Page 42 of Push

I’d asked myself that question a thousand times. I was going to ask the psychologist to help me figure it out, too. But for now, I had no answer other than the fact I was a selfish asshole. So, I gave my mother the truth. “I don’t know.”

“Posing for photographs with your mistress?Honestly.”

“She’snotmy mistress.”

“All a simple misunderstanding, was it?” My mother sniffed her indignation. “Of course, the mess you created could have been handled discreetly if not for that…that…girl.”

My jaw tensed. “Thatgirl ismygirl. Gwen has a name, Mum.” The reality of where my mother would aim her venom shouldn’t have surprised me, but I warned her anyway. “Tread carefully.”

My mother ignored me and launched into attack mode. “Gwen’s behavior wasdisgraceful. The ridiculous furor she created all over the internet to drag your name through the mud—”

“I betrayed her.” The walls of the kitchen were already closing in on me. “Gwen was upset. She wasn’t just going to smile and pretend it never happened.”

“Disgraceful,” Mum repeated. “Fancy putting an advertisement like she did on the internet. No shame whatsoever. And that self-deprecating message she forced you to post… MyGod, Tobias. The humiliation she’s caused this family!”

“Gwen didn’t ask me to write the apology. I chose to do that myself. It was the right thing to do.”

“Airingyourprivate business inpublic.” My mother shook her head with disgust. “There’s a reason her beautiful brother wants nothing to do with her. Gwen never stops to think. She never thought aboutmygrandson or how her actions would impact him when she organized that yard sale!”

I rolled my eyes. “Noah’s not even one. I reckon he’s going to be okay.”

“She’s stealing the food from his table!”

I took a deep breath and willed my fist to unclench by my side.The dramatics. The clinic wasn’t doing as well as any of us had planned, but we were hardly on the bones of our ass, and the yard sale had probably driven more traffic in than what it took away. Everyone wanted to get a look at the moron who’d chucked away the best thing that had ever happened to him.

“Mum, the world’s moved on,” I said. “There are juicier things for people to gossip about than my marriage.”

“Hardly, Tobias.Hardly. Everyone’s still talking about it.”

“Who iseveryone?” My mother’s snooty friends were the last people I cared about. “I couldn’t give a flying f—”

She pointed her index finger at me. “Language.”

Was I thirty or three? I backtracked because it wasn’t worth the argument. “I don’tcareif the other yacht club members saw Gwen’s post.”

“Well, isn’t that lucky,” my mother snipped, “because they’veallseen it. This situation is an embarrassment to the good name of this family. Theodore would roll in his grave if he could see the shame she’s brought on us.”

Mentioning Dad was a low blow I wasn’t expecting. My head sagged against my chest. “Sorry.”

There was almost a smirk on her lips as she sipped her wine. She knew she’d broken me. “I warned you about that girl.”

My mother was testing her luck. She’d had a week to simmer, and now she was ready to explode, but I wasn’t going to put up with it. “Mum,” I warned for the last time.

“Gwen has never cared about protecting this family’s reputation. She may well be the mother of my grandson, but that girl still wallows in the filth she came from.”

Anger surged hot in my veins. “Stop.” My mother blinked rapidly. Shock stuck her words in her mouth where they belonged. “I won’t let you say this shit—”

“Language!”

Frustration almost ripped out of my chest in a growl. “You’re not talking about Gwen when she’s not here to defend herself, okay? This is my fault. I fucked up—”

“Language!”

“Christ. Whatever.” My chest heaved from the breaths I forced into my lungs. Time for one last attempt to keep it civil. “I was the one in the wrong. You get that right, Mum?Me. I did the wrong thing.”

She scoffed before taking a sip of wine. “The fault is mine for raising you to be too kind. I left you exposed to a vile little gold digger who has done nothing but tear our family apart. The years she kept me from you… You missed your father’s final days…” She gulped a sip of wine. “I should have seen the weakness in you when you first befriended that…that…Cooperboy.”

I rolled my eyes.Not this again. “Mum, this isn’t the time—”

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