“I heard a male voice. Do you have a man over there? Are you dating someone?”
“No, no. Nobody. He’s just a friend. Listen, I gotta go. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
“All right. Call me early because I have my reading club.”
“Okay, I will. Love you, bye.”
I hang up and set the phone down. The hurt look on Joey’s face makes my stomach drop. I wasn’t thinking of how my words might sound to him as I got rid of my mother.Nobody. He’s just a friend.Does he think it was another man?
He picks up my cell phone.
“It wasn’t a guy!” I say quickly, trying to grab it back.
He steps back out of my reach, turning it on and scrolling to the call log. When he sees who it was, he turns it off and tosses it back on the counter. Instead of looking relieved the call was from my mother, he looks even grimmer.
“Look, I just didn’t want to get into it with my mom tonight, that’s all.”
He nods, his expression blank. “I’m not the kind of boy you bring home to mother.”
“Right,” I agree, realizing too late he was expecting me to deny it. He puts the cork back in the wine bottle, looking resolved to something. Did I hurt his feelings? Truly? My tough guy? Is this somehow about my mother? Does the Family still hate my mother?
“Thanks for dinner.” He leans over to give me a cool peck on the lips.
“You’re leaving?” I ask stupidly. No sex. No sleepover. Nothing?
“Yeah, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.” He walks out the door without a backward glance.
I stand in the center of the kitchen, my mind whirling. What just happened?
Joey
She doesn’t love you. It’s about who you are.
My mom’s unsolicited opinion keeps clamoring to the forefront of my thoughts. Sophie’s conversation with her mother disturbed me more than I care to admit. I’ve never had trouble winning a woman before. Usually, my money and confidence do all the work. But then, the girls I dated were superficial—only interested in wealth and status.
Sophie is different. Not only is she unimpressed by the money, but I find I need to be careful about finding ways to give it to her that won’t offend. I’ve resorted to dropping small wads of bills into her purse and telling her it’s for the groceries she bought to cook for me when she calls demanding to know where it came from.
I tried to leave a C-note on her dresser the morning she gave me the massage in bed. When she asked why it was there, I said it was for the massage she gave me. She hurled a pair of bundled socks at me and said she didn’t do it for the money.
“It’s better than paying you for sex, isn’t it?” I grinned, and she threw another pair of socks.
Sophie is a little package of enigmas. She needs money but doesn’t seem to like it. She resents my aggression yet craves being spanked. She’s of the Family yet against it.
It’s about who you are.
In the end, my biggest hurdle with her is the Family. She holds a grudge over her father’s death. And really, there’s nothing I can do to fix it for her. I can’t bring her dad back. So maybe my mother is right.
It’s not about me.
ChapterEleven
Sophie
I call my mom back the next day when I get home from the massage studio.
After Joey leaving with hurt feelings last night, I’m resolved to tell her about him. I want to be able to call Joey today and apologize. Tell him that I talked to my mom about him.
Because that was crappy of me. He is worth mentioning, even though it will open up an uncomfortable conversation.