Page 64 of The Friend Zone

“Mom!” Kristen stared at her, openmouthed.

I sat back in my chair and dragged a hand down my face. Well, Kristen’s bluntness was definitely hereditary.

Evelyn set her cup on the saucer and put her hands together. “Really, Kristen. We don’t need to play games. We’re all adults.” She gave me a disapproving glance. “I do hope this wasn’t the reason why Tyler decided to search for greener pastures, however. For once I thought you were on the right track.”

Kristen flushed again and my hackles came up. Was this lady for real?

“I didn’t have anything to do with him breaking up with her,” I said, feeling a little indignant. “And neither did she. It’s been hard on her, and I’m surprised you’re not more concerned about how she’s feeling at the moment.”

I felt Kristen’s wide eyes on the side of my face.

I went on. “And if you bothered to ask her, she’d tell you that he broke up with her in a voicemail like a coward.”

Maybe that would knock that joker off the pedestal Evelyn seemed to have him on.

Evelyn’s expression remained placid, and she didn’t get a chance to reply because the server came and started setting food down in front of us.

Kristen looked at her eggs with dismay. She was pretty picky about her food, and she got cranky when she didn’t eat. I got the feeling she’d muscle through this because her mom seemed to have some sort of mind control over her, but she’d hate it.

You know what? Fuck this.

I picked up her eggs Benedict and gave her my French toast. “Kristen doesn’t like her eggs like that,” I said to Evelyn, not even trying to mask my annoyance.

Kristen looked at me like I’d just given her one of my kidneys. I put a hand under the table and squeezed her knee.

Evelyn watched the whole thing with unmasked distaste.

I couldn’t fucking believe this was Kristen’s mom. How did this lady raise someone so cool? If it wasn’t for the uncanny family resemblance, I’d think this was some elaborate joke.

Evelyn draped a napkin over her lap. “Joshua, you might find my impatience with my daughter a little confusing. You haven’t known her very long. The thing that you don’t realize is that Kristen has a tendency to self-sabotage.”

“I highly doubt that,” I said, my jaw tight. It wasn’t her fault Tyler reenlisted.

She chuckled. “You would. But then you’re the most recent proof, aren’t you?”

Kristen’s fork hit the plate with a clatter. “I realize you’re disappointed that Tyler and I broke up,” she said with sudden vehemence. “But it is none of your business. Who I’m fucking is none of your business.”

Evelyn’s eyes smoldered. “Of course. Why would anything you do be my business? I raised you to be a prosperous person, poured myself into your development, and you’ve spent the last five years systematically undoing everything I instilled in you. First you stopped playing piano, turned your nose up at Juilliard. Then you walk away from Harvard so you can play house with Sloan. You discarded the elite college education I paid for by dropping out of law school to sell clothing for dogs…”

Piano? Law school??

Harvard???

Evelyn scowled. “Now you’ve botched the only relationship I’ve ever approved of. But of course, continue on, Kristen. See how far you can fall. You could have been making a respectable living, for God’s sake.”

I was beginning to lose my fucking cool. “She does make a respectable living,” I snapped. Shit, she made twice as much as I did, easily.

Evelyn sent me a cutting glare. “Our opinions on what constitutes a respectable occupation are likely very different, young man. And I’ll thank you to stay out of it.”

Like hell I’m staying out of it. “She started her own successful business from the ground up. She gets to be her own boss and she gets to do it from her living room. I’d think you’d be proud.”

“Yes, it’s not exactly a meth lab that I’m running, Mother,” Kristen said, smirking into her mimosa.

There’s my girl. I put a hand on her shoulder. “Well, no one’s saying you should give up your hobbies, honey bunny.”

Kristen choked and spit her drink back into her glass, and we both launched into laughter.

Steam came out of Evelyn’s ears and she glared at us. Kristen descended into a giggling fit, leaning into my shoulder.