“Nothing important, Elizabeth,” he replied with a tight smile.
“Good.” Elizabeth flicked her hand as if shooing away a bug. “Then if you’ll excuse us, I need to speak with my daughter.”
And the hits just keep coming. Eve took a long pull from her wine glass as she watched Nolan slink off like a kicked puppy.
The fact that she’d made it through dinner before her mother cornered her was a miracle, and it would honestly be a relief to just get this over with so she could stop worrying about it and focus on how she was going to broach the topic of possibly exploring this unexpectedly wonderful connection she’d found with Aspen.
At the thought of Aspen, she stole a quick glance across the ballroom to where she’d left her talking hockey with Lydia and Senator Gerald Mahoney while the string quartet took a break from the mealtime set to prepare for the dancing part of the evening. Aspen’s back was to her, but Lydia saw her looking their way, and she shook her head at thedo you need backup? look Lydia gave her before turning her attention back to her mother.
Before this weekend, the taut look of disappointment on her mother’s face would have twisted her stomach into knots, but it didn’t hit quite as hard now. It was still enough to put her instantly on guard, but her pulse didn’t spike and the usual impending storm of doom she was used to feeling was reduced to just a few threatening clouds. That, more than anything, was what unsettled her the most, but before she could think about it too much, her mother directed her toward the side of the room with a sharp tilt of her head.
Eve stole one last glance at Aspen, torn between wanting her to see what was happening so she’d come to her rescue and hoping she didn’t notice so she’d be spared the worst of her mother’s cruelty. She briefly considered throwing back both glasses of wine to numb herself for what was coming before deciding against it. There were too many eyes and ears around for her mother’s reprimand to be anything other than short and vicious, so the alcohol wouldn’t have time to kick in before it was over, and she didn’t particularly want to deal with the headache she’d get from it.
As expected, her mother got straight into it the moment they were mostly sheltered from prying ears. “Howdareyou blow us off with a text!”
“Mother—”
But her mother wasn’t quite finished. “No!” she hissed. “Your father and I are willing to humor your dalliance with Aspen because she at least comes with an Academy pedigree that we can capitalize on, but I’ll be damned if you disrespect us by blowing off your responsibilities for that woman!”
That woman?Eve blinked. “Humor?”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “When are you going to get it through your head that those kinds of relationships aren’t for people like you?”
“People like me?” Eve echoed. She’d expected her mother’s rebuke to be directed at her absence from dinner the night before, and her brain was having trouble recalibrating to defend her sexuality instead. Which was stupid, because she should have seen this coming. Why wouldn’t her homophobic mother blame her choosing to do something for herself on Aspen?
“Oh, do grow up, Eve,” her mother snapped.
Eve was so focused on the sudden appearance of Aspen behind her mother that she barely registered the rebuke. Her stomach tightened at the concern in Aspen’s expression as shestopped a few feet away, and she shook her head imperceptibly to assure her she was fine. This fight had been years in the making, and she was finally in a place where she felt confident enough to take it on.
God, her therapist would be so fucking proud.
Aspen, thankfully, understood, and crossed her arms over her chest as she stayed where she was.
“It’s one thing for riffraff like Aspen to be gay,” her mother continued scathingly, “butweare not like that.”
Even though Eve knew that repeating what her mother said was pissing her off, she couldn’t stifle the disbelieving “Riffraff?” that spilled from her lips. It was all she could do to not laugh at the way Aspen rolled her eyes as mouthed the word as well, and she forced herself to focus on her mother’s scowling face as she said, “I’m afraid you’ve wildly underestimated her, Mother.”
“I sincerely doubt that,” her mother scoffed. “What’s there to underestimate about apilot? Honestly, Eve.” Shetskeddisapprovingly.
“She’s so much more than a pilot,” Eve defended, pointedly not looking at Aspen who was pulling a comically offended face and grasping the front of her shirt as if mortally wounded by her mother’s assessment.
Her mother waved her off with a thoroughly dismissive hand. “When are you going to wake up and realize that she’s using you for your money?”
“For my…” Eve frowned as Aspen flashed a pair of middle fingers at the back of her mother’s head.
“If anything,” her mother steamrolled on before Eve could begin to point out all the ways she was wrong, “she should be using the connections we’re providing to try and build her business, but instead she’s tempting you into gallivanting off around the mountain and ignoring your obligations.”
“Tempting me into gallivanting around the…?” Eve repeated dryly. “Wow. Glad to know you think so highly of me, Mother.”
“Well, what else are we to think? You’ve never failed to honor your responsibilities before.”
Eve shook her head. “It was my choice to skip dinner last night. Aspen supported me in the decision, but I was the one who made it.”
Her mother looked at her like she’d grown a second head. “What could have possibly been more important than dinner with our guests?”
“Yourguests,” Eve corrected without hesitation. “And spending time with Aspen will always be more important than anything—especiallythe so-called ‘responsibilities’ that you’ve assigned to me that I quite literally could not care less about.”
“How dare you.”
