Page 29 of The Cowboy and His Beauty
"I'll be fine. Maybe go to the diner and grab some dinner. That way, you're not sitting in your car wasting away to nothing." I doubt he'll take my advice, but I hope he will.
As promised, he follows me all the way into town and along the road that takes me around the lake to my parents' house. He pulls into the park, and I keep going. There's something comforting about knowing he’s close by, just in case.
I pull into the driveway and look at my parents' house. It's a beautiful, with a stone facade on the front. When I was growing up, this house felt so small, like it was trapping me here. Now, knowing what's waiting on the other side of the door, it feels huge and scary.
I take a deep breath. I need to get this over with. I knock on the front door because I know it will irritate my mom to get up and answer it only to find me on the other side.
"Hi, Mom," I say when the door opens.
The bright smile on my mom's face falls. "Why are you knocking?" she huffs as she walks off.
"Because I don't live here, and it’s the polite thing to do," I say, knowing she doesn't really want an answer.
I set my purse on the table by the door but tuck my phone into my pocket. I followed my mom to the back of the house toward the big living area overlooking the lake.
"Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes. Let's sit and chat about this job of yours," my mom says as she joins my dad on the couch.
I sit across from them in one of the oversized leather chairs.
"What about it?" I ask, thinking she means my job at the ranch.
"What's going on with your job in Dallas?" my dad asks, straight to the point.
"I don't have a job in Dallas. The company was going under and they kept piling on more work while cutting my pay."
"So, you up and left without a backup plan?" he asks, but I know it's a rhetorical question.
"I've been putting in resumes all over town, but my boss found out about it and started blocking them so I couldn't get another job. I wasn't happy in Dallas, so it was a sign to get out of there. The rent was about to go up on my apartment, so I didn't renew. I packed up my stuff and put it in storage."
"And now what's your plan? You have some lowlife job at a ranch?" my mom demands.
"My plan is to figure out my next steps and not rush into anything. The job at the ranch is temporary. It's enough to cover my bills, and it gives me a place to live, so I don’t have to touch my emergency savings while I figure it out," I explain, appealing to my parents' practical side.
"Why don't you stop lying to us?" my mother says just as a timer goes off in the kitchen.
"We'll finish this over dinner. The least we can do is make sure you're eating properly," my dad says, put an effective pause on the conversation.
My mom pulls the pans of food from the oven. It’s all pre-made, so all she had to do was warm it up.
Once we’re sitting down again, my mom looks at me. "We know you were out on a date with The Beast."
"First, his name is Dash. That nickname is bullshit. He's one of the best guys I've ever met, so when he asked me to dinner, I said yes." I wonder if my parents knew that Dash was Corey. I don't have to wonder for long.
"It's like that boy you dated in high school. You don't need a rancher. You need a businessman who'll take care of you, and you're not going to find that here," my mom says.
So, they don't know that Cory and Dash are the same person. That doesn't surprise me because they turn their nose up at the ranchers in town. They're so focused on the people with money and associating with the higher class that it makes me wonder why they live here at all.
"Well, it's up to me, and Dash has been nothing but generous, giving me a place to stay and a job when I needed it. And he's a good man, despite what people in town might have others believe."
"Then we should meet him properly," my father says.
Shock crosses my mother's face, but he holds his hand up to her, letting her know he's got this.
"If he's someone you're working for and spending time with, we should get to know him properly. If nothing else, then for your safety."
When my dad puts it like that, it's hard to come up with an excuse to say no.
Can I convince Dash to have dinner with my parents? It will be one hell of dinner because there'll be no hiding who he is when he gets here.
