Read Online Holding On (Hooking Up) by Jessica L. Degarmo - Free Book Online
Authors: Jessica L. Degarmo
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ridicule for every single one of my choices. And she withheld love and affection because she resented me. But you couldn’t be what I needed you to be? Anything would have been better than that. A house isn’t a home without love.”
“Oh, honey. I had no idea. I’m so sorry.” Her expression turned horrified and tears spilled from her troubled violet eyes. I instantly felt bad for unloading on her. I guessed I still had some healing to do after the trauma I’d survived. Had I just blown it with her, or was she willing to work past the grief and build a relationship with her wounded daughter?
“No, I’m sorry. You just got here, and I’m unloading on you. I’m pretty good at that, you know. Just ask Ryan.”
She smiled at that, the shocked expression melting off her face. It seemed I was forgiven yet again for my outburst. “He seems wonderful, by the way. You never did tell me how you two met.”
I smiled at her. “He was a one-night stand.”
“Like mother, like daughter?” she asked, laughing.
“I guess you could say that,” I returned, realizing when Maria said those things, it didn’t feel the same as when Gran said it. When Maria said it, it was actually even a little funny.
We talked long into the night and eventually fell asleep on the couch together. So this was what unconditional familial love felt like. I don’t remember ever feeling so secure, and as I drifted to sleep, I wished such a feeling would last forever.
Chapter 7
Maria’s move into her apartment, only about fifteen minutes away from our place, went smoothly. Ryan was wonderful, enlisting the help of a few of his police buddies to help us.
“Put that lamp over there, Danny. Thanks,” Maria said as he walked past her, shouldering a heavy floor lamp with marble detailing. She gave him a smile and a pat on the arm as he put the lamp down on the right side of the tufted sofa he and Ryan had hauled in moments before.
“You’re welcome, ma’am,” Danny returned gravely, a captivated look on his face I found hysterical. She was a looker, alright, even with the streak of gray in her hair, and it appeared she’d already turned the heads of a few of Ryan’s coworkers.
“Now, Ms. DiCarlo, where do you want this chair?” Waterman asked from behind the large slipper chair he and Jones were carrying inside.
“Right over there is fine. By the fireplace. Yes, that’s it. Thank you so much. I just love to watch men at work,” she all but purred, her voice bursting with southern charm. As she turned around to move a box across the room, the men stared at her appreciatively and blushed when she caught them looking. I laughed. Maria had put a spell on them already, just like she had with Benjie.
We walked back down to the moving truck and as we climbed up and stacked boxes on the edge of the trailer for the men to carry in, I looked around and smirked. It appeared men both young and old were susceptible to a beautiful woman and her many charms. I counted three salt-and-pepper or balding heads peeking out from behind their apartment curtains, watching Maria’s every move with rabid lust on their faces. Ryan approached the truck and I subtly gestured at the other apartments. “Look.”
He looked and chuckled. “Well, at least we know people will keep an eye on her.”
“Yeah. You think you can get some of your friends on the force to drive by every once in a while? I don’t like the leer on Baldie over there.”
Soon the truck was empty and all the pizza we ordered for the movers was gone. The men filed out of Maria’s apartment single-file, each receiving a kiss on the cheek and a hug from my birth mother. I had a feeling they’d be only too eager to come up and help her again, and I marveled at her ability to draw people in the way she did. She was truly a vivacious woman who lit up a room when she entered it. I thought it was cute to see those big, burly men tripping over each other to do her bidding.
Maria
“Oh, honey. I had no idea. I’m so sorry.” Her expression turned horrified and tears spilled from her troubled violet eyes. I instantly felt bad for unloading on her. I guessed I still had some healing to do after the trauma I’d survived. Had I just blown it with her, or was she willing to work past the grief and build a relationship with her wounded daughter?
“No, I’m sorry. You just got here, and I’m unloading on you. I’m pretty good at that, you know. Just ask Ryan.”
She smiled at that, the shocked expression melting off her face. It seemed I was forgiven yet again for my outburst. “He seems wonderful, by the way. You never did tell me how you two met.”
I smiled at her. “He was a one-night stand.”
“Like mother, like daughter?” she asked, laughing.
“I guess you could say that,” I returned, realizing when Maria said those things, it didn’t feel the same as when Gran said it. When Maria said it, it was actually even a little funny.
We talked long into the night and eventually fell asleep on the couch together. So this was what unconditional familial love felt like. I don’t remember ever feeling so secure, and as I drifted to sleep, I wished such a feeling would last forever.
Chapter 7
Maria’s move into her apartment, only about fifteen minutes away from our place, went smoothly. Ryan was wonderful, enlisting the help of a few of his police buddies to help us.
“Put that lamp over there, Danny. Thanks,” Maria said as he walked past her, shouldering a heavy floor lamp with marble detailing. She gave him a smile and a pat on the arm as he put the lamp down on the right side of the tufted sofa he and Ryan had hauled in moments before.
“You’re welcome, ma’am,” Danny returned gravely, a captivated look on his face I found hysterical. She was a looker, alright, even with the streak of gray in her hair, and it appeared she’d already turned the heads of a few of Ryan’s coworkers.
“Now, Ms. DiCarlo, where do you want this chair?” Waterman asked from behind the large slipper chair he and Jones were carrying inside.
“Right over there is fine. By the fireplace. Yes, that’s it. Thank you so much. I just love to watch men at work,” she all but purred, her voice bursting with southern charm. As she turned around to move a box across the room, the men stared at her appreciatively and blushed when she caught them looking. I laughed. Maria had put a spell on them already, just like she had with Benjie.
We walked back down to the moving truck and as we climbed up and stacked boxes on the edge of the trailer for the men to carry in, I looked around and smirked. It appeared men both young and old were susceptible to a beautiful woman and her many charms. I counted three salt-and-pepper or balding heads peeking out from behind their apartment curtains, watching Maria’s every move with rabid lust on their faces. Ryan approached the truck and I subtly gestured at the other apartments. “Look.”
He looked and chuckled. “Well, at least we know people will keep an eye on her.”
“Yeah. You think you can get some of your friends on the force to drive by every once in a while? I don’t like the leer on Baldie over there.”
Soon the truck was empty and all the pizza we ordered for the movers was gone. The men filed out of Maria’s apartment single-file, each receiving a kiss on the cheek and a hug from my birth mother. I had a feeling they’d be only too eager to come up and help her again, and I marveled at her ability to draw people in the way she did. She was truly a vivacious woman who lit up a room when she entered it. I thought it was cute to see those big, burly men tripping over each other to do her bidding.
Maria
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