Her Red-Carpet Romance Read Online Free Page B

anymore. Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, sounding as if she had been deeply wounded by this omission of information.
    â€œI didn’t want you to worry—or get upset,” Yohanna answered.
    That part was true, although there were many more reasons than that why she had kept the news to herself. Specifically, she didn’t want to have to fend off her mother’s offers for “help,” all of which revolved around getting her to move back home. She’d moved out once, but she had a feeling that next time would be a great deal more difficult.
    â€œYou didn’t want me to worry.” Elizabeth practically sneered at the words. “I’m your mother. It’s my job to worry about you. Now, I won’t take no for an answer. I’ll come over tomorrow morning to help you pack up your things and—”
    Her mother was more relentless than a class-five hurricane, Yohanna thought. But she was not about to throw up her hands and surrender.
    â€œI’m not selling the condo, Mother,” she began patiently.
    â€œAll right, rent it out, then,” her mother advised, frustrated. “That’ll help you cover the cost of the exorbitant mortgage until you’re about to get back on your feet again—”
    â€œMother, I
am
on my feet.”
    She heard her mother sigh again. This time, instead of sounding dramatic, there was pity in her mother’s voice.
    Irritating pity.
    â€œThere’s no need to put up a brave front, Yohanna. Lots of people lose their jobs these days. Of course, if you had married Alicia Connolly’s son, that nice young doctor, you wouldn’t be in this predicament, wondering where your next dollar is coming from.”
    Her mother was referring to a setup she’d had her hand in. As Yohanna recalled the entire excruciating event, it had truly been the blind date from hell as well as ultimately being the reason she had vowed to
never
allow her mother to set her up with a date again.
    â€œFor your information, Mother,” she said, enunciating each word so that her mother would absorb them, “I am
not
wondering where my next dollar is coming from.”
    â€œWell, then, you should be,” Elizabeth told her with more than a touch of indignation in her voice. “The bank isn’t going to let you slide because of your good looks, which, as you know, you’re not going to have forever,” she added, unable, apparently, to keep from twisting the knife a little bit. “Which reminds me. My friend Sheila has this nephew—”
    Although she was always somewhat reluctant to keep her mother in the loop—mainly because her mother always found something negative to say about the situation—Yohanna knew that the older woman was not about to stop trying to manipulate her life—big-time—unless she told her mother that she was once again gainfully employed.
    â€œMother, stop, please,” she pleaded. “I don’t need to move back into my room or to rent out my condo.”
    â€œOh, then, just what is your brilliant solution to your present problem?” Elizabeth asked.
    I’m talking to my present problem
, Yohanna thought.
    However, she kept that to herself, knowing that if she ever said those words or similar ones out loud, her mother would be beyond hurt. She couldn’t do that to the woman no matter how much her mother drove her up a wall.
    â€œI’ve got a job, Mother,” she told her.
    â€œHoney, I told you that you don’t need to pretend with me.” It was obvious by her tone of voice that her mother simply didn’t believe her.
    â€œI’m not pretending, Mother,” Yohanna answered, struggling to remain calm and clinging to what was left of her dwindling patience.
    â€œAll right.” She could all but see her mother crossing her arms in front of her, fully prepared to sit in judgment. “And just what is this ‘job’