Loving the CEO (Whitley Brothers #7)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Tory

"This place really is fantastic," I exclaimed as Mom and I stepped inside the B&B. "I kind of thought it looked too good to be true in pictures."

"I scouted it before sending you the pictures," she said.

"Of course. Um, thank you for putting in all the effort." Even though Mom and I hadn't parted on good terms, I was determined to be civil.

"And thank you for coming so quickly. Let me give you the tour.”

We walked forward, taking in the house.

"Okay, so the living room has a lot of potential," Mom said as we passed a huge empty room.

"I agree. For breakfast, dining, or serving tea.” I felt like Vanna White the way my arms were moving this way and that. I was nervous. For as nice as this place was, I just wasn’t into it.

After inspecting the first floor carefully, we went up the staircase to the bedrooms. It was obvious that we’d need to upgrade the air conditioning—it wasn’t even a particularly hot June evening, and we were cooking inside.

“These rooms are large enough for people to comfortably spend time in, but not too big."

Usually, people preferred B&Bs over hotels because they had a homey feeling. But no one wanted to be cramped .

"I like that they have en suites already," I said.

"Exactly. No one likes to share the toilet. And it’s a hassle to create a new bathroom."

Even though I liked this place, I wasn't feeling it. I couldn't envision myself being here the entire day with Mom. I didn't have the heart to tell that to her yet, though.

Once we got back downstairs, she turned around and said, "Um... so, listen, we haven't spoken about the price yet."

"I noticed that it wasn't anywhere on the listing."

"Well, I took it off because..." Mom glanced at her perfectly manicured nails, and I knew bad news was coming. She rarely hesitated when she had something to say. "Walter is helping us out."

I stilled. "I'm sorry, what?"

"He's very sorry about everything. He even broke up with his—"

"Mom, I'm not interested," I said. I knew she thought she was doing me a favor, but just because her life didn’t turn out the way she wanted, it didn’t mean she had the right to try and influence mine. I couldn’t help but feel upset about this whole thing now.

"Don't be like that." She shook her head. "He's really trying to make amends."

"I'm not interested. I don't want to ever talk to him again, and I certainly don’t care to be in business with him in any capacity."

She bit her lip. "Well..."

I groaned. "Mom, what did you do?"

"He's actually waiting outside. He really wants to talk to you. And, well, since he offered to actually pay for this, I figured the least I can do is—"

"Drag me here under false pretenses so I can talk to him? How could you?” I was mad now. “I won't do it." I slammed my arms to my sides.

Damn it, why did she do this ?

"What harm can it do to listen to what he has to say?"

"He hurt me, Mother. Do you understand that? You know what hurt is. You've told me all my life how much Dad hurt you."

She took a step back to avoid my flailing arms. "Put your hands down. You always were one to overexpress yourself. And don't you dare bring that up about your father. It's not even remotely the same."

"I'm not here to compare who got more hurt, or who got a worse fate, but this is unacceptable," I told her. "I'm not interested in anything that's got to do with Walter. Or you, actually. Us opening a B&B together has always been your dream, not mine."

"That's not true. You said you wanted to open one." Mom’s haughty expression seemed to crack, and I felt a little bad, but I had to get through to her somehow.

"Yes, but by myself. But somehow over the years, you made it into a mutual dream. Maybe at one time, when I was younger, it might have worked, but it never would now, and you know it. We could never be so close to each other every day.”

Mom nodded in agreement at that. Maybe she’d finally realized that we were our own people, and to try and run a business together would be futile.

“And since you asked Walter here, you can talk to him." I wasn’t going to get involved in this mess, and I certainly didn’t want to see that asshole. We were so done.

I couldn't wait to get to Debbie's and pour myself a huge glass of wine—or a fucking bucket because just a glass wouldn't do.

I told Mom goodbye and left the building, determined to walk past Walter, but he was waiting on the porch.

"Tory!" He looked, well, terrible. He'd grown out his beard, but not in a sexy way. His hair was on the wild side, too, which was truly unlike him .

"You know what? I'll just wait inside and let the two of you talk." Apparently, Mom had followed me out the door.

Oh no, she’s not getting away with this.

"Mom, don't you d—”

Before I could finish the sentence, she closed the door.

"I have nothing to say to you," I said, turning to Walter. My hands flew up from my sides, waving wildly. "I can't even believe this is happening."

I was damn angry right now. I’d fought to be civil for Mom's sake. I planned to do no such a thing for Walter. He didn't deserve it.

"Tory, listen. I fucked up. I know that."

"Oh, really?" I snarked, moving my hands to my hips. I couldn’t believe this bum.

"I... I don't know what got into me. We'd been together for so long, and things had started to cool down. You can't deny that.”

“Couples go through phases, and you know what you do when that happens? You fight for the relationship. You don't go and fuck around behind their back.” I was restless, moving back and forth on the porch as I let him have it.

“Stop for a damn minute, will you?”

Reluctantly, I paused, waiting for his excuses.

He sighed. “As I said, I screwed up. I... Your mom told you, right?"

I narrowed my eyes. Was he implying what I thought he was?

"What exactly was she supposed to tell me?"

"That I want to help you." He rolled his shoulders back. His eyes were cold. "I’ll buy this place so you two can run it, on one condition.”

Oh, I can’t wait to hear this.

He went on boldly, “If you take me back."

This was even worse than I’d thought .

"That’s insulting. You think you can buy me?" I brought my hands to my chest so quickly in anger that I almost hurt myself.

"Oh, come on. I was always going to do that, wasn't I? How exactly did you and your mom plan to open that B&B she wouldn't shut up about? With my money."

So, he was insinuating that our relationship came at a price? Lord, he didn’t even know me.

With that, I pushed him on the chest. "Fuck off, Walter. I have nothing else to say to you.” I glared at him. “No, wait, I do. You're a lying and cheating bastard. I don't know why you're here, but it's not because you have feelings for me or because you're sorry. You’re only sorry that I caught you."

His eyes turned even colder than before. "Put those fucking hands down and listen to me. You running off from the wedding like that—do you have any idea how that made me look? Every single friend and acquaintance is giving me the cold shoulder. My parents are in an uproar. They demanded that I fix this, or they’ll take me out of their will, and that’s a lot of money to lose. It would buy you a thousand B&Bs. You have no choice but to get back together with me.”

This was so insane that I actually started to laugh. He didn’t want me. He wanted his money! "Are you listening to yourself right now? You want to marry me so your friends talk to you again? So your parents are happy? So you get all the money they’ve allocated you? My God, Walter! Are you for real? Do you have any backbone whatsoever? What happened to the woman you moved in with? Marry her!"

"Don't you dare talk to me like that or bring her up. You're not half the woman she is. You’ve always been a lowlife with good looks and poor manners.”

I didn’t react to that. I kept focused .

"You're still with her?" I confirmed. Good. Then he could marry her. All I wanted to do was get the fuck away from him. And this city.

"That's none of your business. I can break it off tomorrow if it's that important to you."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I ran off from the wedding because you were cheating. Yet you thought you could convince me to take you back and still cheat?"

Not that I had any plans to take him back, but I wanted to understand his misconstrued logic. Wanted him to understand what he just said.

"I figured a few months without me would teach you that life isn't as easy as you think. That my money meant more to you than me being in your bed.”

Oh. My. God. The man was disgusting!

“Walter, it’s over. I have my job. I've never depended on you. I've never cared about any of the high society things you had going on. It's not who I am. Never has been, and if you think about it for a nanosecond, you’d know it. I'm not even sure why you thought I was into it. My life is much better since you're not in it. I'm finally happy!"

My hands were flying every which way in this conversation. God, he raised my blood pressure. I just hoped I wouldn’t have an aneurysm.

"What are you talking about? No one is happy in life. We all just get on with things."

"Not me. I’m sorry you feel that way, but we are done. Please never contact me again."

"Listen to me, you bitch—”

“Don't you dare talk to me like that." My voice dropped an octave, and I almost scared myself.

Then the door opened, and Mom stepped out.

"Walter, please leave. "

He looked from me to her, and his jaw actually dropped. "Excuse me?"

"I can't believe you’d talk to my daughter like that. Or that you’d treat her like this."

A small part of me was happy that Mom was finally on my side. But another part was deeply sad. This meant she’d never believed me when I told her Walter wasn't treating me well. She had to hear it from him, in this way.

"You lured me and my daughter here with lies. Did I hear that right? And you’re still seeing that woman?"

"With all due respect, that's none of your business."

"Then I will take after my daughter and ask you to leave."

"Why are you two wasting my time?” he snapped. “You should have cleared this up before we got here."

I scoffed. "You thought my mom would bring me on a platter and drop me at your feet?"

His blank expression told me that it was exactly what he’d expected.

I was so rid of this man. Thank heavens I didn't get married to him. I had no idea what I'd ever seen in him or why I'd been with him for so long.

I stared him down until he got in his car. Only then did I turn to my mom.

"I made a terrible mistake by listening to him, dear,” she said quietly.

“Yes, you did.”

“But listen, my girl, we can still find a B&B."

I shook my head. "No, Mom. I'm sorry, but what I told you before wasn’t just because I was angry. It’s true. I don’t think it’s in either of our best interests to open a business together. Besides, that was your dream. I love you, and I respect you because you're my mom. And I want you to be happy. But working together wouldn't work. "

"Honey, I'm sorry you're seeing things that way." Mom pressed her lips together. "So, when are you coming back to New Orleans?"

I knew what that meant. She thought that if I came back here, she would eventually convince me.

"I'm not," I said, holding my head high. "Coming here, today, actually sealed my decision. My life isn't in New Orleans anymore. It's in Boston."

I didn't even want to give her details about me and Leo. She would just start on me all over again. And frankly, I didn't care if she knew. I didn't need her approval. Not anymore.

Mom and I needed some time away from each other for us both to think through this situation: both Walter and the B&B.

“Are you serious?”

I could see she was hurt, but she needed to understand what happened here. What she did to me.

"Yes. Listen, Mom, this was all exhausting. I love you. Let’s just call it a day."

"We could go to dinner together." She was trying, and that was a step, but we needed a break from each other.

"Debbie is cooking for me at her home."

"I don't understand why you're staying with her instead of with me."

The honest answer was "Because we’d drive each other crazy . ” And because I just didn’t want to rehash this shit anymore, but I didn’t say it out loud. Things between Mom and me were tense and probably always would be, but I knew she loved me. Maybe in time, things would change. Maybe when I had a family of my own, she’d come to respect me and my decisions... but for now, this was how it had to be.

"I’ll stay with you another time, Mom."

"I can drop you off somewhere in the city."

"That would be great. I need to take the ferry. "

"She's still living in Algiers?"

"Yes," I said defensively. "And it's a lovely place and neighborhood. I like it."

She rolled her eyes. "Taking that ferry is such a nuisance."

"I like that too," I said. Not because I was determined to be contrary with my mom, but because I actually did.

On the drive to the ferry, we were both silent.

My thoughts turned to Leo. God, I missed him so much. I wondered how he’d take my news. He'd been too silent on the topic. I’d really tried to get his opinion, but it had been impossible. Frankly, it was a bit infuriating, and I didn't know what to make of it. Did he really not care, or was it that he simply didn't want to influence me?

I couldn't help but notice the glaring difference between him and Walter. Walter would have preferred to dictate every aspect of my life while I was an obedient wife to him. Thank heavens I got rid of him.

I couldn't wait to get back to Boston. But right now, I was excited for my evening with Debbie.

I kissed Mom goodbye when she dropped me off at the ferry terminal. I knew we’d be okay. Looking at their clock, I noticed I only had a few minutes to catch the next one. Dinner wasn’t for another two hours, but I wanted to help Debbie get things together and tell her all of the news. She had such a calming way of looking at things. No wonder we were besties.

I was surprised that she’d offered to cook, actually. She typically loved going out for dinner in the Quarter or buying takeout.

But my friend wanted to take care of me, and I wasn't going to say no. She was the hostess, after all.

As I boarded, I realized the ferry was chock-full, but I finally found a seat. I kept looking up and down the river as we crossed it .

At one time, I’d toyed with the idea of moving here. The pace of the city slowed down considerably on this side of the river.

I put Debbie's address into my phone to check the route again. I hadn’t been here on my own too many times. Usually, we came together, and I never paid attention to the surroundings if I didn’t have to. It was twenty minutes on foot.

Perfect!

I enjoyed the pleasant evening air, and I still needed to cool off a bit. It had been impossible to calm down in the car even though Mom didn’t press the issue. But the silence between us was like a weight on my shoulders.

I listened to the birds chirping and watched as the sun started setting. Algiers had its own character, and it was charming me. I'd always loved Debbie's determination. She went out of her way to fulfill her goals. A few years ago, she'd been determined to buy a house on her own.

"I'm so tired of paying rent and lining someone else's pocket," she complained.

But buying a house on a single income wasn't a small feat—I should know that. She'd been super clever. Algiers was quite a bit cheaper, and she'd bought an old house and slowly restored it. It had two bedrooms and only one bath, but that didn't matter. It was very cozy. She'd renovated most of it with her brother, and they'd done an amazing job.

When I stepped inside the house, I was surprised to smell jasmine incense in the air. It was my go-to when I wanted to wind down, but Debbie wasn't one to do such things. I wondered if she was doing it for my benefit, figuring my afternoon with Mom would have been stressful .

The kitchen was right next to the entrance, and it didn’t look as if she’d cooked or prepped anything. Maybe she’d changed her mind, and we’d go out to eat instead. That was more than fine by me.

"Debbie?" I asked loudly, but she didn’t answer.

Once I stepped toward the living room, I noticed candles on the floor.

Wait a second. One, two, three... that’s a lot of candles. How romantic!

A shadow moved in front of me.

"Debbie, what—"

I took a step back, smiling. Debbie wasn't here, but my amazing man was standing proudly before me.

"Am I dreaming?" The air smelled like jasmine, and I was surrounded by candles. It did feel like a dream.