Page 42 of She's My Kind of Girl

Chapter Seventeen

Darcy sat down at the kitchen table and looked at her mom.

Tammy smiled, her expression sly. “Did you have a nice evening?”

Images of the night before flashed through her mind like a peep show. Last night with Griffin had ruined her forever. It had been so good. He’d taken her in every way possible, in that way only he could manage. Now she was sore and swollen. Her muscles ached. She was marked. In more ways than one.

And her heart was breaking.

Because she knew what she had to do.

“It was lovely, thank you,” she said, her voice shaky.

“The whole town is talking,” her mom said, her tone giddy. “You’ll have to make an honest man of Griffin.”

Darcy recalled this morning, at his front door, him leaning against the wood. On her knees, she sucked his cock like her life depended on it.

The good people of Revival would have heart attacks knowing what she’d done with their mayor last night.

She’d given herself one night, and now she had to give Griffin what he deserved.

Darcy folded her hands on the table and met her mom’s happy, interested gaze. Darcy’s throat closed over, not wanting to say the words but knowing they couldn’t be helped. This was the beginning of the end, and she couldn’t deny her reluctance, but it had to be done. There was no other choice. “Mom, we need to talk.”

“What is it, baby?” Tammy’s expression turned a bit wary at the edges.

This was it. Once she started there’d be no turning back. “You need to sell your house to Revival. I know this is the house you grew up in, I know you have history here, but it’s time to let that all go for the good of the town.”

Tammy blinked, before her eyes widened. “You think it’s for the good of the town?”

“I do.” Darcy nodded for emphasis. “I’ve talked to a lot of people, Mom, and they all want this. I’ve also talked to more than one lawyer. If you choose to fight it, you’ll lose and end up with nothing. So take what the town offered for the land. You can buy a new house a couple blocks away with the money. A good house, the kind you deserve that’s not falling down around you. If Revival is your home, and you care about the town, let it thrive and prosper.”

“You think this is best?” Tammy’s voice took on a shaky quality.

“Yes.” It was one thing she could give Griffin. His project would go on. He’d see his dreams for the town come true.

It was the only thing she had to offer.

Tammy bit her lower lip, glanced around the kitchen, and her eyes filled with tears. “You’re going to leave, aren’t you?”

“I am.” She’d booked the red-eye back to New York as soon as she’d returned to her mom’s this morning. “It’s time for me to go home.”

“You’re making a mistake.” Tears spilled onto her mom’s cheeks, and Darcy’s chest squeezed. “I’d hoped you’d see that.”

Darcy’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean by that?”

Tammy stood up and scrounged around in her cabinets before she retrieved an ashtray and a pack of cigarettes. She sat back down at the table, shook one from the pack, and lit it.

“I thought you’d quit?” Darcy frowned.

“I did.” Tammy shrugged and took a long drag. “Sometimes I just need to take the edge off.”

Darcy decided this wasn’t a battle she wanted to fight at the moment. “What did you mean, you ‘hoped I’d see’?”

Tammy blew out a plume of smoke. “I hoped if you came home, you’d realize you belong here.”

Darcy’s heart gave a hard thump. “I don’t belong here. New York in my home now.”

“I don’t think so.” Her mom gave her a long, searching look. “I think you belong here, with your family. Me and Griffin.”

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