Before You (Before You #1)(30)

Her mother sniffed. “Edward, but he was too controlling, so I moved back a couple weeks ago. He made so many demands on me. I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Bre shook her head. “Right. Edward. Where’s Charles?”

Her mother’s tears were immediately forgotten. “He’s checking us into the St. Regis in Aspen for the night. Then, we’re going to his house in the morning.”

“Don’t you think you’re rushing into this relationship? How long have you known each other? It can’t be more than a couple weeks.”

Her mother’s spine stiffened. “You’re such a moralist sometimes. It’s irrelevant how long I’ve known him. He makes me happy.” Her mother’s eyes floated to Jax, who was now standing behind the sofa. “Who’s he? What happened to Camden?”

“Mom, this is Jax Carmichael, and Jax, this is my mother, Erica Keaton. Jax is visiting from LA.”

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Keaton,” Jax said.

“What do you do in LA?”

“I sing in a band.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t happen to be affiliated with Carmichael Studios, would you?”

Jax eyes instantly cooled. “My dad might be affiliated with the studio,” he answered evasively.

Bre’s eyes flew to Jax’s face. She knew his father was involved in the movie industry, but she’d never put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Bre’s mom’s face morphed instantly into the familiar sugary sweet smile that made Bre’s stomach turn. Most people thought her mother was charming, but Bre thought of her mother as a predator that chewed people up and spit them out when she was done using them, and the way she was looking at Jax made her ill.

Instead of shaking his hand, her mother stood up and hugged him, rubbing her hand up and down his back. “Any friend of Bre’s is a friend of mine.”

Jax’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Thanks,” he said stiffly, untangling himself from her hold. Almost immediately, he sat down next to Bre, placing his hand on her leg. Bre smiled inwardly at his clear rebuff of her mom’s advances.

Bre’s mom eyed his proprietary placement of his hand. “So I guess Cam is history. That’s interesting. I thought you two would end up married with kids and a picket fence any day now.”

“Cam and I are still together,” Bre responded defensively, a pink blush staining her cheeks.

Bre’s mom let out a sarcastic laugh. “Really? From the looks of you two curled up on the sofa together, I would’ve never guessed. Maybe Cam is willing to overlook more than most men, but the scene I walked into didn’t look very innocent.”

“Jax and I are friends. We just fell asleep on the sofa last night, nothing more.” Bre felt Jax’s hand squeeze her leg.

“Whatever. Just keep telling yourself that.” Bre’s mom flipped her long blonde hair behind her shoulder.

Bre had always wished she looked more like her mom with her dainty features, all-American blonde hair and blue eyes, but now, in the morning light, Bre noticed that her beauty seemed to be marked by hard lines and misery.

Bre was her mother’s polar opposite, in coloring and personality. Her mother was light and breezy, whereas Bre was serious and reserved. Bre obviously resembled the dark haired, olive-skinned father she had never met. She didn’t even know his name. Sometimes she stood in front of the mirror, tracing the lines of her face, wondering what part of her resembled him. True to her selfish nature, her mother always deflected Bre’s interest in her father by saying things like he’s not worth knowing.

Once she begged her grandmother for his name or any tidbit of information about him, but she looked at Bre with sad eyes, claiming she had to respect her mother’s decisions regarding her father, but that Bre should take comfort in the fact that he was a man worth knowing. Instead of making her feel better, the comment made her feel as though her mother had stolen one more thing from her.

“Mom, do you need any help?” Bre asked, hoping she could speed up her mother’s departure.

“No. I don’t need much. Charles promised to buy me a new wardrobe to make up for the loss of my mother. I’m going to stuff some things in my spare bag, and you can ship me the rest. I’ll text you a forwarding address when I’m settled.”

Bre’s eyes followed her mother as she walked down the hallway to her bedroom. Strange enough, Bre felt the urge to laugh. Even when something as monumental as a death in the family happened, her mother twisted the situation to be about her and how she was wronged. She would never change.

“Bre, are you okay?” Jax said, grabbing her hand.

“Yes.” She took in a deep breath and released it. “Sorry about that. She’s a piece of work.”

“Nobody’s family is perfect. My dad is a self-absorbed workaholic who hardly bothered with me or my mother, and my mother, well, I love her, but I can’t help but feel as though she’s wasted her life staying married to my father. They don’t even acknowledge each other in public. It’s dysfunctional to the extreme.”

“Well, at least you know your father. My mother won’t give me a name or a picture or one single bit of information about him.” The minute the words fell out of her mouth, she wanted to recall them. She hated to admit those facts to anyone. Not knowing her father made her feel small and inadequate. Sensing Jax watching her, she studied her bare feet, unable to deal with his scrutiny.