Chapter 6
Silas
“Take this out and put it on the table.”
I looked down at the platter that was shoved into my hands. “Do I really look like a waiter?”
Mother glared at me and pointed toward the dining room. “Take it out, or I’ll send you to your room.”
I smirked and set the platter down. “Is that a promise?” Glancing out into the living room and had the urge to bolt. Room after room, full of people I didn’t know, but they all acted like they knew me.
Back in L.A., I had no problem walking into a room full of people I didn’t know, because they all feared me. Here, they all knew me before I became the man I am. They treated me like the eighteen year old boy they used to know.
I kept looking for the one person I wouldn’t mind spending the night with, but she wasn’t around. “I figured Ainsley would be here since she is friends with Melonie.”
Mother sighed and grabbed the platter I had put down. “She was supposed to be here, but she’s at the shop waiting on the last delivery of flowers.”
“It’s after seven o’clock. Does she really think they are going to be delivered?” I had never known a company to deliver that late on a Friday.
“That’s what I said too, but I guess Ainsley had been on the phone with the company, and they promised that they would be delivered tonight. Something about the truck breaking down a few hours away and they were waiting for a replacement truck.”
“She’s at the shop?”
She smiled and nodded her head. “Yes, honey.”
“You need me here?” I asked.
“What do you mean? You better not be thinking of going back to L.A. You promised you would be here till the twenty-fifth.”
I shook my head and grabbed an empty plate. “No, I’m not going back right now, Mother.”
I made my way around the platters of food and filled the plate in my hand.
“What are you doing? We’ll be serving dinner in five minutes, Silas. Don’t you think you can wait?”
I laughed and shook my head. “This isn’t for me.” The plate was mounded up with food, and I set it on the counter next to the coffee maker. “You have one of those travel cups?” I asked.
She came to stand next to me and opened the cabinet. “Here.” She handed me a large thermos and leaned against the counter as I filled it with coffee. “Silas, I know what you’re about to do, but I have to say, I hope you know what you’re doing means.”
I knew what it meant. At least, I think I did. “Things are different, Mother.”
“Different how?”
“Different in the way that I’m not dumb enough to go over to Ainsley’s without knowing it means something more than being friendly.”
“You hurt her, Silas. You weren’t here, so you didn’t see what your leaving did to her.”
I screwed on the cover to thermos and set it next to the plate. “We both made mistakes back then. Ones I don’t want to discuss with you.”
She rolled her eyes and grabbed the Saran wrap from the drawer. “Try taking the stick out of your ass before you go over there,” she advised. She covered the plate with plastic wrap and handed it to me. “A lot of time has gone by, Silas, but the wounds are still there. Try to see things from her side.”
I grabbed the plate and tucked the thermos under my arm. “That’s why I’m going over there. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know we need to talk. If she’s just sitting there, we might as well just get it over with.”
She grabbed my arm and held it tight. “But if all you’re going to do is leave for another eight years, Silas, don’t do this. Leave her alone.”
I pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “That’s not something I can do, Mother.”
Just like before, Ainsley pulled me to her, and there was nothing I could do to resist it. I saw the hurt in her eyes when I called her Lee, and all I wanted to do was make it right and take back the shitty things I had done to her.
She laid her hand against my cheek. “Make it right then, Silas.”
I grabbed my keys from the hook by the back door and headed to Crowne Floral.
It was time to see if it was too late to finally follow my heart.
*