Marlee arched a brow.“And I hope you lied and said no.”
“Hell yeah I lied or she really would have been on the first flight out here to slap me upside my head, ask me if I lost my mind, and drag me back home.”
“It’s her job to worry. She’s your mother.”
“I know…”I huffed.“But she doesn’t have to make me feel bad in the process. I don’t make her feel bad about her life choices, she shouldn’t make me feel bad about mine.”
“True, but in her defense, her life choices are why she’s critiquing yours. Your mother doesn’t want history to repeat itself, and in her eyes, it will.”
“My side, Marlee. You’re supposed to be on my side, not hers.”
She grinned.“I’m not choosing sides. I’m only giving you the facts to see both sides of this. She loves you. Because she loves you, she wants to prevent you from being hurt or disappointed.”
“If that’s what happens, I can handle it, but she doesn’t know him…”
I cringed when I realized my mistake.
“Oh, so this is about him. It’s not just about you wanting that man to knock your walls down. You like him.”
“Yes and what’s wrong with that?”
Besides the fact that his life was here and mine was in Chicago and I didn’t have a damn clue if this was one-sided. Flirting didn’t mean he saw me as anything other than a temporary distraction.
“If he asked you to stay, would you?”
I froze and frowned.
“I can’t answer that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I just can’t,”I signed roughly.
Marlee stared at me for a minute before her hands started moving.“I’m going to ask you again. This time I want you to answer without thinking about anything other than how you feel. If you knew Ryland wanted you to stay, not for Rylee, but for him, because he’s feeling you just as much as you’re feeling him, would you stay?”
“Yes,”I answered with confidence.
She shrugged.“Then no, there’s nothing wrong with liking him, with wanting to be there, with making the decision to be there. Your mother might not like it, but you’re grown. She’ll get over it. Do whatever makes you happy. Now how was the dick?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t had it yet.”
“Bitch…”She glared.“You have me wasting my good advice and you don’t even know what the dick can do?”
I laughed and rolled my eyes.“You brought it up. That’s on you.”
“Whatever, man. Where’s my Rylee Bear?”
“At school.”I pouted.“And I miss her already.”
“So where’s your man?”
“He’s not my man.”
“You want him to be, so that’s basically your man, girl.”
“He had football stuff.”
“So you’re just at his crib chilling like W-I-F-E-Y. Okay, I see you.”
