“You can never blend in, Mom.”
“Don’t worry, babe. I’ll be gone in a few hours. I’m headed to Paris for a show.”
Paige leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “That sounds fun. Your favorite place.”
“Girl, I’m tired of Paris. I’m ready to relax.” She crossed her legs. “What happened with Andrew?”
It wasn’t like her mother to talk around something, so Paige wasn’t surprised she’d veered the subject back to Andrew. “Nothing.”
Tina watched her with narrowed eyes. “You didn’t send him away, did you?”
Taking a big gulp from her glass, she shook her head. “I didn’t.”
“Okay?” Her mother leaned forward. “Spill.”
“No,” she said simply. Her mother had always been a little too interested in her love life.
“Really? You’ve always been able to share personal things with me.”
Growing up, Tina had acted more like a big sister at times, preferring to bond with Paige over gossip and trivial stuff. She’d spent a huge chunk of her childhood on the road, until she’d begged to go to regular school. Then she’d ended up in the care of nannies while her mother continued to tour.
When her mother was around, though, they rarely spent mother-daughter time together. Tina had encouraged Paige to consider her a friend. At one point, her mother had even asked her to call her by her first name, which Paige didn’t like. Instead of serious talks about her teenage struggles, they’d conversed about pop culture and boys. Instead of confiding in her mother about her issues with self-esteem, she’d allowed her mother to give makeup and hair lessons.
Paige loved her mother, but sometimes she wished Tina would just be her mom. Sometimes Paige needed a mother’s comfort, a warm hug, a listening ear.
Eyeing her mother over the rim of her glass, she said, “There’s nothing to share.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Why not?”
Tina tapped a finger against the table. “For one, you’re blushing. And two, you look like you did something wrong.”
Paige dropped her head on the table. “Oh God, why?”
“I could always tell when you were guilty of something. You get so defensive. I also could tell when you liked someone, because you can’t stop blushing.”
Lifting her eyes, Paige said, “If I tell you what happened, will you stop talking?”
Tina laughed. “You know I can’t promise that.”
“Fine.” Paige finished her glass and stood. “I need more wine for this.” After she refilled her glass, she rejoined her mother. “Okay, Andrew and I reconnected when he came here.”
“That’s it?” Tina asked flatly.
“No. Can I finish?”
Tina gestured her on with the flip of her hand. “Go ahead.”
Paige gave her mother a quick summary of Andrew’s time at the house, leaving out much of the details, but including the kiss. “Then he had to go see about his mother.”
Frowning, Tina asked, “What’s wrong with Connie?”
“She fractured her ankle,” Paige explained. “She’s in surgery right now.”
“Oh no.” Tina pulled out her phone. “I’ll have Elaine send her a basket or something.” She tapped the screen, presumably sending a text to her assistant.
Elaine Sutherland had worked for Paige’s mother for decades. The woman had been a surrogate mother to her as well, standing in the gap for Tina often.
