Page 57 of Wishing for Love

“Did you like the sweater I sent you?” she asked her mother.

She’d thanked her mother earlier for her gifts, but her mother never said a word about what they’d received.

“It’s fine,” her mother said. “I don’t have a reason to wear a sweater too much here.”

Her mother had complained she was cold for the past several months and that she had no nice shirts or sweaters to wear to work and didn’t like buying work clothes.

Crystal believed she was being considerate and thoughtful doing that. “What about the shirt with it?” she asked.

“There are buttons on it,” her mother said. “I’m not a fan of buttons.”

Of course her mother wasn’t. “Do you want me to email you the receipt so you can return it?”

“That’s a lot of work too,” her mother said. “I’m sure I’ll get some usage out of it.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s nice.”

She’d spent more this year on everyone than she had in the past. Her family was big and she had the money to do it. Everyone had texted her thanks, even her father, but the one person she carried on a conversation with didn’t care for her gift.

Crystal didn’t know why she was bothered so much about that but had to let it go.

She’d never be good enough in her mother’s eyes. She often wondered if she was good enough in her own and that just brought on more doubt about what she could have with Phoenix.

Did she ruin it by sleeping with him?

Was everything going to change?

Would he think she was after his money now?

Or worse yet, would he just ignore her and think of her as a bedmate when he wanted some relief?

Urgh, what was she thinking?

That was the problem. She didn’t always think things through.

Now that she lived in the house with him, he could just assume she was going to be a body for whenever he wanted a piece of ass and then just brush her aside when he was busy.

“I should let you get back to work. Hope you’re at least going out with some friends for New Year’s next week?”

She wanted to argue over the fact she wasn’t working. She’d rather be spending the time with Phoenix and Elsie than sitting in her suite doing nothing but watching stupid shows on TV.

“I don’t know yet,” she said.

“Get out and meet some guy,” her mother said. “Then you’ll have a reason to not be working all the time.”

“Have a good night, Mom.”

She hung the phone up and let out a growl. When she turned, Phoenix was standing at the top of the steps having just come up them.

“Everything okay?”

“Yes,” she said. “Sorry. My mother annoys me.”

“I think mothers always annoy their kids,” he said, grinning.

“Not like this,” she said. “She complains about everything. For months she said she didn’t have anything nice to wear to work for the cooler weather. Not that it’s really cold there. But I have more money this year than ever before. So I splurged on everyone.”

“That was nice of you,” he said.