Page 91 of The Boss I Can't Stand
“That’s the thing,” Ro said. “We didn’t even sleep together. I mean, we did—weliterallyslept together. Like, next to each other. With all our clothes on. We just got back to his place and basically passed out. I woke up with his arms around me, and it was just…nice, you know?”
Ididknow. Or, at least, I had. My chest ached at the thought, but I swallowed the feeling down.
“And when he mumbled down at me about doing it again…Well, I was sort of into the idea.”
I pretended to sniffle. “My little Ro-Ro is growing up.” Maybe she’d discovered there was room in her life to chase her directing dreamsandmake time for love. “We need to mark this milestone.”
She snorted. “Don’t get too excited. It’s only another date. Speaking of, Colin tells me he’s got some friends who are single and ready to mingle. So that double-date invitation is still open.”
I grimaced. Ro had initially tried to get me to come on a double date last night so I wouldn’t wallow, but truthfully, I just wasn’t feeling it. I’d made the resolution to stop settling, especially when it came to my personal life.
There would be no more lukewarm relationships with jerks like Trey, just because they happened to be around and give me a modicum of attention. And as for guys like Finn…Well, at least that’s one thing working in my favor.
There were no other guys like Finn. He was one of a kind, which was good, because it had only been a month since the breakup, and my broken heart still hadn’t healed.
But instead of dragging her through my emotional drama, I summoned a laugh. “No way,” I said. “I wouldn’t want to crash that kind of progress by tagging along.”
Ro hummed. “Still think dating might be too much hassle with the directing grind in the end, but for now, I’ll give him another shot.”
“Speaking of the grind, the costumes are looking fabulous,” I said, running my hand over the soft velvet crop top I’d just finished.
“I can’t wait to see them.”
A knock sounded. “Someone’s at the door,” I told Ro. “Did you order anything?”
“No,” she said. “But that’s fine. You go answer it, I’ll see you in like ten minutes.”
“Sounds good.” I hung up and hurried to the door, swinging it open, expecting to find a lost delivery guy, but instead?—
“Mom?”
“And Larry!” she cried, launching forward to capture me in a hug. She’d always been slight, but her hugs were crushing. “Hi, sweetheart.”
“Hi,” I mumbled against her. When the…Had she told me they were coming, and I’d just completely blanked it? Had we agreed to a January meetup? Also, what was Larry doing here? Since when was Larry back in the picture?
She pulled away, looking at me, catching my cheek with her palm. “How are you?”
“I’m…” I shook my head, laughing a bit. “What are you doing here?”
Mom reached for Larry’s hand, looking like she was about to explode from happiness. “Larry came back!”
I glanced at Larry. At his warm brown eyes, soft, unassuming smile, and neatly combed salt-and-pepper hair. He radiated gentleness. Anyone would be happy with their mother marrying a guy like this.
And yet, I couldn’t shake the memory of Mom sobbing on the phone to me mere weeks ago about Larry leaving. Whatever was going on here, I was going to need a lot more explanation before I’d be fully okay with it.
“I see that,” I said awkwardly, stepping back to usher them into the apartment. I didn’t want to have this conversation in the hall. Istopped in the living room, turning back to them with my arms crossed. “So, you…worked things out, then?”
“Yes…yes. We’ve talked about everything.”
“Literally everything,” Larry joked. “I don’t think she’s stopped talking for days.”
Mom tittered, looking at him adoringly, before turning back to me. “It wasn’t the relationship that was the problem. It was simply the scale of the wedding I was planning that was making him nervous.” She leaned into him, patting his chest. “But we’ve compromised on a courthouse wedding, haven’t we?”
Larry smiled down at her, and I couldn’t help thinking about all the times Finn had looked down at me like that, with a bit of a twinkle in his eye. “We sure have, my love.”
“The only thing I couldn’t compromise on was having you at my wedding,” Mom said, reaching for me. “So we hopped on the cheapest, soonest flight out—and now that we’re here, I was hoping you might have an hour or so to come to the courthouse with us?”
“Now?” I said, jaw dropping. I’d just wrapped my head around the fact Larry came back, and that the wedding was back on, but right now?
