Tryst - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 4

38| Ollie Ollie Oxen Free

"You want it non-fat with extra whip cream?"

"Yes," I repeated for the third time. "Extra whip."

The young barista judgmentally turned away from me to start making my coffee. I knew why he looked at me like I had three heads—after all, who got extra whip when their coffee was non-fat? Yep, the answer was simple: this girl.

With all of the wedding planning going on for Harper, not to mention the bridal shower that my mom and I were throwing for her, I was under a lot of stress. The sad part was...none of the stress was Harper's fault. Its was my mother's.

Even though I told her I would find my own date for the wedding, she was still trying to play matchmaker. The part that had me stocking up on Hostess cakes and adding extra whip to my coffee were the phone calls.

Multiple phone calls.

Not from my mom.

But from men.

That's right—not only has my mom been trying to court men for me, but she has been giving them my phone number under the assumption that I'm looking for a husband.

Which I wasn't.

With everything that happened in my last relationship with Adam, I was not interested in men in the least. But I also needed to get my mom off my back. So, the answer was simple. I needed to figure out what I was going to do. As sad as it was, I was probably going to have to ask one of my co-workers at the school where I taught if they would be my date.  The only downside about that was that they knew a lot of my business already. I've requested so much time off lately and had to take a leave of absence to help tale care of my mom. It was hard to hide that. 

"Grande white non-fat mocha...with extra whip."

I rolled my eyes at the barista's sarcastic tone when he called out my order. I walked over to the counter and picked up the coffee. "Thanks." With a fake smile, I turned and found an empty table. 

After falling into the empty chair, I took a sip of the hot coffee and closed my eyes as I savored the taste. Perfect. This is what I needed. Coffee and girl's night. When Jackson called me and told me about girl's night tonight, I was surprised by how excited it made me. The last time we had a real girl's night was when Ayden and Nate had been overseas and Lanie was pregnant. Even then, it was an emotional night. That was when I told them about my mom and her situation. 

Of course, they had all been extremely supportive. Just like I knew they would be. I didn't blame them for being a little confused as to why I hid the truth from them for so long. I would have felt the same if the roles were reversed. But I just couldn't being myself to tell them. Speaking it out loud to them would have just made it more real and I wasn't prepared for that. At the time, the odds of my mother living for another year were slim. It had always just been me and her and I couldn't imagine my life without her. Even though she tended to annoy me like crazy. 

But thankfully she was doing better. Much better, apparently. So much better that she has made it her new job of finding me a—cringe—husband. What year was this that my mom thought that was okay? God, she was starting to act like Harper's mom.  I shuttered at the thought.

When I found out that Harper's engagement to Ryan was all part of some random arrange marriage, I was actually relieved. Sure, I was surprised, but I was so happy when they broke it off. I could tell that Harper wasn't very happy with him. Whenever I asked her about it, she always told me some bullshit lie. 

I figured it wasn't by business so I should just stay out of it. I just wish my mom did the same with me. 

Ring-ring-ring