Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
I was a normal person. Matt wasn’t. And my heart ached at the realization that Matt’s friendship with my brother, that Matt’s attraction to me, might have stemmed from the desire to not belong to this weird world.
And it would certainly explain the appeal of all the fantasy nerd stuff Matt was into. I would rather be an elf or a paladin or whatever than a rich kid growing up in a house that looked like an art museum.
“And what do you do for a living?” Elizabeth asked as Alan entered with a service cart. He parked it and turned over a short china cup. Before I could answer her first question, Elizabeth asked, “Sugar?”
“Um, sure.” I watched as Alan lifted two cubes from a crystal dish with his silver tongs. His eyes met mine expectantly. “Two is fine. No cream.”
“You were saying?” Elizabeth prompted me.
My cannabis-altered brain struggled with what we’d been talking about.
Matt came to my rescue. “Charlotte works at a dispensary back home in California.”
I would have perhaps chosen to answer with, “retail,” but the cat was out of the bag.
“Oh?” Elizabeth’s eyebrows rose in an expression so similar to one I’d seen Matt make often that it startled me. “Well, that’s lucky. New York recently legalized it, so you won’t have trouble finding a job when you move in with Matty.”
“Oh, we haven’t talked about—” I began.
“Mom, we haven’t been dating that long,” he said, taking a cup from Alan, who must have had the household coffee preferences memorized.
But we had talked about moving in together. Had something changed, now that I was in this environment, flailing?
“You brought her home,” Elizabeth argued. “It must be serious.”
“It’s serious.” Matt turned his head to give me a reassuring smile. “It’s very serious, for me. But let’s not scare her off?”
“Am I scaring you off?” Elizabeth demanded, and even Alan had his eyes on me to await the answer.
“You’re not scary, Mrs. Ashe.” I corrected myself. “Elizabeth.”
With a satisfied nod, Elizabeth took a sip from her cup. “You see? I’m not scary.”
She was scary. Just not as scary as Catherine.
“Tell me about yourself,” Elizabeth went on. “Where did you go to college?”
“I didn’t finish college,” I said, hating the way my voice sounded apologetic. The only people I needed to apologize to for my failed college attempt were my parents, who paid for it.
Elizabeth nodded sagely. “Good for you. I had to go to college to find a rich man. I hated every moment of it. Pretending I cared about political science on the off chance of becoming a senator’s wife. Bullet dodged. But you, you’re a clever girl. You found your rich man without having to go to all of that trouble.”
I had no idea how to respond to that. How would anyone respond to that? She obviously had been out on the prowl for a rich man to take care of her, which I could respect. Admire, even, for being so honest. But Matt had never been my escape plan to a better life.
Shrugging, I said, “The bear did most of the work.”
She laughed like she was genuinely charmed with my answer. But I hadn’t exactly cleared up the insinuation that I was a gold digger.
On the other hand, she didn’t seem to mind the idea of me being a gold digger. Was that something that was expected by these people? That relationships were built on money?
Alan reappeared. “Madame, you have a phone call. Mrs. Vandermere.”
“Oh, Kiki!” Elizabeth got to her feet immediately. “I hate to leave you, but this might take a while. Matty, you know how Kiki goes on.”
“I do,” he said with a nod. “Go on. We have to get ready for dinner, anyway.”
He stood like she was the queen, and bent down so she could hug him and kiss the air beside his cheek.
“Take a shower,” she said as she turned away from him. “You smell like the weed.” To me, she said, “So lovely to meet you, Charlotte.”
“Same.” I held up my hand and wiggled my fingers in an awkward wave.
Matt’s hand fell on my shoulder. “She likes you.”
I turned to look up at him. “Yeah?”
He nodded. “Definitely.”
“Because she said all that stuff about getting a rich man.” I hesitated. “You know that’s not why I hooked up with you, right?”
“Totally. You hooked up with me because I heroically saved you from an alligator, and it naturally made you horny.” He used his cane to gesture toward the door, and we started walking.
“The thing that made me horny was how hot you are,” I corrected him in a whisper.
“What a coincidence. That’s what attracted me to you.” He gave me an exaggerated sniff. “You smell like the weed too. I guess you need to join me in that shower.”
“Seriously? You want to get frisky in your mom’s house?” It seemed weird and rude, especially since I was a guest.