The Friendship List(35)

“I hate this.”

He waited.

She glared at him. “You’re so annoying. All right. If you have to stick your nose in everyone’s business. Why is that?”

He still didn’t speak. No way he was getting pulled into a distraction.

She muttered something he couldn’t hear, then sighed loudly. “I overheard Cooper talking to Luka. He said he was giving up his dream of going to college out of state because he was worried about leaving me. He said I depended on him too much.” She looked away. “He told Luka I never date and while he didn’t say it, I’m sure he was thinking about the fact that I haven’t had sex since before he was born.”

Her mouth twisted. “My son thinks I’m a loser, which is awful, but I can live with that. What I can’t stand is him ruining his life because of me. I want him to go away to school. Okay, I don’t want it, want it, but it’s important. He should have the chance to follow his dreams without worrying that I’m dragging him down.”

There were a lot of words and a lot of information. Keith planned to deal with it all, but right now he couldn’t get past one incredible statement.

“You haven’t had sex since you were seventeen?” he asked, unable to keep the incredulity out of his voice.

“Oh, my God! That’s what you got from all that? I have a problem with my son.”

“Yes, and we need to talk about that, but you haven’t had sex in seventeen years?”

She glared at him. “We can’t all be famous football players who have hundreds of women throwing themselves at us.”

“You don’t like women that way.”

She made a strangled sound in her throat. “It was an example.” She leaned toward him and lowered her voice. “I lived with my parents until I graduated from college. They had very strict rules. Doing something fun like dating was not allowed. By the time Coop and I got our own place, I’d kind of forgotten how to date. It just happened.” Her gaze narrowed. “It’s not like I haven’t had an orgasm, you idiot.”

Whoa. He had not planned for the topic to take that turn. He tried to push away the automatically generated images, but they were stubborn. How did she do that? By hand? With toys? Both?

Heat flared unexpectedly. Thankfully their server arrived with the drinks, offering a distraction.

Ellen thanked the woman, then took a sip of her cosmo. Her happy smile hit him square in the gut.

“That’s nice,” she said. “I feel so sophisticated. Anyway, like I said, my parents were strict. They were disappointed in me when I turned up pregnant. Not that I blame them. But they did overreact. I wasn’t allowed to have anything like a social life. I raised Coop, went to college, did homework and had a part-time job. There were no boys.” Her expression turned wistful. “No time for anything fun, except what I did with him. They firmly believed love came at a price.”

She took another drink. “I moved out into an apartment as soon as I could after I finished college. A year later, my folks sold their house and gave me enough for a down payment on the duplex. Then they moved away.” She sighed. “We never see them. It’s weird, like they were waiting for me to prove myself so they could be done with me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m used to it. Coop and I have been fine, at least I thought we were. But now I find out that he thinks I don’t have a life, which I don’t. I could live with that problem, but if he’s afraid to go away to school because he thinks he can’t leave, then I have to do something.”

There was too much information coming at him too quickly. Plus the whole orgasm comment made it difficult to concentrate.

“So talk to him. He’ll understand.”

She gave him the “why are you so stupid” look. “He won’t. Words are empty. I have to show him I’m okay.”

She reached for her purse and pulled out a sheet of paper. “Unity and I have a bet going. She needs to get out of her rut nearly as much as I need to get out of mine. We’re trying to help each other.” She waved the paper. “One of the things on my list is karaoke.”

He took the paper from her, not sure what to expect. The first item was a smoky eye and he had no idea what that was. Sure enough there was karaoke, along with wearing clothes that fit, which explained the new wardrobe.

Sex with a handsome guy? He swore under his breath. Who had put that on the list?

He handed the paper back to her. “You’re making too much of this.”

“I’m not and if you thought about it for even a second, you’d see that I was right. Do you know what’s going to happen in LA?”

“You’re getting a tattoo?”

“No, not there.” She picked up her drink and waved it toward him. “Cooper is meeting his father. Jeremy has finally come to realize he would like to get to know his son, which should make me happy but it doesn’t. Jeremy is going to be cool and special and I’m just the old mom he’s had for years.”

Finally a topic he could embrace. “You’re not going to lose him. Sure, Jeremy’s new right now, but Coop knows his biological father has had zero interest for seventeen years. He’s not going to forget that. He’ll enjoy the experience and get on with his life.”

“I wish. I feel so lost.” She waved at their server and held up her empty glass.