Page 85 of Love Is Brewing

“They did,” she said. “You’re full of yourself though.”

“No, I’m not. Matt told me I’d do when you were in the bathroom. Then he said he almost felt sorry for me.”

Her jaw dropped. “What a jerk. Why would he say that?”

“Because he loves you like I love my sisters. It didn’t bother me.”

“There is no reason for him to feel sorry for you,” she argued. “I’m not that hard to be around, am I?”

“I think you keep me on my toes,” he said. “I need it. It goes back to what my mother said.”

“Having to work at it,” she said.

He squeezed her fingers. “You’re worth it, Phoebe. I might not be around enough, but I want you to know I’m always thinking of you. Maybe more than I should, but I can’t seem to stop it.”

“Neither can I,” she said.

27

MEANS TOO MUCH

“Fuck,” Elias said the following Saturday morning.

“What?” Phoebe asked.

They were cleaning up breakfast and trying to decide how they were going to spend Valentine’s Day.

The past week he’d been trying to figure out if his mind spent too much time on his girlfriend and not his business.

“We are having company.”

“We are?” she asked.

He turned his phone over for her to see. There was his mother’s car coming down his driveway. He had cameras on his property and got the alert someone had passed the entrance.

“My mother,” he said, his shoulders dropping.

She laughed. “The woman who doesn’t know about me?”

“Oh, she knows,” he said. “Or at least she does now and that is why she’s coming over. She’d know we’ll be together today and she would have a greater chance of meeting you.”

“You look nervous,” Phoebe said, snickering. “Do you think you’ll be in trouble?”

“Yep,” he said. “Don’t hold it against me. I’m not a Mama’s boy.”

“I think it’s sweet,” she said, rubbing her hand on his arm.

“Keep that thought in your mind,” he said.

His mother’s car came to a stop. Just an ordinary sedan. West had been on her case to get a nice luxury car for years and she refused.

Said it was a waste of money and she didn’t care how much her children made. Aileen Carlisle wanted the right things in life no matter how much all her children wanted to spoil her.

“I’ll finish cleaning up. Go greet your mother.”

He turned and pointed his finger. “Don’t you dare sneak out the back door or hide,” he said. “I’ll find you. I promise.”

Phoebe burst out laughing. “I’m not going to hide. Elias, oh my God, I never thought you’d be like this.”

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