Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (136 page)

"I guess."

"I think she wanted a kid she could mold into her own likeness.  I was never good enough for her when she found out I wasn't going to grow up to be like her.  You know how soon the luster faded from having all these expensive toys and fancy clothes after I'd started spending time with my dad's parents?  There may not have been a thousand toys or any of the fancy outfits she always dressed me up in but there was actual love and caring there.  Do you know how messed up it is to be a kid and figure out that your mother doesn't love you?  She just loved the idea of you.  And then she found out that you weren't what she thought you were going to be so she gave up bothering to pretend she cared.  Lindsey wasn't always an alcoholic.  I think I drove her to drink."

"Tor don't say that."

"Why not?  It's true.  She started up right after I started school and decided that I liked to read and hated shopping and stupid frilly clothes.  She didn't come to any of my school plays.  Dad came, Grandma and Grandpa came.  They never missed one until they died.  Then of course my dad quit bothering with me too.  Maybe he was pretending to love me so he wouldn't disappoint his parents."

"Tory stop it.  Your dad loves you." 

"Is that why he's going to visit someone for the holidays when I haven't seen him in damn near five years?"

"What if it's for business?"

"What business?  My dad's a hermit who sometimes works as a guide for hunters.  Besides, he said it was an old friend.  I'll bet you it's a woman.  At least he loves her."

"Baby please.  You're driving yourself crazy.  Why don't you ask your dad who he went to visit?"

"Because I don't want to know."

"Then quit agonizing over it."

"I'm not."

"You are too.  Hell, give me his number and I'll ask him."

"Yeah, so you can buddy up with my real dad like you did with my stepdad?"

"Do you want me to be an asshole to your stepdad?  Is that it?  You want me to tell him that I'm a drug dealer?  You really want me to screw you in your bed?  You make no sense sometimes Tory."

"So what?"

"Damn baby, I didn't mean to make you mad.  I don't wanna fight.  C'mon honey, let's both chill and have a nice lunch with Langston okay?  Then we'll go to his play, tell him that we want to go for a drive and we'll slip off to the motel and make love.  You need to get rid of some of that tension." 

They had pulled onto Langston's block.  He was standing in the driveway, talking on his cell phone. 

She sighed.  "Fine.  But you're going to drive.  You're getting to know your way around well enough and I don't want to."

"You're gonna make Langston feel bad.  He'll think that you hate your car if you never want to drive it."

"I'll be nice to Langston.  I just don't want to drive the car okay?"

"Okay baby, calm down.  Put a smile on that beautiful face of yours."

She gave him a fake smile as they pulled into the driveway.  He shook his head at her and handed her the keys.  She gave him a dirty look and shoved them into his pants pocket.

"You two ready to go?"  Langston glanced at his watch. 

"Sure," Tony said.  Tory nodded. 

"Good.  Are you going to follow me to the restaurant?  I know it's not fun to be young and stuck waiting on old folks for a ride."

"That would be fine." Tony gave Tory a grin. 

For the first time in as long as she could remember, she wasn't in the mood for sex she thought.  She was too busy feeling guilty for taking a car from a man whom her mother had tried to kill with an ashtray. 

She was too busy wishing her grandparents were still alive so she could be eating a real Christmas dinner instead of expensive crap at a fancy restaurant that could never come close to tasting like her grandma's home cooking.  She was too busy wondering what STDs Jude might have given her since he was balling every other girl in town.  She was too busy feeling guilty for being a bitch to Tony, who didn't deserve it.

Tony squeezed her hand as he walked around and got in the driver's side of the car.  Langston was still too distracted to seem to notice that it was Tony who was driving the mustang.  She wondered who he'd been talking to on the phone.  Could it have been her mother she thought?  She hoped not. 

But as much as she hated to admit it, as much as she told herself that she hated her mother, there was still a childish part of her that yearned for her mother's love like any child.  There had
been a part of her for years that had always felt she wasn't worth loving.  Lindsey had proved it over and over by ignoring her.  Her father had proved it by refusing to fight for her when he knew her mother made her miserable.  Jude had proved it by leaving her for Molli. 

And Tony; what was he proving to her; she pondered as she watched him fiddle with the radio while they were stopped behind Langston at a stoplight?  He who called her his angel, his savior?  She suddenly wanted to cry.  Just looking at him, turning the radio off in disgust when he couldn't find anything besides Christmas music, giving her an offhanded smile when he followed Langston back into traffic, looking like anything but a drug dealer, dressed in his slacks and dress shirt, behind her the wheel of her brand new mustang, it made her love him so much that it hurt. 

What would she do without him she thought?  She had saved him?  He had saved her.  He made her believe in the future; in something better.  So they were both a couple of idiots, believing in love and romance and hope for the future when the world was filled with jerks like Jude and stuck up money hungry bitches like Lindsey she thought. 

"I love you Tony." They had stopped behind Langston, waiting for the valet at the restaurant. 

"I love you too Tory."

She had never understood valet parking.  Why did you need to pay someone to park your car when you could just as easily do it yourself?  Rich people so made no sense she thought. 

Tony handed the car keys to the goofy looking guy in his twenties who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world, saying "Don't hurt my girl's car."

The guy gave him a funny look and said "Yeah," as he took the keys. 

Langston was standing in front of the restaurant talking on his phone again.  He waved a hand at them to hold on, and then quickly wrapped up the call, shutting his phone with a sigh.  "Sorry.  More business.  The place looks busy.  I'm glad I made a reservation."

Tory followed Tony inside as Langston held the door, reaching for Tony's hand.  She hated places like this she thought.  They'd come here last year and everyone was so uptight.  Wearing clothes that cost a month's salary for some people and eating expensive food that didn't taste good. 
Why would you want to be rich if it reduced you to this?  Sitting in some fancy restaurant on Christmas and getting drunk.  Bragging about how many thousands of dollars you'd spent on Christmas presents for kids that would grow up to hate you because you could only buy their love for so long. 

She stood uncomfortably next to Tony, and waited for someone to come and take them to their table.  Langston had already explained to the maître d’ in his fancy suit which only succeeded in making him look even more gay than he sounded; that the fourth member of their party was under the weather and wouldn't be coming.  Nice way to put it she thought as she noticed a run in her panty hose.  If under the weather means you're in someone else's bed while your husband takes your daughter and her boyfriend out to lunch. 

A young looking waitress appeared a few minutes later.  She gave Tony an appreciative glance.  Tory glared daggers at the back of her head as they followed her to a booth at the back of the restaurant.  Tony squeezed her hand and gave her an amused smile.

The restaurant was decked out for Christmas, fancy glittery snowflakes hanging from the ceiling and a huge silver Christmas tree in the middle of the main dining room, with gold and silver wrapped presents stacked underneath. 

She ordered a diet soda, surprised when Tony and Langston both ordered coffee.  Langston always seemed to drink almost as much as Lindsey.  Though Tory could easily see how living with Lindsey could drive almost anyone to drink. 

She browsed the menu, not really interested in the selections, while Tony chatted with Langston like they were old friends, or almost like father and son.  It was driving her crazy.  She wasn't hungry and nothing looked good.  She wanted to go home.  And she didn't mean to Langston's.  She meant to Tony's.

She hid a sigh when the waitress returned, turning her big eyes on Tony again.  Tory was the last to order.  While she was tempted to order the cheapest thing on the menu, a salad that cost $12.50, she told the waitress that she'd have the special, mostly so she'd go away. 

Did she think that Tory was here with her dad and brother she wondered?  They were all blonde, though Tony's hair was much darker than either hers or Langston's.  She was tempted to give Tony a big wet kiss but it would probably piss him off as much as Langston, he was so busy trying to get on her stepfather's good side.  So she flipped the girl off under the table, then picked up Tony's hand and rested their twined fingers together on the table.  That would show the stupid bitch she thought. 

"So Tory, have you put any thought into what school you want to go to?" Langston said when his conversation with Tony about investing money had lagged. 

"Something close to home I guess."  More like something close to Tony she thought.

"You must have put in applications by now.  Any acceptance letters that have caught your eye so far?"

"The university is a good school and the prices are fairly reasonable."

"They do have several good choices there, yes.  I had a good friend who went there.  That was years ago of course.  Tony told me he's thinking of going back to school himself.  He mentioned the university so you might have company there next fall.” Langston gave Tony a smile. 

She gave Tony a look.  He was thinking of going to school full time she thought?  What the hell was he going to do for money?  No way in hell was he going to be able to get away with dealing from a college campus.

"I'm not so sure about full time, but I figure I'm not doing anyone any good spinning my wheels.  And my mom seems to be doing better, so maybe if we're lucky there might be a chance that they'll let her out of that place.  I'm not counting on it, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  She was almost like herself again."

"Have you thought about getting a second opinion?  The problem with so many of those places is that they're content to keep a person there as long as they can if the money keeps coming in.  If she seemed so much better, there's a chance she could have improved long ago with the proper medication." 

"I didn't think of it like that.  She was so messed up after my Dad died that I thought it was always gonna be like that.  If I would have known that she could be functional with the right meds, I'd have done something about it a long time ago."

"I know a doctor; a very well respected psychiatrist, in your area.  We went to high school together.  He owes me a favor from years ago.  Let me give him a call after the holidays.  If he thinks that your mother will be okay in society, there's no reason they shouldn't release her."

"Wow, that's great sir.  You'd really do that for my mom?"

"Of course.  I know a woman; she was a dear friend of my mother's.  She had problems when she was younger and was institutionalized well into adulthood.  No one bothered to take a second look because the doctors insisted she wasn't getting any better.  She had to go through hell to put her life back together when she was out.  And she was fine.  She's still doing well now.  In her eighties with loads of grandchildren, but she's still the sharpest, most together woman you'll ever meet.  No one should have to pay for their whole lives because they made mistakes or had a hard time dealing with a bad situation."

So Tony had told Langston about his mother she thought?  She snuck a glance at him as the waitress brought their food.  She'd practically had to drag out of him to get him to open up about his parents, but he was spilling it all to Langston.  She didn't know whether to feel relieved that they were getting along so well or insulted. 

When the waitress had walked away, giving Tory a dirty look as she squeezed Tony's hand, Langston said "It may take a while, though.  Even if she is greatly improved, it may take months even with Dr.  Larson's esteemed opinion for them to release her."

"That's okay.  I didn't expect them to let her go right away.  And I know it's still gonna be hard for her.  I think it's still gonna hurt her to look at me sometimes.  I kinda look like my dad."

"Kinda?" Tory pushed her plate to the side and opened up her locket, leaning over the table so that Langston could see the picture inside of Tony's dad. 

"There is quite a resemblance." Langston chuckled.  "If there's anyone that can get around all the red tape and just plain bullshit to get your mother out, it's Hank Larson.  It's good to have connections now and then."

"Yeah, I guess so." Tony still looked amazed that Langston had made such an offer.

Tory was finding it harder and harder to dislike Langston herself.  He'd put up with Lindsey for four years.  He'd bought her a car, he was paying for her college education and now he was going to pull strings and get Tony's mother out of the mental hospital?  Damn this man was a walking miracle she thought.