Page 54 of Deny Me
“Well, she’s become a part of our family out here. She’s an amazing woman.” His hand moved to wrap around my waist. My mom watched the move, and her smile shifted, looking more forced.
“Oh.” Her lips pinched and she looked up at me before looking back at his hand resting possessively on my hip. “She is.”
To make matters worse, Jameson leaned down and kissed my cheek. “I have a cake for you. So, stay put while I go get it.” I watched his retreating back before turning back to my mom.
“You two seem friendly. More friendly than the casual dates that I’m used to seeing you with.” Her smile was calm, but I could hear the question in her tone. She had spent my childhood reminding me not to become attached to anyone. To only rely on myself. So, seeing me with Jameson had to be a bit of a shock to her.
It was in that moment that I realized it was a mistake to put off telling my mom. I loved my mom and respected her belief that a man would hinder my success. But I was a grown woman and it wasn’t like I was looking for Jameson; it just happened. Despite knowing I should’ve told her, I still decided that the party wasn’t the place to correct it. We would have the next day to hash it all out and I would fix it then.
I just wanted to enjoy my night and kept my answers vague. “Yeah, we’ve known each other for a long time.” Glancing over at Lu, I begged her to help me out of the situation. She knew what my mom was like.
“Oh, look! Cake!” she exclaimed, seeing Jameson make his way over with a cake.
“Oh my God!” I laughed. He set it down on the bar top before me. “Is that one of my designs?”
“Yup! Took a picture from the website and had the bakery make it for me,” he said, proud of himself for being so creative. It was a Barbie cake, with Barbie standing up and the skirt of the dress was the cake surrounding her. But the pattern of the dress was my own design.
“I love it.” I turned to him, letting him see how much I cared for him all over my face, unable to hide my feelings. “Thank you.” Leaning up on the bar, I moved in, placing a hard kiss on his lips, not caring about our surroundings but remembering to keep it PG. My mom was always accepting of my open sexuality, but that didn’t mean I flaunted it either.
He pulled back and looked over at the DJ manning the sound system and nodded his head. The music cut off and Jameson shouted to the crowd. “Everyone listen up! It’s my girl’s birthday today and I want everyone to join us in singing her Happy Birthday.”
Jameson kicked it off, and I felt my cheeks warming at the attention of the whole bar chiming in. They also heated because I never got tired of Jameson referring to me as his girl. My cheeks cramped from all the smiling I was doing tonight, all because of the giant staring at me with adoration as he sang loudly with everyone else.
Everyone clapped when it was over and the music kicked back on. “Make a wish, baby.”
I closed my eyes and tried to think of what I wanted the most. When I opened them to see Jameson in front of me, my heart swelled in my chest. I wished I would stay that happy forever. I wish my heart would always beat that way when I looked at him. Keeping my eyes on his, I blew out my candle.
“Alright, let’s cut that bad-boy open,” Lu clapped her hands, eyes on the dessert.
I looked over at my mom and saw concern shining in her eyes beneath slightly furrowed brows. I knew she wasn’t mad, she was just worried. My feelings for Jameson must have been obvious to everyone in that bar. I knew she was concerned I wasn’t taking her mantra into consideration.
But I didn’t want to deal with it. So instead I plastered a big smile on my face and leaned in for a hug. “You better dance with me tonight!”
Her pinched lips relaxed into a soft smile. “Evelyn, I’m too old dance.”
“Old shmold! You can probably dance better than ninety percent of the people here tonight.” When she still hesitated, I did an exaggerated shimmy in front of her. “C’mon, Mama! Who do you think I got these moves from? Let’s show ‘em how it’s done!”
Shaking her head, she laughed. She’d had spent years putting up with my antics and pushy ways. She never held me back and always encouraged me when it came to figuring out who I was. Which was probably why she placed her hand in mine and let me lead her to the dance floor. “You are going to be the death of me.”