Page 103 of A Dream for Daphne

His mother was going to say the same thing, but he had her alone and needed to get it off his chest.

“I went to give a quote on Thursday night. The person is a friend of Ella’s. I had no idea.”

“She brought up Ella’s name?” his mother asked. “To say that is how she knew about you. That’s not the end of the world.”

“No,” he said. “I didn’t think so either. But then Brittany told me that Ella never got over me.”

“I call bullshit,” his mother said firmly and loudly.

He laughed. “I thought the same thing. I even commented on Ella moving on.”

“What did her friend say?”

“That Ella isn’t as happy with Nash as she lets people believe. I didn’t believe it and wasn’t going to sit there talking to herabout it. It’s not my way. I thought it was odd that Brittany kept trying to expand my time there though.”

“Don’t tell me Ella showed up,” his mother said, looking appalled.

“She did,” he said. “She was having dinner with her friend. I thought it was a setup, but Ella said not to think that or get mad at Brittany. I was pissed off that I just wasted thirty minutes of my time when I won’t get the job.”

“Do you know that for a fact?” his mother asked.

“No. I’ll still do the work for the quote. I’ll do it tonight when I’m at Daphne’s. Or at least start it. It won’t take long. I could be wrong. Ella even said Brittany has been talking about doing this for years.”

“Add ten percent to the price for the frustration of having to deal with what happened,” his mother said with her eyes raised.

He laughed. “You’re nicer than me. I was thinking fifteen percent.”

“That’s my boy,” his mother said. “So what did the bitch have to say this time?”

“Mom,” he said. “That’s not nice.”

“You’re too nice,” his mother said. “But whatever.”

He smirked. “She said she couldn’t get me out of her mind. That we were good together.”

“Not to sound like a broken record.”

“I know,” he said. “You’re crying bullshit.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Did she actually say that?” his mother asked.

“She did. I cut her off as quickly as I could. She said that she was focused on the wrong things when I said we weren’t good together. I know I didn’t feel that way. I felt like a failure.”

“Don’t you dare say that about yourself,” his mother said. “None of that was your fault. You gave her more than you needed to.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“Because you weren’t meant and it took you a long time to realize it.”

“I just wanted something,” he said. “Guess I was focused on the wrong things too. We were both at fault.”

Which was why he wasn’t going to be a dick about things with Ella.

“I can say you weren’t at fault as your mother,” his mother said. “And I’m going to stand by it. Your biggest mistake was the fact that you took her back not once, but twice. Once I guess I could understand. The second, I couldn’t. Not when there was so much time in between.”

“I was an idiot,” he said.

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