Jesus fucking Christ.
Aspen’s spine straightened and she took a hurried step back.
He was gonna kill them. It didn’t matter if it was family or a friend or a neighbor, whoever was at the door was about to breathe their last breath.
He crossed to the front door and tugged it open. An older woman with short, graying hair and familiar blue eyes stood in front of him.Aspen’seyes.
A gasp sounded behind him, then Aspen whispered, “Mom.”
Her mother was here,in Amber Ridge, the same town she’d run to, in part, to get away from her.
At least it was the happy version of her mother. The version that wanted to have coffee and chat and bond.
Plus, her mother had good timing, interrupting an almost-kiss with Jesse. What had she been thinking?
Just because he smelled good—okay, not good, fan-freaking-tastic—and he had the strongest arms that had ever wrapped around her,did notmean kissing his beautiful lips was a good idea. In fact, it was theoppositeof a good idea. Because he had the kind of lips she could become addicted to.
“Jesse’s still cute, I see.”
She dropped the napkin she’d been fiddling with, and it fell to the diner table. She never came to the diner. But she didn’t want to take her mother to The Tea House. That washerplace, and she didn’t want her mother to tarnish it in case she had a sudden change of mood.
Aspen leaned forward. “What are you doing here, Mom?”
At seven in the morning, no less.
Misty Peak didn’t have a big airport, which meant no direct flights, so she’d probably taken at least one connecting flight…that was about a six-hour trip. So she’d have to have left in the middle of the night. Either that or spent the night somewhere last night.
“I told you, I missed you and wanted to see you.”
Her mother didn’t have many people in her life—mostly because she struggled to maintain healthy relationships—which was why Aspen had always tried to maintaintheirrelationship…until it had become too much.
“You shouldn’t be spending the kind of money coming here must’ve cost.”
“I worked it out because I wanted to see you. You just up and left me. No warning, just a text.”
Yeah, because if she’d given her mother an in-person warning, she would have spiraled and harassed Aspen, guiltingher into staying. Leaving without notice had been her only option.
“I needed to get out for my sanity,” Aspen said gently.
“Because of Dylan.”
Among other things. “Yes.”
“I don’t understand what happened between you two. I thought you made such a good couple.”
Yeah, because Dylan could be charming when he wanted…and just like her mother, she’d fallen for it, hook, line and sinker. “He wasn’t a good guy.”
“Wasn’t a good guy how?”
Oh, there was no way she was going into the finer details with her mother while in a diner. “I just need you to take my word for it. I can’t ever have him in my life again.”
Her mother gave a littlehumph, like she was offended Aspen wasn’t giving her all the sordid details of the worst relationship of her life.
Aspen softened her smile. “Let’s change the subject. Where are you staying?”
“Oh, I rented the most gorgeous little Airbnb. I got in last night. You need to visit. It’s so charming. And the owner has said I can have it for as long as I want because he hasn’t got any bookings for a few months.”
“How are you paying for it?” How was she paying for the entire trip? She barely worked because she could never hold down a job. Her last job had been an after-hours office cleaning gig, but she was fired when she’d started threatening to sue for underpayment, even though Aspen was sure her mother had been paid the agreed-upon amount.
