Page 61 of Kissing the Debutant
Jack slammed his fist on the table. “You weren’t there, Mia.” He took a breath, horrified by the threat of tears in his eyes. “She told her mother I was the rising star of the Defiance Academy polo team. She was ashamed of me. I’m a confident guy, but I don’t think I should have to stand there and hear my girlfriend make up stories about me to make me sound better.”
Mia reached for his hand. “You know I’ve got your back, right? I am always and will always be team Jack. But Lillian is good for you. She shares a creative passion with you that no one else understands. Don’t throw that away over a misunderstanding.”
“Thanks, but it wasn’t a misunderstanding.” Jack squeezed her hand. It felt good to have her support, but she wasn’t there. She didn’t see how Lillian was with her mother.
“Jack…” Mia bit her bottom lip. “Don’t be an idiot! Talk to her before you let this tear you apart.”
Jack shook his head. “I heard everything I needed to hear the night of the ball.” And he hadn’t talked to Lillian since.
“Was it that bad?” Mia winced.
“Worse.” Jack leaned back against the booth. “I’ve never felt so self-conscious before. I’m Jack. The guy who drives a beater Jeep. The guy who will go to trade school or community college if he’s lucky. But I’m the guy who owns it. I know who I am, Mia. I love my family, and I’m proud of my simple roots. But for the first time in my life, I didn’t feel good enough. I don’t want to be with someone who makes me feel that way.”
“Awe, Jacky.” Mia reached for his hand. “I’m sorry.” She glanced over her shoulder and without missing a beat called for his mom across the diner. “Cara, your son is an idiot man-child.”
“Mia, don’t bring my mom into this,” Jack whisper-shouted. He would die before he would tell his mother what happened at the ball. She didn’t need that kind of guilt in her life, and he wouldn’t be the one to make her feel guilty.
“Well, I know he’s not an idiot.” Cara came to stand by their table. “But I can’t deny the man-child bit. What’s he done now?”
“Mom,” Jack groaned.
“He messed things up with Lillian. Tell him to fix it.”
“I wasn’t the one who messed things up,” Jack said. “It’s not my mess.”
“Jack Butler, you fix it. That girl is a sweetheart, and she wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Cara put her hands on her hips.
Jack looked between his mother and best friend in confusion. “How did this get to be my fault? I didn’t do anything.”
“It might not be your fault, but you should fix it,” Mia said.
Cara slid into the booth beside Mia, taking Jack’s hands in hers. “Now, both of you listen to me. Dating is fun, but when it’s good, it’s also a lot of hard work. The key to any successful relationship is open communication. More often than not, hurt feelings happen over misunderstandings. I don’t pretend to know what happened between you guys, and I don’t want to know, but if you don’t talk about it, you’ll never move forward, and you could lose the best thing that’s happened to you since Mia.”
“Exactly,” Mia added, as if Jack didn’t already know his mother was always right.
“I hear you, Mom. I do. But don’t you want me to be with someone who likes me for me? Someone who wouldn’t be embarrassed that I’m not an Ivy League kind of guy with a trust fund and a selection of Armani suits in my mansion closet?”
Cara squeezed his hand before she stood up. “That’s all I want for my boy, you know that. So I’ll leave you with one final thought. If Lillian were truly embarrassed by who you are, would she have invited you to go with her in the first place?” With that, his mother went back to work, leaving Jack with his conflicting thoughts about Lillian and where they stood.
“I’ve got to get to work.” Jack tossed a few bills on the table to pay for his uneaten meal. “Can’t avoid it anymore.”
“Good luck,” Mia said. “And if you’re not ready to talk to her, maybe just show her you’re willing to listen to her side of the story. You won’t understand her point of view until you give her a chance to explain it.”
Jack nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he left the Main to make his way down the street to the studio. Part of him was anxious to see Lillian, hoping the answer to their issues would become clear to him once he saw her again. The other part of him couldn’t stop thinking about the way Lillian had so easily agreed to go out with another guy right in front of him.
How easily she’d given up on the competition she’d worked so hard to prepare for.
And how easily she’d given up on him.
Jack reluctantly let himself into the backdoor of the studio, not looking forward to his afternoon shift. He planned to hide out until Lillian left and then stay after hours to finish his duties.
Yeah, he was a coward.
Avoiding the front half of the studio, Jack dragged the workout mats from each of the smaller studios into the back alley behind the building. He spent the next hour cleaning the mats with a scrub brush and hot soapy water.
“You know we have disinfectant spray for that?” Katrina stood behind him with her arms crossed over her chest.
“I know.” Jack scrubbed at an invisible stain, feeling a bit foolish.
