“You know them.” Her mother seemed faintly confused by the fact that Gypsy was on such familiar terms with the Breeds they’d seen so far.
She shrugged dismissively. “I see them around a lot. We talk. I knew Ashley and Emma before Jonas and Rachel showed up. They asked for one of the chocolate mousse cakes the first week that Rachel was here and invited me to share it with them.”
Actually, they’d begged her to make one and bring it to the hotel for Rachel’s toddler, Amber, who had been having trouble eating. They had sworn the chocolate would tempt her.
And it had.
The little girl had been a giggling, chocolate mess when Director Wyatt had walked into the suite. And the sight of her, lifting her chocolate hands to him and squealing, “Da, moo-ie cake,” had sent such a wash of emotion over his face that Gypsy’s heart had clenched in her chest.
Now, two months later, Wyatt had her cooling her heels while he waited to tell her and her parents that the joke was all on them, she was afraid.
Asshole.
She wondered if Lawe and Diane would let her kick him then?
She was sure Diane would.
“You hadn’t mentioned that you knew so many Breeds,” her mother murmured.
“Yeah?” She glanced over at her mother again before surveying the scenery from the wide floor-to-ceiling windows on the other wall. “I didn’t think it was important.”
“How did you get to know so many of them? The bars?” her mother asked, her lips tightening in disapproval of where she had met them. “But it doesn’t explain how you came to be invited here and now know Director Wyatt and his family so well. I can’t imagine that’s easily done.”
Had her mother forgotten who had saved her the night Mark had died? Or were her memories just of her seeing her son’s body on that stretcher, that ring of red at his neck?
A chill raced through her, cutting through the serenity she’d managed to project in the past hours.
Gypsy turned back to her parents and arched her brows. “I don’t know, Mother, they like me, I guess,” she said faintly. “That or they like Kandy’s chocolate mousse cake.”
It was probably the cake, now, but nine years ago, it had been Jonas who had sworn she would always have a safe place to live if her parents no longer wanted her.
Her mother frowned; her father just watched her with that faintly accusing look she found so disheartening. It was one of the few looks she couldn’t read, and that made her nervous.
“You should have mentioned you knew them,” her mother said accusingly.
She shrugged. “It didn’t seem a big deal.” More importantly, her parents never wanted to hear about the Breeds who came into the store, or those she’d become friends with. Actually, she didn’t remember her mother ever caring who her friends were.
She turned back to the scenery, wondering if Jonas intended to come out and face her anytime soon.
As the thought went through her mind, the door on the other side of the room opened again and Diane returned, followed by Jonas and Rachel.
The director looked particularly sophisticated and handsome. His black hair had grown out a bit; his eerie swirling silver eyes seemed to see everything, know everything.
His smile was friendly and polite as he was introduced to her parents, then lit up with genuine fondness as Gypsy rose to her feet and accepted a quick hug from him.
“It’s good to see you again, Gypsy,” he said sincerely. “You need to visit more often.”