Reluctantly in Love by Niecey Roy Page B

pictured my mother’s jaw hanging wide.
    She gasped. “That is tacky.”
    “Cute and tacky.”
    “She is always trying to outdo me. I’m so sick of it.”
    “I don’t know where you two find the money to compete when you have a shopping problem and Aunt Maria has a gambling problem.”
    “That is no way to talk to your mother.” She sniffed. “I born you.”
    Whenever she got worked up, her accent thickened.
    “Yeah, yeah,” I said with a grin. “But that doesn’t change the fact you shop too much.”
    My mother had a spending habit to rival both the royals and the United States government. I sometimes wondered if that hadn’t been a big issue between her and my dad.
    “So how’s everyone?” I asked. My stomach grumbled. I hadn’t eaten since supper last night.
    “Your cousin is getting married.”
    I straightened, wondering if I’d heard her right. “What?”
    “Your cousin is getting married,” my mother repeated.
    “Lucky didn’t say anything to me. I just talked to her a couple of days ago.” With the phone to my ear, I left the office and trudged to the kitchen. Maybe I’d have a banana and a glass of milk
    “You called your cousin and you didn’t call me?” Her annoyance was loud and clear through the phone.
    The light from the refrigerator was bright when I opened the door, and I squinted. “I had to ask her a question.” No milk. I shut the door and collapsed into a chair at the table. “I wonder why she didn’t tell me she’s engaged. I haven’t even met her boyfriend.”
    “It’s because you don’t care about us. A year, Roxanna. That’s how long it’s been since you visited.”
    Another one of my mother’s guilt trips. “Yeah, yeah. I do work, you know. You’re the one who travels all over the world. You could fit in a visit to your only daughter.”
    “How is the writing? When will your book be in a store so I can show my friends? None of them believe you’re published.”
    My mother hadn’t grasped the concept that finding an agent to push my novels wasn’t the same as having a publishing contract. She assumed I would be a renowned author any day now. My dad, however, didn’t think of it as any more than a hobby. I was dead set on proving how wrong he was. I hadn’t told them I had an offer already, because all they’d hear were the contingencies, which I hadn’t met yet. After last night, though, I had hope again. A week of writing like last night, and I’d have those chapters to send to my agent.
    It was easiest for me just to tell my mother soon when it came to my writing. It was what she wanted to hear anyway, no matter what the truth was.
    “I’ll let you know as soon as my agent lets me know. Can you tell Lucky to call me?”
    My cousin hated her name. Her mom thought it was cute, and due to the culture disconnect, she didn’t understand that throwing a pretty Asian girl into the snake pit of teenager-dom with the name Lucky was like signing her prison sentence. My cousin had spent most of her teenage years being teased endlessly by the mean girls at school. She had a variety of eccentricities, all of which had been the inspiration for the paranormal series I now wrote.
    “I’m not sure she’ll have time to call you. She’s always with that boy. ”
    My mother and aunt didn’t approve of Lucky’s boyfriend. Mostly because he wasn’t rich. I wasn’t sure why neither of them believed their daughters were capable of taking care of themselves. Lucky didn’t share my aversion to marriage, so one day she’d find The One, get married, settle down, and give her mom grandbabies. The fact that I had no interest in marriage and having kids gave my mother anxiety and heartburn. I’d never tell her that hearing her and dad fighting every night for years, and then listening to her cry every night for months after he left, had scarred me.
    “There’s nothing wrong with Tyler.”
    “He doesn’t work. How will he buy her a house?”
    “He does work.