“I’m so pleased you came, Mr. Riley,” her mother preened.
“Thank you for the invite,” he replied.
She was thankful to her dad for staying quiet.
“So, how did you two meet?” Her mum was awfully chatty tonight.
“At a conference. Dean was giving a talk on one of his books and he just snapped me up,” Kimmy, the blond beauty with the fake boobs and hot body, replied.
With every second, all the words and the loving he’d given her over the past month was reduced to nothing. His words had no meaning anymore.
As the dinner progressed, Laura pushed her food around her plate. She couldn’t stomach this. Her parent’s were constantly treating her like a child. Thoughts and ideas ran through her head. Was this Dean’s way of getting rid of her? Was Kimmy more than an acquaintance? She thought that with time Dean would learn to love her. He cared, she knew and understood that.
If she pulled out of college and worked full time at the library and took evening shifts at the diner she could make enough money to rent a small flat. As far as she was concerned, she wouldn’t be living with her parents for much longer.
“Laura!”
She turned to the sound of her mum's irritated voice.
“What?” she asked, her voice sounding distant and hollow like the pain inside her.
“Dean was talking to you.”
Laura turned to him and waited.
“I was wondering if you’d managed to get any writing done while I was away?”
You fucking traitor.
She’d told him to never say anything about her writing.
“You write, honey?” fake boobs asked.
Laura glanced down at her plate of pasta. The pain and heartache she was feeling was too much. This was worse than any rejection any woman could receive.
“No, I don’t. Could I be excused?” she asked her dad.
“What for, love?” her dad asked.
“I promised a friend I’d help him out,” she explained.
“She can’t leave. We’ve got guests,” her mother said to her dad.
Laura closed her eyes as her parents began to argue. Every emotion for the past four weeks swamped her. The love she felt for Dean and the never-ending passion they’d shared. The secrets she’d kept from her parents and Peter’s sudden change in demands. She couldn’t handle it anymore.
“I didn’t ask for your fucking permission,” she screamed at her mum. Laura got up from her seat and blanked out what her parents were yelling. She grabbed her purse and coat and headed out into the night, slamming the door behind her.
The night air had a slight chill to it. Stars twinkled brightly in the sky and the tears she’d kept in for so long came out. There had never been any offering of anything more than sex. She knew that, she’d accepted it, but seeing how easily he’d moved on hurt more than she’d expected.
A hand on her arm stopped her. She glanced first at the hand and then at the owner of it. Dean stood in front of her. She hoped he saw the tears and the heartache she was going through. Although he had promised her nothing, the least he could have done was to treat her much better and told her he was moving on. Now she understood how quickly her life could change. She’d read so much in her short life and thought there must be time to assess every decision. The reality was it moved just as quickly as in the story.
Laura pulled her shoulder out of his grip.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“Going to a friend's,” she gritted out. Even now she couldn’t refuse him anything.
“Please, turn around and go back to your parents,” he told her.