Page 77 of My Downfall

“I’d like to talk to you about, Mia. Can I come in?” She steps to the side as she holds the door open for me.

“You’re not any relation totheDavenports, are you?“ I nod as I walk through the door and her face flushes with excitement. “How is it you know my daughter?”

“She’s my fiancée.”

“I beg your pardon?”

This should be fun.

***

I sip iced tea in the formal living room of the house Mia grew up in like this is any normal summer afternoon. Mia’s mother sits opposite me grinning like the cat that caught the canary. Everything Mia has told me about her mother over the last few weeks has been cemented in the last couple of minutes. She’s the ultimate gold digger, the complete opposite of the perfect daughter she managed to raise.

I thought this meeting would be difficult, that I’d have to convince her our relationship is real and we’re not rushing anything. She’s never met me before and I’ve just told her I’m marrying her daughter this Saturday; most parents would show me the door. But this woman, my future mother-in-law, couldn’t be happier. I can practically see the dollar signs flashing behind her eyes.

“I always worried that Mia wouldn’t find herself a man.”

Her daughter is only twenty-two, I don’t think that’s anything she needed to worry about.

“Mia is career driven; it’s one of the many things I love about her.”

“Oh, of course, but I think she’ll like the home life with you so much more.”

“Mia will continue her degree, and I’ll fully support any career she chooses, in fact, I’ll encourage it.”I think this woman was born in the wrong century.

“Of course.” She nods like she’s agreeing with me, but her pursed lips and pinched brow let me know it’s not the outcome she was hoping for. “I just hope she has time to give me grandchildren with all of these extracurricular activities.”

Extracurricular activities? Did she honestly just refer to her daughter’s MBA and potential high-flying career as extracurricular?

Christ, I need to get out of here before I say something I can’t take back.

“I would like to think that we’ll have children when we’re both ready, but that’s a decision that Mia and I will be making together.”There’s no way I’m letting this woman know I plan on knocking her daughter up the first chance I get.“Now, is there anything you wanted to suggest for the wedding?”

“Oh,” she gushes. “Let me just get my notes.”

Oh, fuck no.

Chapter Forty-two

Mia

We did it.

In five days, the girls and I have managed to pull off planning a wedding that should have taken months. Hudson’s house and deck are covered in white blooms. The place looks stunning.

So do my girls.

Each one of them has a black, sleeveless, sweetheart neck jumpsuit on, and a bouquet of white hydrangeas.

My mom has just left the room, and there’re only minutes until I walk down the aisle. She might have been shocked about the wedding, but she’s put up absolutely no complaints, I am after all marrying a Davenport. It’s all her dreams come true.

“I couldn’t have done this without you,” I murmur as I look at my best friends’ smiling faces.

“As if we would have let you.”

“The fabulous four, darlings.”

“And we are looking fabulous,” Ava murmurs.