Landlord Wars(43)

She shook her head in disbelief. “How did we raise such a conscientious child?”

“It’s astonishing, isn’t it?” I hadn’t the heart to tell her Jack’s family had more to do with it than she or my father.

She smacked my arm good-humoredly. “And with a smart mouth.”

I checked the time. Sophia should be home by now. “Mom, was there anything else you needed? I have an appointment.”

She continued to wander the apartment, looking inside rooms and frowning. “There’s hardly enough space for you, Maxwell. What will you do once you marry? Don’t you want children?”

And here was her other favorite topic. If it wasn’t money, it was marriage and procreation. Though that last one had been at the forefront of my mind lately too. Specifically, with a certain feisty, chocolate-loving female.

“There’s plenty of time for marriage and kids,” I told my mom. “I can always buy a larger place if need be. I’m not financially crippled, like you and Dad.”

Kitty glared comically. “I take back the smart mouth comment; you’re a very rude son.”

I laughed. “This is a three-bedroom, Mom. I’m sure I can squeeze a kid or two in here.”

“Or you could return home to Franklin Street and live with me and your father. You could have an entire floor to yourself.” She grinned innocently.

“We both know that’s not happening.”

“A mother can dream,” she said, sighing and glancing inside one of the bedrooms. “Just make sure you get rid of this metal contraption before you marry.” She waved choppily at the air. “It’s not safe for young children.”

“The in-home gym will have to go,” I admitted. “I’ll join a gym if I want to maintain my six-pack abs.”

She shook her head incredulously. “It’s unfortunate you got your father’s sense of humor.”

Winking, I said, “Fortunately, I didn’t get his investment sense.”

She attempted a frown, but I was wearing her down, I could tell. “I’ll be sure to share that with your father.”

“He has my sense of humor, remember?”

Kitty rolled her eyes. “I’m leaving,” she said and picked up her purse from the kitchen counter on her way to the front door.

With her palm on the handle, she stopped and turned to me, her expression serious. “We’ll be fine, your father and I. Though I worry if others discover how much we lost, it could hurt our standing in society.” She glanced off, her gaze strained before she looked back. “Promise you won’t share the extent of our misstep with anyone?”

“Gwen and Jack are aware, but you know how Jack is. When I tried to tell him about our family history and wealth when we were teenagers, his eyes glazed over. He doesn’t care about money. Gwen won’t say anything either.”

My mother nodded. “Gwenny wouldn’t say anything to harm our family.”

I wasn’t so sure of that, but I wasn’t about to tell my mother why Gwen and I broke up. Chances were, Gwen would never tell anyone about my parents’ lost fortune, because it would reflect poorly on her. She claimed to still want to be together, and she couldn’t have others knowing my parents weren’t at the top of the ladder any longer.

My mother looked slightly mollified, but the lines around her mouth remained.

“Mom, if you lose connections because of this, those people weren’t worth your time.”

She smiled sadly. “Connections are how fortunes are built, Max. Connections are everything.”





Chapter Twenty





Sophia





For the first time in forever, I didn’t bring work home. And it was a good thing too, because I couldn’t get the lights to turn on in the kitchen or the living room, where I typically sprawled out my designs.

I walked up and down the hallway, flipping switches on and off to see what worked and what didn’t. “Jack?”

No answer.

The guy was always home, eating my stash of snacks. Had he gone out to forage in the real world?

This was what I got for not orienting myself better to the new apartment; I had to rely on a guy to help me find the fuse box.

I was scrolling through my phone, searching for Jack’s number, when a knock sounded at the front door.

The room was growing darker now that the sun had set, and I was still in my work clothes, only barefoot, as I’d kicked off my shoes the moment I got home. I was tired and cranky after the rat stress with my mom, but I padded over and looked through the peephole. And my heart raced.

Max Burrows had the worst timing.

I’d planned on avoiding him until the whole kissing incident blew over. But it was still vivid in my mind, and I wasn’t ready for a post-kiss confrontation. I didn’t know what the kiss had meant, and I was too scared to find out. Too scared it meant nothing and my hormones were overreacting, or that it meant something and I wasn’t ready for that either. In short, I was an emotional hot mess.

Spinning around, I searched the room as though the answers were somewhere inside the couch cushions or the lampshade. Why the hell had Jack chosen today of all days to leave me on my own?

I smoothed down my pale blue shift dress, making sure it lay straight. I could do this, I thought, and opened the door.