A Billionaire's Love Affair by Ali Parker

Author:Ali Parker [Parker, Ali]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BrixBaxter Publishing
Published: 2021-02-02T18:00:00+00:00

Chapter 39

Maisie

My blood ran cold. I should have known better. I let my mouth run away with me. I asked him questions about his family. It was only normal he would ask about mine. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I reached for my wine glass to take a drink and realized it was empty.

“Did you want another glass?” he asked.

“Yes, please,” I answered too quickly.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“For?”

“You don’t have to tell me about your family. I’m sorry I asked. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s fine.”

“You deserve your privacy. We all have things we’d rather not talk about. I get it.”

He was pulling back. I didn’t want him to pull back. “It isn’t that I don’t want to talk about it. It’s just—well, it isn’t easy. I’m not purposely trying to hide anything. I want to tell you.”

“Maisie, you don’t need to do anything you are uncomfortable with.”

“I want to, but just give me a minute please.”

“Take all the time you need. I’ll get you another glass of wine.”

That was when I noticed his was almost full still. “I drank that too fast, didn’t I?”

“There aren’t any rules.”

“But you’ve barely drank anything.”

“Because I’m driving.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t feel like you have to be anything or anyone you aren’t. Let’s enjoy our meal. Why don’t we talk about something else?”

I could tell he was a little hurt I didn’t want to talk to him about my family. I needed to give him something. I wanted to. “My family isn’t quite like yours.”

“I don’t think my family is quite like anyone’s,” he said with a smile.

“I mean, we aren’t close. Not even a little bit. Not anymore. When I was really little, I think we were. At least, I have some memories of being normal. Maybe they are skewed. It is sometimes hard to distinguish between reality and the fantasies I started creating from a young age.”

He nodded, silently encouraging me to go on. “I think that is normal.”

“I’m sure it is. It protects one’s sanity. It is crazy to think that even from a very young age, we know how to do that without ever being taught. My mom used to get so upset with me when I would tell my tall tales. She said I was lying. In my mind, I had made myself believe it was real. I couldn’t understand why she thought I was lying.”

“Self-preservation,” he said.

I nodded. “Exactly.”

The waiter delivered my second glass of wine, which I drank heartily from. Just thinking about my past was stirring up some old memories and feelings of anxiousness.

“I stopped talking to anyone for a long time because I didn’t want to get in trouble for lying,” I said. “It was a crazy time for me. I felt out of place, like I was hovering between two worlds. I wanted to live in the world I created but my parents had other ideas.”

“It’s understandable.”

He was choosing his words carefully. He was giving me the freedom to keep talking or to end it. He made it very easy to talk to him.

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