I let my eyes drift closed, letting the cadence of his voice wash over me for a bit.
“Yes, that’s right… mmhmm… Forty-five… mmhmm… he really is… it’s Edward Garrett.” And finally, “Of course you can. He’s right here.”
I blinked my eyes back open.
He held the phone out to me. “It’s your mother.”
Mymom?
Adrenaline flooded through me so fast I almost felt sick, and I snatched the phone out of his hand.
I hadn’t remembered to recharge mine after that first night when Sam had, and since then, I hadn’t eventhoughtto check it.
Ineverforgot to check on my mom, but… but now I had.
“Mom?” I said, my heart pounding as I clutched the receiver with both hands. “Are you… are you okay? Did Mr. Olson forget to—”
“Shush, Renny,” she cut me off with a breezy laugh, sounding like she was having a good day. My shoulders relaxed a little. “Mr. Olson has been a right pest—” Which meant he’d followed through and checked in on her, “—and I am perfectly fine. I just called because I hadn’t heard from you. Not that I’m checking up…”
“I know,” I said quickly. “It’s fine.”
The two of us were all we had, and I felt horrible for having let it go this long without at least sending her a message that I’d made it here okay.
“Well, I just wanted to make sure that old Golf of yours hadn’t died on the side of the road and left you stranded,” she said, sounding a little embarrassed about having worried.
Usually it was the other way around, with me always worrying about her. Butusually, I didn’t drive across half the state to meet up with strangers and… and get kinky. So yes, this wasn’t exactly our usual, even though she knew exactly where I was, why I was here, and was totally supportive of it.
“I made it,” I told her, my heart finally slowing down. “I’m sorry I didn’t let you know, and I’m sorry I worried you.”
“Oh, well,” she said, sounding flustered now. “That’s fine. I know you can take care of yourself, Renny. I just… I’d hate not to have checked in if it turned out that something had gone wrong.” Then her voice sharpened. “But if I remember correctly, the Daddy you were planning on meeting there wasnotnamed Edward Garrett.”
I bit my lip, my eyes darting up to meet Edward’s for a second, but then getting snagged by the intensity of his gaze and staying there.
“That’s right, Mom,” I said, searching his face for some kind of reassurance that he wasn’t irritated, now that he knew it hadn’t been an important business call that had woken him up after all. “Um, the other Daddy didn’t… didn’t work out.”
Edwardhadn’tlooked irritated, but the moment I mentioned Daryl, his face turned stormy.
“I’myour Daddy,” he growled, yanking me right onto his lap.
My heart did a little flip, a smile I didn’t have time to hide breaking out on my face.
I ducked my head against his chest.
“But I’m glad Daryl didn’t work out,” I said to Mom, rubbing my face against the soft, curly hair he had there. “Being with Edward is… is better.”
“Damn right it is,” Edward muttered, stroking his hands over me possessively. “You’re mine.”
On the other end of the phone, Mom laughed. “Well, hedidcall me ‘Ma’am’ and make me feel ancient for a moment, but I’ll forgive him for that as long as he’s been good to you.”
“He has. It was… it was worth it.”
“Well, I hope it stillisworth it,” she joked. “You still have the rest of today to enjoy your vacation, honey, so you should definitely make the most of it!”
“I will,” I said, knowing she was right.
Hadn’t I just been thinking the same thing in the middle of the night?
I needed to make the most of what was left of my time with Edward, with my temporary Daddy, not waste what was left of it.
