I bit my lip at the ‘father figure’ call out. Some might argue that was why I was with Mal. I don’t know, and I didn’t reallywant to examine it that much, honestly. “Mom’s always been big on financial stability, which makes sense since my dad died when I was two and she was a stay-at-home mom at the time. But instead of putting it on me to be able to support myself, she’d rather I find a good provider, and for some reason she still believes Trent is one. I’d argue that he’s the opposite of stable, considering his bookie was the one to break the news of his gambling addiction to me. Almost literally. Fortunately it just ended in a black eye and not a broken nose. Or worse.”
“His bookie hit you?”
I shrugged then nodded. Maybe I shouldn’t have let that much slip, but I was feeling oddly vulnerable since Mal had run out on me again.
“Oh, you poor baby.” Judy crossed the room and gave me a huge hug, rocking me slightly. “And your mom wants you to take him back? That’s crazy.”
“Thank you,” I replied emphatically. It felt good to be heard. No matter how many times I reiterated to my mom what’d happened, she’d continued to gloss over it. Like it was a minor hiccup or something.
Judy stepped back and patted my shoulder. “I’m guessing that means you haven’t told her about your wedding with Mal?”
“I’ve been avoiding her texts, and she doesn’t know I’m back from Fiji yet. I was supposed to be there another week.”
“Right. Well, I guess she’ll find out along with the rest of the world once it’s posted on the gossip sites.”
I winced. “It kinda already is.” I quickly explained the whole scene at the airport and how my phone had blown up with texts.
“My advice would be for you…” She sighed. “To do whatever you think is best. You know the dynamics between you and your mom better than I do. Mal wouldn’t tell me. Didn’t tell me, obviously. But then it wasn’t the first time so—”
Ouch.
Judy waved a hand. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t a dig at you. It was a dig at my thoughtless son.” She gave me a warm smile. “How about we put in that order, and do you remember the recipe or do we need to look it up online?”
I let Judy change the subject, and soon we put in our grocery order with delivery promised in a few hours.
While we waited for the groceries, Judy showed me around Mal’s place. It was annoying that Mal wasn’t here to do that for me and just up and left me with a virtual stranger, but I tried not to let that show as we walked through the huge modern space.
But it was the view out the back that left me spellbound.
Past the glass doors was a teak deck surrounding an infinity pool with a view of downtown LA beyond. It felt like we were standing at the top of the world. Lounging chairs and a whole dining table were staged along the deck, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the view.
Mal lived averydifferent life than I did.
My apartment had a view of a few local streets and some scrub dirt beyond.
“Yeah,” Judy murmured next to me. “It’s my favorite part of his house. Kinda helps since the rest of the place is so…”
“Beige? Boring?” I tossed out.
Judy laughed. “Exactly. I knew I’d like you, Saylor. Clearly my boy needs some color in his life, and I have a feeling you’re going to be the one to help provide it.”
Two days ago I would’ve said she was right, but now…
Now everything was so up in the air.
I wasn’t confident I could say that we’d still be married a month from now.
Since it was starting to feel like Mal wasn’t a hundred percent in anymore.
Maybe he just needed some time. A lot had changed in the last few days.
But then again, he wasn’t the only one who’d had their entire life turned upside down. It would’ve been so much easier for both of us to get through all this turmoil if Mal would just talk to me.
A buzzer sounded somewhere in the distance.
“Oooh!” Judy perked up. “I bet that’s the groceries.”
I put my fake smile on and followed her to the door.
