It Must Be Your Love (The Sullivans #11)(61)

“We’ve got a pizza waiting for us. But tell your friend I’m glad he’s digging my music.”

Ford’s mother finally reached out to touch her son on the arm. There was nothing motherly about it, especially since the way her nails sank into his skin showed that she was feeling more irritated with him than anything else. “You are here now and we leave tomorrow evening. Surely your pizza can wait a few minutes.”

Before Mia could think better of it, she asked, “You’re here in Seattle to meet with investors, but you’re not even staying a little longer to see the final show of your son’s latest world tour?”

“We have obligations. Besides, we’re not fans of his kind of music,” his mother said, as if that explained everything.

“No?” Mia’s voice was deceptively gentle. “What music do you like?”

“Rutherford’s father and I are on the board of the Boston Lyric Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.”

“Surely, despite that, your obligations can wait another day so that you can see his show.”

His mother made a sour face, at least as much as she could, given how badly her Botox injections had frozen her expression to one of almost perfect blankness. “Lance and I find it so difficult to listen to all that screeching and hammering. Rutherford had such talent when he was young. He could have been a classical musician. He could have been a respected composer if only he had put his mind to it instead of fooling around with that electric guitar.”

“Fooling around? He could have been respected? Screeching and hammering?”

Rage was nearly knocking Mia flat on the sidewalk. Only Ford’s hand on hers kept her from going over. Maybe, Mia had the barest amount of remaining clarity of mind to think, Ford would be happier with continuing not to engage with his parents, but she’d been raised to say what she thought. And if this was going to be her only chance to lay into them, by God, she was going to take it.

Because she thought his parents sucked.

“Your son is one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met. He not only has more talent in his little finger than any of the proper musicians that you obviously revere, but far more important than that, he’s also one of the kindest, funniest, most wonderful men I’ve ever known. Which is even more impressive, now that I’ve met both of you.” She sneered at them, not caring what they thought about her attacking them, because clearly, their opinions didn’t count. “I used to think it was sad that you weren’t bragging about him to your friends, but now I’m glad you don’t, because neither of you deserve to call him son. And,” she needed to add before they could completely edge away from her and into the restaurant, “his name isn’t Rutherford. It’s Ford.”

His parents gaped at her in outrage, but she was done with them. Ford was staring at her, too, his expression unreadable as she tugged him away from two people she was this close to slugging.

* * *

Mia was so furious that she had no idea a crowd had formed about them as she’d told Ford’s parents exactly what she thought of them. He’d seen recognition in at least a dozen strangers’ eyes as they headed down the sidewalk and into the hole-in-the-wall pizza joint, but Mia was so obviously driven to keep them moving that no one tried to intercept them.

He could still feel her bristling as he paid for their pizza, then hailed a cab to take them to his place. She was uncharacteristically silent as she stewed over the unexpected meeting, but she never once let go of his hand. And even while he paid the driver, she waited on the seat beside him so that they could both get out of the cab without needing to let go of each other.

Once they were inside, he put the pizza box down on the kitchen counter and pulled her against him. “Have I mentioned recently that you blow my mind?”

Normally, he knew, she would have come back with a joke about having “blown” another part of him that morning. But tonight she simply looked up at him and said, “I heard everything you said about them, but I guess I didn’t really want to believe it. I wanted to think that maybe one day I could bring you back together to become a real, loving family.” She blew out a hard breath. “Instead, when I realized how far off base I really was, I yelled at them in the middle of the sidewalk.” Her expression hardened again. “Which they totally deserved. But still. I didn’t check with you first, I just let loose. I’m sorry, Ford, for not being able to help mys—”

He cut off her apology by brushing a fingertip down her nose, and was glad to see the corners of her mouth reflexively curve up just the littlest bit at his purposely ticklish caress.

“No one has ever stood up for me like that. Even my teachers, who had to know how fractured my relationship with my parents was and how much I dreaded going home, didn’t step in. I’m sure because they didn’t see bruises, they didn’t think it could be that bad. And, honestly, when I was away from home, which was most of the time, I pretty much blocked them out, so it wasn’t.”

“So you’re not mad at me for making a total scene and ripping them to shreds?”

A million people could call out his name from an audience and he would never feel as loved, as appreciated as he had when she’d given his parents hell in the middle of the sidewalk.

“I love you, Mia.”

The fire, the worry, immediately went out of her eyes, only to have that wariness about their future together take their place. “Ford—”