“You have no idea how glad I am to see you,” I whispered in her ear before pressing a quick kiss to her cheek.
Aware of my mother and Pepper both staring at us, I threaded my fingers through Hailey’s and gave her hand a little squeeze.
“Hailey, this is my assistant Pepper, and my mother, Barbara Cross. Pepper, Mom, this is my girlfriend, Hailey.”
I felt Hailey jolt a little, no doubt surprised to be referred to as my girlfriend since we’d never really defined our relationship. That was okay, we’d get there. Soon, I hoped.
Hailey gave Pepper a friendly smile, shaking her hand first. “Pepper, it’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Pepper greeted her warmly, unlike my mother, who was giving off vibes colder than an iceberg. Hailey downshifted into what I recognized as her customer service smile, then shook my mother’s hand.
Mom’s gaze went up and down her body, lingering at her belly, then her face shifted into as much of a sneer as she could manage, given the amount of Botox she’d had.
“Hailey. You’re quite the surprise.”
That was Mom for,You’re way too fat to be seen with my daughter.I felt my temper rise. Hailey glanced back at me questioningly and I widened my eyes, telling her not to engage.
“We’ll see you guys later,” I said, trying to get Mom and Pepper to leave so I could eat out my girlfriend.
Mom couldn’t resist getting in one more dig though.
“No wonder you think you look perfect,” she said, sending a meaningful look in Hailey’s direction.
Hailey immediately caught the insult, my mother not being as subtle as she thought she was. She slid her arm around my waist and looked up at me with an extra sweet smile.
“I’m just glad you don’t have your face so full of toxins that you look like a wax figure, Tori.”
I couldn’t resist lowering my head to give her a kiss. “My face is glad to see your face.”
I ignored my mother’s angry huff as she finally headed for her car, driving off with a squeal of her tires, Pepper following in her own car. Rick closed the gate behind them, then went off to do a perimeter search.
“Come see my house,” I said, pulling her inside.
It was the first time I’d been able to convince her to come to L.A. and it felt important to me that she have a good time. I wanted her to love my house as much as I did.
“It’s kind of big just for you,” Hailey said, not easily impressed. “And fancy. I really don’t see why you need all this space.”
She wasn’t being mean, just her usual forthright self. I loved that she was the only person who’d ever visited and not fawned all over me about my mansion.
“There’s just one thing I need you to see while you’re here,” I said.
“The pool?” She guessed.
“My bedroom.”
Hailey
Tori lived in a huge mansion with a hot tub, swimming pool, more bathrooms than I could count, and an expansive and well-manicured yard. It was clearly a status symbol, way larger than one person needed. A family of eight could live here and still have ample space.
I still wasn’t comfortable with all this… Tori’s excessive wealth, the way she threw around large amounts of money like it was pocket change, a private plane sent just to ferry me down the coast, people on her payroll waiting around to meet her every whim. It was excessive, but I pretended like I was having a one-time resort vacation, because that’s what it felt like to me.
We’d gotten closer over the last three months, close enough that I no longer had any doubt that Tori was my soulmate, as corny as it sounded. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, to havea family with her, but I wasn’t sure how that could ever happen, even though I was pretty sure she felt the same.
For now, I was just going to enjoy my time with her and hope that eventually everything worked out between us.
We spent our weekend in a happy bubble at Tori’s mansion. Having sex. Watching movies in her in-home movie theater. Having a private yoga class on her deck. Making cookies. PlayingScrabble.And talking. So much talking. For two people who had almost nothing in common, we could talk for hours.
After seeing her bland pre-prepared meals I insisted that we do something different. We ordered in Chinese one day and pizza the next and while it probably wasn’t our healthiest weekend of eating, it was definitely the most delicious.
