Yes, he did. More than anything. If there was something she wanted, he’d spare nothing to give it to her. “I’m serious. What is it?”
She stared at him and sighed. “It’s something awful. You sure you wanna hear it?”
What could it possibly be? He found it hard to believe anything Maggie would desire was awful in any way. He set his jaw. “Yes.”
Leaning forward, her eyes darkened. “I’d have asked you to stop being friends with Andrea.”
Scene20
Mike
Unsure if it was real or another one of Maggie’s teasing jokes, Mike leaned back, processing her request.
“I told you.” She looked away. “But you insisted on knowing. Now you know.”
“You talking for real?”
“Can you just pretend I didn’t say anything? This night shouldn’t get any weirder than it already is.”
He scooted closer to her and touched her chin, turning her face in his direction. “Where’s this coming from?”
“Mike, please. I know she’s like family to you. I can never ask you that. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s stupid of me. I’m sorry.”
“Maggie, it’s me. You can tell me anything.”
“Can I?” she mocked.
“Fuck yes.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Well…”
“Well what? Tell me. Tell me why you want that.”
“Because to me, that is your only flaw.”
He stared at her for a second. “You’re kidding me, right? Not the partying, not the fucking, not wasting my talent to please people and make money? None of that bothers you, but being friends with your mother does?”
“Those aren’t flaws. They’re how you fight the loneliness and the fear of failure. I get that. Don’t get me wrong, it’s unhealthy, and you really need therapy—who doesn’t?—but I get it.”
Her clear insight into his soul took him by surprise. For all of the times he wanted to feel truly seen, he’d never expected it to actually happen.
She pinched the cherry blossoms on her bracelet. “I know everybody likes Andrea; she’s adorable and glamorous on the outside, but we both know she’s not all adorable and glamorous on the inside.” Her gaze leveled with his. “How could you like a person like Andrea?” she asked slowly.
I don’t like Andrea. I’m in debt to her.He sucked in a long breath. “Okay. Here’s a story that very few people know. When my mother got sick, Dad spent all our money, including my college fund, on hospitals. It was a terrible time. I thought I lost everything. Mamma died shortly after that. I couldn’t go to college. My whole life was ruined,” he muttered. “But Andrea, who wasn’t happy with her life either at the time, came up with an idea to solve all my problems and hers. She told me she could get me into the movie business if I signed with her as her first client.
“It seemed ridiculous at the time. I knew nothing about acting or the industry. All I wanted was to go to culinary school and have my own restaurant one day.” He shrugged. “But I had no choice, and it turned out to be the best decision I’ve never made.”
Her reluctant eyes drifted, the struggle in them clear.
“Why do you hate your mother so much? This can’t be about her pressuring you to go to architecture school.” It was time he saw more deeply into her, too.
A bitter smirk curved her lips, her face pensive.
“Maggie?”
It was a few moments before she spoke again. “I’m a beautiful woman, right?”
He quirked a brow, his eyes blinking fast.
