Page 51 of The Problem with Playboys

Her mom reached for Chloe’s hand and patted the back of it. “I think you’re lying to yourself.”

“What?”

“I think that if you were truly convinced you couldn’t do it, you simply wouldn’t allow yourself to get in too deep. You’ve always been very good at compartmentalizing your feelings. Of pushing things aside if you didn’t think they were good for you.”

Chloe had always thought of herself as being almost too attuned to her emotions. She wasn’t very good at hiding them, and she was the one who tended to fall apart when everything went wrong. “Is that really what I do?”

“Yes. I think you’re trying to protect yourself from the hurt, which is totally understandable. But if you truly believed you couldn’t do it, and believed that to your core, you wouldn’t have gotten involved with Parker at all. You knew what was at stake. Not only your heart, but my feelings as well, and something told you that you should take that leap anyway.”

This was a line of thinking Chloe had not been prepared for, and quite frankly, it stole her breath away. “You don’t think I was being horrendously selfish? Because it really feels that way to me some days.”

“Darling. You are not the first woman to fall prey to a handsome man. And there’s no use punishing yourself for what you’ve already done. The question is what do you intend to do about it?”

“I guess I feel like all I can do is say I’m sorry.”

“To Parker?”

“No. To you.”

Her mom laughed quietly. “I just had a heart attack. Believe me, that put a whole lot in perspective. I don’t need an apology. I’m over the hurt. I just don’t want you to keep a secret like that from me ever again. That’s all I ask.”

“I won’t hide anything from you. Ever.” Chloe had thought she might feel as though a weight had been lifted, but the truth was that every problem she’d built up in her head had only partly been about her mom. Any hesitancy had never been about Parker. It was her own reluctance, a battle to see her own potential to do and have more. She was holding herself back. That responsibility could fall at no one else’s feet. That was no way to live her life. And she couldn’t do it to herself anymore. “Which is why I have to tell you that I love him. And I want to be with him, even if he might not want to be with me anymore. I’m just going to need you to see him as more than George Sullivan’s son. Because he is, Mom. He’s so much more.”

A spectacular grin spread across her mother’s face. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to hear that you’re completely head over heels in love with someone?”

“My whole life?”

“Exactly. And it’s been agonizing. I don’t care who you fall in love with as long as he’s good to you.”

“He’s the best. The absolute best.”

“So tell him that.”

If only it was as simple as that. “I told him to go home last night. He probably doesn’t want anything to do with me. He gave me this beautiful necklace and said all of these incredibly sweet things and I told him to go away.”

“Parker was here? At the hospital?”

“He came as soon as I told him what had happened. He was worried about you. About me.”

“Even though he suspected that I didn’t want him around my daughter? That says an awful lot about how he feels about you.”

“Or felt. I’m worried that might not be the case anymore.”

“Chloe, darling. There’s only one way to find out. And I don’t know why you’re waiting.”

Okay, then. She was going to do this. She was going to fight for Parker. With everything she had. She stood up and grabbed her bag from the floor. “I guess I’ll go straight to his apartment. I’m without a driver right now, but I should be able to grab a cab and it’s not that far away. He definitely hasn’t left for work yet.”

“Will you let me know what happens?”

“Of course. I’ll come back and help you get home.” Chloe leaned down and kissed her mom’s forehead. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too. More than anything.”

“I’m off.” Chloe headed for the door.

“Chloe. Do me a favor before you leave?”

“What’s that?”