“Umm, yes, come to my office.” I spin on my heels. I don’t have to look back to see if she is following me. The clicking of her heels lets me know.
Opening my office door, I stepped back and let her in first. She immediately goes over to the dress on the desk that I now wish I had put up.
“This is a black label from Samoht. This was in his summer show three years ago.” She’s enamored by the dress. I knew it was designer, but the way she’s talking about it tells me it’s way more than I thought.
Now I feel even guiltier about it.
“Is this a gift from Niccolo?”
I quickly go over to the desk and place the dress back in the bag and zip it up. I then hang the garment on the hook on the back of my door.
“What’s going on, Evelyn?” I distract her with a question, refusing to answer hers.
She drops into the seat in front of my desk. For the first time, I take in her appearance. She looks put together in her two-piece tweed pink skirt and top. Her black hair is in a blunt bob that touches her shoulders. Even though my mother is fifty, she could easily pass for someone in her late thirties. Time has been good to her, or more like her plastic surgeon has been good to her.
My mother drops her head. “He hit me.”
“Who hit you?”
She looks up at me and glares. “James, Tiffany.”
“James, as in your husband James?”
Look, I’m not victim doubting, it’s just hard to believe that the man I spent six days with, the one that doted on my mother and was so gentle with my son, could hit his wife.
She wipes at her eyes. “Yes. I feel so embarrassed saying that. I’ve never been in an abusive relationship. Things like that are so beneath me.”
Only my mother could make domestic violence a class thing.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you.” Despite not having a relationship with the woman, I didn’t want anyone to hurt her. “Did you press charges?”
She cocks her head to the side. “And have all my friends and business associates talking about me? I’d never be able to show my face anywhere again. When you move in the circles I move in, you don’t put your business out there. You’ll have to learn these things married to a man like Niccolo.”
So much of what she said is wrong. First of all, she has no business, so what associates is she talking about? Plus, I don’t care how rich anyone is; if they break the law, they need to face the consequences. I hope Nico knows that if he ever puts his hands on me, we will both be in jail.
“Okay, so what are you going to do?” Not sure why she came to me if she didn’t even press charges.
She fidgets with her sparkly watch. “I thought a lot about what you said the last time we talked in my kitchen. I spent so much time chasing the next new man, I established nothing for myself. Now here I am, once again having to leave a relationship, and I have nowhere to go.”
There was a lot said that day in her kitchen, but that’s what she thought about? You know what? I’m not surprised.
“I haven’t been much of a mother to you, and for that I’m sorry.”
Whoa. Now, that wasn’t what I was expecting. If you had told me that today Evelyn Peters would apologize to me for being an absent mother, I would have thought you were crazy.
“Apology accepted?” Yes, it came out like a question because I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to respond. I mean, I’ve wantedto hear her apologize for abandoning me for years, but I’m not sure if this fixes anything.
She dips her chin. “I was also hoping that I could stay with you for a while. Just until I can get back on my feet. I assure you; it won’t take long. I’m pretty resilient.”
This completely catches me off guard. Had you asked me a few months ago if my mother could come stay with me, I would have laughed in your face. But she did open her door for me when I was running from Nico. No matter how reluctant it was, she let me stay.
I won’t lie, there is a strong urge to tell her ass hell no, but I guess there is still that desire to have a bond with her. Especially after the time I’ve spent with Ms. Rose. Having her around the house to help me with Noah, letting me cry in her lap, and taking care of me this morning made me realize how much I missed out on having a mother. This might be my last chance of forming something with Evelyn. Besides, I’m not cruel enough to leave her out on the streets.
“Okay. We have another guesthouse on the property. You can stay there.”
Jim and Gloria both stay in the house at the back of the property. They’ve been with Nico for so long, he built them their own home. Ms. Rose stays in the largest guesthouse that’s attached to our home. It has a private entrance into the guesthouse and an entrance directly into our home. The third guesthouse is connected to the pool house. It doesn’t have a kitchen, but it does have a bedroom, and full bath. Evelyn can stay there.
“Oh darling, I appreciate this so much.”
