Page 6 of Rejected Heart (The Westwoods #5)

I desperately wanted to go with him.

But he’d said it was formal. I wasn’t sure if I had something nice enough to attend the party in. I’d have to ask my mom what she thought.

“Oh, Liam. I’d love to go. It sounds wonderful. But I need to check that it’s okay with my mom first.”

“Of course. There’s still plenty of time, so it’s not like I need an answer immediately.”

If I couldn’t go, would he ask someone else? My heart squeezed at the thought, but I refused to bring up my worst fears about it to him.

“I’ll talk to her tonight and let you know tomorrow, if that’s okay.”

“Tomorrow is fine. I really hope you can come. I’ve never asked anyone to go with me, so you’d be the first. And I think you’ll have a good time.

There’s food, music, dancing, and lots of people celebrating the holiday.

I’ve had fun when I’ve been there on my own, so if we’re there together, I think it’ll be a blast.”

I didn’t know how he did it, but Liam seemed to know just what I needed to hear that would make me feel special. He was the best.

I talked to him for a few more minutes, but since I was so eager to find out if I could go, I didn’t linger on the call with him for much longer.

After ending my call with Liam, I went downstairs and found my mom on the couch, watching television .

She turned the volume down and immediately focused all her attention on me. “Everything okay?”

I nodded and sat down on the loveseat opposite her. “Yes. What did you want to talk to me about?”

Her features softened. “I’ve tried being patient and giving you time to figure things out, but I guess I’m too nosy. I was wondering about this boy who called. Is he the one you went to the pumpkin patch with? Who is he, and is he only a friend?”

No matter how much she trusted me, my mom was eventually going to want some answers. “His name is Liam. And yes, he’s only a friend.”

“Oh. Okay. He’s never called here before, so I was thinking that maybe I had missed something.”

Without thinking, I quickly corrected her. “Liam calls here all the time. It’s just that he usually does it right after school, when you’re still at the shop.”

My mom’s brows shot up. “I didn’t know that.”

There was nothing in her tone that indicated she was upset. If anything, I sensed a bit of excitement there. Realizing I could possibly make her even happier, I shared, “He called me tonight, because he wanted to ask me to attend his family’s Christmas party with him.”

“Oh, Layla, that sounds wonderful. When and where is the party?”

“It’s the Saturday before Christmas, and it’s at The Westwood Hotel.”

She smiled brightly at me. “It sounds fancy.”

I nodded. “Yes, Liam said his family does this every year. It’s a corporate event, I guess, and it’s formal. ”

“This boy is your age, right?”

“He just turned fifteen.” I’d been upset when I learned about his October 28 th birthday after the fact. Not that I had any money to get him something extravagant, but I could have brainstormed and come up with an idea to make him feel as special as he’d made me feel recently.

She inclined her head with understanding. “I’m happy that you’ve got a friend, but I guess I’m curious why a fifteen-year-old is going to a corporate Christmas party. Doesn’t that seem odd to you?”

I hadn’t even thought about that being the case, but now that she mentioned it, I guess it was a bit strange.

Of course, she didn’t seem to understand the full scope of the situation.

“Well, it is a family business, and since Liam does work at Westwood’s in the summer, he is not only part of the family, but he’s part of the team. ”

The light switch seemed to flip on in her head. “Wait. Am I understanding this correctly? Is Liam a Westwood?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that changes things, doesn’t it?”

I wasn’t quite sure I understood why that would be the case. “I don’t know. Does it?”

“Of course. You said it was a formal event, but I didn’t realize it was that level of formal. You have dresses in your closet, but I’m not sure any of them will do for a party I suspect they’d be hosting there.”

Although there was nothing in her tone to indicate this would be a problem, I still wanted my mom to have a way out of it.

“I realize things are tight, so I didn’t accept the invitation yet.

I told Liam that I’d need to check to make sure it was okay with you.

I don’t have to tell him the truth about not having anything appropriate to wear.

I can simply tell him we have holiday plans already. ”

I didn’t want my mom to feel embarrassed about anything—she’d been doing the best she could for both of us all on her own. At the same time, I didn’t want Liam to be disappointed. And I suspected he’d be less likely to feel that way if he believed we had a prior engagement.

“Do you want to go?”

My gaze dropped to my lap. I desperately wanted to go. “I understand it’s a lot.”

“That’s not what I asked you. Do you want to go? Have you enjoyed spending time with Liam?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

Her mouth curved into a smile, and the approval was written all over her face. “Then we’ll go out this weekend to look for a dress.”

“But can we?—”

“If you don’t think I haven’t been setting money aside whenever we have extra, you’re mistaken,” she shared. “Life hasn’t exactly turned out the way I expected or hoped it would, but that doesn’t mean I can’t pay to buy my daughter a dress to wear to a Christmas party. We’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure?”

Sad eyes and a sorrowful expression were sent my way.

“I hate that the hand we were dealt has led to you feeling the need to worry about things like this. So much of what we’ve endured isn’t what I ever envisioned for you.

Even if I didn’t have a penny saved yet, I would find a way to make sure you could attend this party.

You deserve to go, Layla. I want you to go and have a wonderful time. ”

I had the best, most hard-working mom in the world. We didn’t have a lot, but she made sure we had everything we needed.

I stood, moved to the couch, and sat down right beside her. Wrapping my arms around her, feeling moved by the fortune I experienced at having her as my mother, my throat was tight when I spoke. “Thanks, Mom.”

She hugged me back tightly. “There’s no need for thanks. Nobody deserves to have a night of fun and glamour more than you.”

I pulled my head back, allowing my eyes to search her face. “You do.”

Brushing a lock of my hair from my face, she insisted, “I did. Many years ago, I had precisely that.”

A wave of respect for my mom washed over me.

She didn’t have to give more details for me to know she was talking about my father.

I’d gotten bits and pieces of them over the years whenever I asked about him, and my mom willingly shared.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that he wasn’t here with us now, I never would have known that my mom’s heart had ever been broken, because she never spoke badly about him.

She told me whatever I wanted to know, and she did it without any malice in her heart.

Sometimes, I wondered how she did it.

I missed him, and I didn’t know him the way she had .

She might not have ever said one horrible thing about him, but her eyes got this look whenever she was thinking about him. Like she’d loved and lost everything. Like she didn’t understand where she went wrong.

Despite how deep that devastation ran for her, she always put me first. And that made me appreciate her even more.

“I love you, Mom.”

“Oh, honey, I love you, too.”

The two of us stayed like that for a while, falling into a quiet comfort as we shifted our attention to the television. Eventually, my eyelids got heavy, and I drifted.

But I did it feeling grateful for the mom I had and excited for the night out with Liam. It would truly be the best Christmas present.