Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
"Mother," he noted and stepped back.
His mother turned her regal attention to me. Her gaze was thorough, my face, my hair, my clothes, down to my shoes. When her regard returned to my face again, there was a vaguely puzzled expression in them, as if she couldn’t understand how everything fit together.
"This is Lillian." He didn’t say anything else after that, and his mother didn't seem to expect anything else either.
She smiled at me. "I’m Marilyn, Maximus's mother, as you may have figured out."
Maximus, huh? "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Frost.”
She leaned forward as if what she was going to say next was confidential. “Please, call me Marilyn. Mrs. Frost makes me feel so ancient.” She drew back and chuckled.
"Let's all sit down," Mr. Frost said impatiently.
We sat down and his mother proceeded to ask him personal questions, the kind a mother would ask. I was now thoroughly confused. This was obviously a family dinner, so why had he asked me to come with him?
He didn't seem to care that I was present. In fact, they spoke as if I wasn't there at all. From their conversation, I gleaned that Mrs. Frost lived in Connecticut and was here in New York just visiting for a few days.
It was all very weird and the file felt heavy on my lap. One question kept running through my mind: Why on earth had he asked me out for dinner with his mother?
"I hope we're not boring you, my dear." His mother smiled at me and condescendingly patted my hand. "We like to catch up on gossip when we meet."
The waiter came and took our order for dinner.
“Pass me the file,” Mr. Frost instructed as soon as the waiter left.
Wordlessly I handed him the file and he eagerly opened it and began to look intently through it.
"Tell me about your family, Lillian," Mrs. Frost invited, her cold eyes curious.
I was taken aback. Why on earth did my boss's mother want to know about my family? I looked at him, but his gaze was firmly on the pages of the file.
I took a deep steadying breath and smiled politely. "Well, my family consists of my widowed mother and my older sister who is married with children."
"Oh, do they live here in New York?”
"Yes, we’re dyed-in-the-wool New Yorkers."
"Maybe one day you and Maximus will come back to Connecticut and raise a family there," she said.
My jaw almost dropped from shock, but before I could attempt to correct the error of her impression, Mr. Frost spoke up.
"Mother, leave Lillian alone. We barely know each other. You'll scare her off." Then he went back to his file.
I blinked with amazement. What the hell was going on?
Then I understood, or at least, I thought I did. He was quite happy for his mother to think we were romantically involved. Maybe she pestered him about getting married and having a family, or for being a workaholic with no intention of setting up a home any time soon. I could see that being the case, but…
A burning fury grew inside me.
Mr. Frost was using me! And that was not the worst of it, he had let me believe that this was a business meeting. What he really wanted was for me to keep his mother entertained and lie to her while he got on with his file.
I bit my lower lip to stop myself from saying anything rude and fisted my hands under the table. The horrible man could have been polite about it and asked me nicely if it was something that I wanted to do as it was not part of my job description.
The food came, smelling delicious. Mrs. Frost’s manicured fingers tore at the leaves of her artichoke with great appreciation, but I simply couldn't enjoy my meal.
I was seething.
All I could think about was the arrogance with which he'd told me to accompany him to dinner when all along he just wanted me to sit around appeasing his mother while he worked.
I couldn't wait for dinner to be over so that I could give him a piece of my mind. And then I remembered – I was supposed to last a whole month, not get fired on my first day.
Bite your tongue, Lillian.
Bite your wayward tongue.
Chapter 5
Max
When my mother excused herself and got up to go to the bathroom, I grunted and carried on reading.
A waiter came to our table and spoke to Lillian, “Is there something wrong with your dish, Miss?”
I looked up curiously. She had hardly eaten.
She raised her gaze to him. “The food is fine, thank you. It’s the company that’s a problem.”
The waiter’s eyebrows flew upwards. He glanced at me, then very wisely withdrew, without comment.
I was incensed.
Lillian turned her expressionless gaze to me as if daring me to say anything to her. I couldn’t believe her arrogance. I was so pissed off I was of the mind to fire her right then and there, but something stopped me.