“Only because you won’t even try.”
From his tone, I can tell Harry already feels bitter, but I’m not letting him guilt me into anything. Would it feel good to turn off my brain and give in to the attraction? Let Harry have me until we’re both exhausted?
It would feel amazing—until it didn’t anymore. And then what?
“My mom’s coming for a visit tomorrow,” he says, getting a glass of water from the dispenser in the refrigerator.
“What?”
I switch the heat off on the stove and turn to face him, too shocked to say anything else just yet.
“Yeah. She’s back from her trip and probably staying for a week or so.”
“How can you just drop this on me the night before? What time will she be here? Do I need to figure something out for dinner?”
“Early afternoon. And no, I’ll order food.”
I slide the omelets onto plates and Harry picks one up, getting a fork from the drawer.
“I’ll eat in my bedroom,” he says flatly.
“Big baby,” I mutter.
“Stubborn fool,” he mutters back.
Yeah, we’d make quite a couple.
I fume about our conversation while I eat my omelet. Harry’s not used to hearing the word no, and it’s driving him crazy. It makes me wonder though if that’s the only reason he keeps pushing so hard, or is it because he could really see a future with me. Either way, I’m not ever taking a chance on him.
Chapter Seventeen
Winter
I adore Harry’s mom.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the woman who raised Harry, but I was prepared for her to be a viper, given how shrewd I’ve heard Harry be on business calls.
But Vivian Stone is warm, sweet and funny. She puts me at ease immediately when she tells me to call her Viv, and by the time Harry gets home from work, I feel like we’re already friends.
“Hello, dear,” she says, rising to greet him when he walks into the apartment. “You’ve got an absolutely darling roommate and I may never hand over my beautiful granddaughter.”
She’s tall and elegant, with short silver hair and pretty blue eyes. Avery took to her immediately, smiling and cooing. Even when Viv told me to go take some time for myself while she watched Avery earlier, I wanted to stay and talk to her instead.
“Hey, Mom,” Harry says, hugging her. “Good to see you.”
“You look good,” she says, putting her hands on his upper arms. “Still going to the gym, it feels like.”
“Every morning. Even when the little monster keeps me up all night.”
Harry comes over and picks Avery up from the play mat she’s laying on, kissing her round cheek. She laughs, but then starts wiggling to get back down.
“Is that thing the best thirty bucks we’ve ever spent or what?” Harry says to me, gently putting Avery back on the play mat, which has toys hanging from a bar over it.
“She loves it,” I say, standing up. “What can I get you guys to drink? Please, sit down and visit and let me get you something.”
“Dinner will be here in half an hour,” Harry says. “I ordered a couple bottles of wine with it.”
“Perfect, but what about the two of you?” Viv cracks, smiling.
“We’ll have to share the third bottle that you don’t drink,” Harry says in a wry tone.
“Stop that, Harrison. Winter will think I’m a total lush.”
“Harrison?” I ask, arching a brow.
“Yep,” he answers.
“You look more like a Harold.”
“Sure I do,” he returns, winking.
“Are you two…?” Viv points from Harry to me and then back at him again.
“No,” Harry answers. “Winter doesn’t think I’m good enough for her.”
“Harry!” My mouth drops open in mortification. “That is not the reason and you know it.”
“Oh, don’t mind him,” Viv says, waving a hand. “I’m used to his dramatics.”
“He thinks it’s hilarious to make me uncomfortable,” I mutter, giving Harry a look.
“Nah, I just think you’re cute when you’re flustered.”
Avery starts fussing from her play mat and I scoop her up, relieved to have a buffer.
“I’ll let you guys catch up until dinner gets here,” I say. “We’ll be in Avery’s room.”
“That was a lovely dinner, thank you, dear,” Viv says, getting up to clear the dishes.
“Sit down, Mom, I’ll get it,” Harry says. “I ordered the food from Madeleine, that restaurant with the attached shelter. The people who live there operate the kitchens at Madeleine.”
“Really? It was fantastic. I’ll have to recommend it to my friends who live here.”
Harry clears away the dishes and Viv turns to me. “So where did you grow up, Winter?”
“It was mostly just my mom and I, and we moved around a lot when I was younger. We lived near Phoenix when I was in high school.”
“I’ve always thought that was a nice area.”
“We liked it.” There’s a pause before I dive in with the question I’ve been dying to ask her. “So what was Harry like as a kid?”
Viv laughs. “Oh, he was a handful. Always coming up with new ideas and inventions. But he was so sweet. He’d make me pictures and fluff up my pillow before bed and make me cups of tea. He was a thoughtful boy. But then he’d also come home from school all bruised and bloodied from fighting.”
“You got into fights at school?” I ask, looking over my shoulder at Harry with surprise.
“On the way home from school,” he clarified. “Or at the ice rink.”
“He was always a brawler,” Viv says. “Fearless. It scared me to death, the way he’d take on three boys from an opposing hockey team at once, not caring what happened to him.”
“I always got the better end of ‘em,” Harry says.
“You did, that’s true.” She looks at me. “He always stood up for the other boys on his team. Always. He’s loyal like that.”
“That’s just what you do when you’re on a team, Mom,” Harry says.
“Some of the boys were too scared, but never my Harry. I wasn’t a bit surprised when he retired young to join the military. He has the heart of a warrior.”
“And the shoulder of a senior citizen,” Harry cracks.
“Did you injure it?” I ask.
“Yeah.” He sits back down at the table. “It was already kind of a mess from hockey, and then I fell on it in combat. Doesn’t matter, though, I’m fine.”
His mom seems to sense his desire to change the subject. She looks at me and asks, “Winter, do you have family in the area?”
“No, just a sister in California, Aubrey.”
Viv frowns. “It must’ve been so hard when your friend was sick. I’m so sorry she passed away.”
“Thank you.”
“What was she like?”
I smile. “Mallory? She was happy about ninety-eight percent of the time. Always looking on the bright side. She once broke the heel off an expensive pair of shoes, so she pulled the heel off the other one and said she had been needing a new pair of flats anyway.”