theo, but you’ll thank me when that woman shows you her true colors. She won’t want anything to do with you after this, now that she knows.”
“Which is it, Mom?” I snapped. “Does she have feelings for me, or is she using me for my body? You seem a little confused.”
“Maybe she was infatuated with you, before she knew about your problems. But a woman like that—it doesn’t matter how much money you have now; she’s only slumming it with you. She’ll never really want you for who you are. You’ll see.”
That was it. I’d had all I could take. “We’re done here.”
“I did you a favor. She’ll leave. They always do, Theodore—”
“I think you’ve said enough. You’ve got what you came for. I’ll see you tonight at dinner. And next time, do us both a favor and call first.”
Stepping to the curb before she could argue with me, I hailed her a cab.