Libby
EINSTEIN’S FIST MET MY SIDE so suddenly and unexpectedly that my laughter ended on a wheeze.
My eyes cut in her direction to see what her problem was but didn’t make it to her. Because there, just inside the front door, was my mother—stare wide with horror and rage as she took in the boys we were with.
“Shit,” I choked out as I scrambled from the booth.
I didn’t look back at Einstein or the guys—or to where Maxon was in one of the other booths. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of knowing how worried I was that she might say something to one of them.
“What are they doing here?” she demanded when I walked past her, but I continued until I was outside. Her voice reached me before she caught up to me in the parking lot. “Answer me, Libby.”
“They’re eating. You know, I think you gave up the right to ask that when Lily started managing the place for you.”
“This is still my restaurant,” she said softly, her eyes glowering in a way she reserved for me alone.
“Technically, it’s Dare’s.”
“Damn it, Elizabeth, don’t push me. I want to know what they’re still doing here. You said it was over between the two of you.”
My head listed to the side. “Oh, you don’t like when someone pushes you? Funny. Neither do I.” I took a step closer to her and lowered my voice. “Especially if the person doing the pushing is supposed to love you unconditionally. Is supposed to protect you. But instead, is the one blindfolding you, binding your wrists, and shoving you into enemy hands.”
“I was protecting you. I am still trying to protect you,” she yelled. She cleared her throat, her gaze darting around as she lowered her voice. “You are putting yourself in danger. You are putting him in danger. You’re putting us all in danger. You and you alone.”
“Now who’s being dramatic, Mom?”
“I sacrificed my life for this family, and I would do it again,” she seethed. “The men have their roles and we have ours. It is our duty to do what needs to be done for the greater good, to keep the peace. And your actions incite wars. Your decisions destroy alliances.”
Same argument. Different day.
I wondered if a day would come when we stopped having it.
I just prayed if the day came, it wouldn’t be because her fears had turned to reality.
“Your precious Dare took care of it. I destroyed nothing.” I stretched my arms out wide and looked around. “Would you look at that . . . no war.”
“You are so naïve.”
“I’m not the one who let an unfounded fear dictate her life for ten years.” I rolled my eyes and looked away so she couldn’t see the lie in my eyes.
Because I had.
I had let my mother’s fears bleed into my own and rule my life for so long. Denying Maxon was proof of that.
I stiffened when I caught sight of Maxon starting toward us. Before he could make it to the door, he looked over his shoulder to where Einstein and the guys were.
“He needs to leave,” she said gently. “They all do.”
“That’s not happening.”
When I turned, Mom was shaking her head in disappointment.
“They’re moving back here,” I whispered, as if I was afraid of her reaction.
Not that I didn’t know what it would be.
But I didn’t want her to taint my excitement over Maxon coming home.
“Oh, Libby.” Her eyes slowly shut and one of her hands covered her mouth. “What have you done?”
I looked in Maxon’s direction again, to where he was now facing away from us. “I stopped worrying about the fallout. I let myself love him on the outside the way I’ve always loved him on the inside.”
“You’ve always been defiant and headstrong. I didn’t realize you were stupid too.”
I looked at her as shock and hurt pulsed through me.
“The greatest hunter is silent, invisible, and attacks when you least expect it. I’ll pray for the rest of my life that my fears won’t become a reality. But I’m not the fool that blindly hopes that they won’t. For you to laugh in their face . . .” Her head shook quickly before a quiet sob hitched in her throat. “I buried your father. Don’t make me bury you.”
She walked into the café without another word, and a few seconds later, Maxon touched my shoulder.
I cleared my throat and angled my head toward him, but kept my stare on the ground so he wouldn’t see the conflict in my eyes.
“Wasn’t that your mom?”
“Uh-huh.”
Confusion coated his words when he said, “She didn’t respond to me or look at me.”
You should consider yourself lucky. I offered him a brief smile. “Sorry.”
His eyes caught and searched mine. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I tried to assure him.
He studied me for a few seconds before hesitantly nodding. “Uh . . . Nate wants to meet you. But we can do it another day.”
“No, today’s . . . today’s great.”
Nothing like being reminded of every fear you overcame to make you want to live each day as if it’s your last.