I took her small hand in mine. “You came in here to pick a fight.”
She snatched her hand away. “You owe me an apology!”
“You’re a little brat and you’re funny, too. I don’t owe you shit.”
She rolled her eyes, clenching her small fists “You are not even worth another moment of my time, Wez. Don’t speak to me ever again!”
Lillian turned and I chuckled while she stormed out of the clubhouse.
CHAPTER 4LILLIAN
Like clockwork, I met my mother for lunch every other Wednesday. The restaurants were chosen and approved by my mother, of course, always needing to meet her standards—upscale with five-star ratings. Rarely did I ever miss our lunch date, but there were times we cancelled due to bad weather or if one of us was out of town on travel. This was a tradition my mother started when I graduated from college and moved out of her house a few years ago.
I was expected to be seated before she arrived, then she would make her grand entrance while being fashionably late. I loved my mother, but as I grew older, I understood more and more why my father divorced her and married Kat’s mother, Jean. I was jealous of Kat and Jean for years, because I felt my father had left me too. But he didn’t. And I saw how happy he was with Jean; she was the complete opposite of my overbearing, melodramatic, and demanding mother.
Keeping all the jealousy and that negative energy bottled up inside me was exhausting. When I looked at myself in the mirror every day, I realized I didn’t want to be just like my mother. I apologized to Kat recently and when we sat and talked, it helped to ease some of the tension we’d felt over the years. Kat met Magnet—or Noah—and in the beginning, I’d been terribly rude to him. But then I saw Kat’s eyes light up with desire and love for him...so, I gave her advice on how to make Magnet jealous. Wez letting her ride on the back of his bike did just the trick.
And Wez. The moment I saw him at the clubhouse, it felt like the earth shifted. He was completely different from the men I’d dated. I felt his sexual magnetism, and even though the giant man frightened me, I couldn’t help but pick a fight—like poking a bear. So why did I keep fantasizing what it would feel like to kiss that beast?
And when Wez pulled that stunt in the brewery just to embarrass me in front of a client, I was so angry, I could have slapped him right there.
My mother finally arrived, following the hostess to my table. She was dressed in a sexy but sophisticated cream-colored pantsuit with a blouse the color of peach, and crème colored heels. Her long chestnut hair was up in a tight bun, her makeup flawless along with her French manicured nails.
She sat down and reached for my hand from across the table. “Lillian, sweetheart, I hope you weren’t waiting too long. I’m only ten minutes late.”
I squeezed her hand. “It’s okay, Mother. I wasn’t waiting too long.”
She was actually twenty minutes late, but I wouldn’t dare complain to her about it.
The waiter approached, pouring our water and asking what we’d like to drink. Of course, we both ordered a glass of their most expensive Pino Grigio.
My stomach was tied in knots as we sipped on our wine, because I knew she would ask me about Raymond Mitchell. He was also in the same line of business as me, working for a competing real estate company. Our workplaces were tough competitors, vying for the highest bidding houses on the market in our area. Ray was attractive—tall with an athletic build, thick brown hair and dimples when he smiled. He was charming on our first dinner date, picking me up in his brand new Porsche 911 Carrera.
But after the first date at a nice French restaurant, things felt weird with Ray. He would text me and call me every day. One day he just showed up at my office and threw a fit in front of our receptionist, yelling that I had ignored his calls and messages. One late night I was sitting on my couch, reading, dressed in my comfy clothes when he showed up at my front door. He wanted to come in and talk, saying that he missed me and that he was sorry for getting angry with me at the office.
I didn’t let him inside and became frightened when he wouldn’t leave. He finally left when I promised I’d call him the next morning and go out to dinner with him again. I should have trusted my gut and just stopped communicating with him immediately, but my mother insisted—no, she pushed me to go out with Ray. “Raymond comes from a well-to-do family and his brother is an attorney practicing family law. He won’t be able to resist your beauty and style. Leave a good impression on him because my daughter will marry into wealth and prestige. You will not be like that frumpy girl, Kat, who probably spreads her legs on the first date with any blue-collar hillbilly she can find.”
He came over the next night to pick me up for dinner, but he changed the plan and insisted on coming over to share a bottle of his family’s most expensive wine, bringing me dinner instead, but after the first glass of wine, I blacked out. I woke up naked in my bed the next morning. I never told anyone.
I listened to my mother talk on and on about an upcoming cruise she was going on with her uppity friends—those wealthy divorcees who had weekly alimony deposited in their bank accounts.
“How are things with you and Ray, sweetheart?”
I felt my cheeks flush and it wasn’t from the wine. “I
