Forget Me Not (Escape Contemporary Romance) by Blake Nina

Author:Blake, Nina [Blake, Nina]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises Pty Ltd, Australia
Published: 2013-04-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Claire pushed open the door to her apartment and switched on the light, heaving a sigh of relief. She was home.

She slid Stefan’s jacket from her shoulders, tossed it onto a chair, and then slumped down on the sofa, head in her hands.

God, she was glad they were out of that restaurant. Claire didn’t want to go through that again. Ever. The most Stefan’s parents had ever done was tolerate her and now they couldn’t even manage that much.

Anyway, there was no reason for her to see them again. She and Stefan were separated and, as her ex-father-in-law had so kindly reminded her, she wasn’t family any more. Not that she ever had been.

From here on in, if Stefan wanted to see his parents he’d have to do it on his own. They were still his parents, and he should probably make another effort after he’d cooled down.

‘Here,’ Stefan said. Claire looked up to see him offering her a tumbler of whisky. ‘You look like you need this.’

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had hard liquor but the soft amber tones of the rich liquid were welcoming and looked too good to resist. ‘You read my mind.’ She leaned back into the sofa and smiled. ‘Except I hadn’t even thought of having a drink yet. You got there before my mind did.’

The first sip burnt the back of her throat, the second slid down much more easily. That hit the spot.

Sitting beside her, Stefan found himself returning her smile. ‘I’ve picked up a lot over the last week.’ He sipped his whisky, cradling the tumbler in his hands. ‘I don’t understand what happened back there with my parents. What were they thinking saying those things?’

His was a reasonable question under the circumstances, but she couldn’t explain what was going through their minds. She’d never understood them. They loved their son in their own way, and they certainly thought the world of him, but at the same time they could barely be bothered.

‘I can’t help you,’ Claire said.

‘The situation worries me. I don’t want to think I’m like them.’

She didn’t want to think that either, but had seen a different side to him before they separated, one she didn’t like. He’d get fed up and cut Claire down with a few choice words, and had made her feel she wasn’t good enough for him. The problems had come one another: Claire hadn’t liked classical music the way he did, didn’t have a refined taste for the arts, didn’t appreciate the finer things in life. Stefan’s list had been long.

Then there’d be the lengthy silences, times that made her wish he’d say something, anything, just to acknowledge her existence.

Stefan had always been arrogant. At some point, he’d become mean as well.

’You’ve always been a bit of a snob,’ Claire said.

‘Have I?’

He sounded surprised but that wasn’t going to stop her. ‘In some ways, you got more elitist over the years. When we first met, you were into rock and roll in a big way and had the most incredible CD collection.

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