TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 101

One hundred and one

Lisa

+15 Bgnus

My mom talked nonstop the entire ride back to the safe house, her voice filling the car. She kept turning her head toward the windows like she still couldn’t believe she could see, pointing out everything passing outside.

“Street signs. Look at that shop. Oh, the traffic lights are so bright. Even the cracks in the sidewalk. I forgot how sharp everything looks.” She leaned forward from the backseat, staring through the windshield.

Franklin chuckled from the driver’s seat, eyes still on the road. “I don’t even want to imagine how/blurry everything was.”

“Oh, it’s like coming to life again.”

When we got inside the house, she walked through the living room, touching things as she went. She ran het fingers over the sofa fabric and pulled the curtain aside to look at the stitching. She looked around the room with this quiet focus that made my chest tight.

“So what were you and Alpha Kieran talking about?”

She groaned. “Lisa, please don’t start.” She turned toward the window, but the corners of her mouth lifted.

“You know he cares about you, right? He didn’t have to come, but he did. And I saw you smiling at him.”

She shot me a look over her shoulder. “I smile at people all the time.”

“Not like that.”

She rubbed her palm over her arm and looked down.

I burst out laughing and wrapped my arms around her.

“Look at you blushing and falling in love.”

“Who is falling in love? Definitely not someone who is about to go headbutt with her soon-to-be ex-husband.’

She exhaled and met my eyes. “Everything is still messy inside.”

“Morn, that’s normal. You were with Dad for thirty years. You don’t reset overnight. Give Kieran a chance.”

She turned toward the table. “You really think someone like him would want something serious with a nobody like me?”

I dropped my head back with a groan. “He feels a bond with you. That’s more than enough. Promise me that when the divorce is finalized, you will give him a chance. Please, Mom. You need to find love again. You deserve it.

Her eyes filled, and she wiped them with the heel of her hand. “Should I even be crying when my eyes are still new? I better not spoil something.”

I laughed and hugged her again.

We spent the next few hours packing her things into her suitcase. I sat on the edge of the bed while she spread documents across the mattress and checked them again.

“Mom, you don’t need to check those again.”

“I do.” She kept scanning the pages. “Your father will try something. I know him.”

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beat and one

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That word landed badly. Father. It still felt shameful that my dad chose to ruin our family like this.

“I’ll be back soon.” She slid the papers into a folder and pressed it flat inside her bag.

“You’ll call me whenever you need to, before and after the hearing.”

She nodded.

“Will Franklin go with you?”

She shook her head. “Someone else will take me. He has to stay here with you.’

When it was time to go, I hugged her tight. “When you get there, don’t let Dad intimidate you. You need to speak up.”

She gave a firm nod. “He doesn’t intimidate me anymore.”

I nodded, even though doubt sat heavy in my chest.

She left that morning, and by afternoon I got ready for my first outing.

The same two vehicles from the hospital waited outside. The guards moved with the same efficiency.

“After you.” One guard opened the back door.

I slid into the seat and looked out the window as the gate opened and the car rolled forward onto the street. Tension hit me as the gates moved. Part of me felt safer with the guards. Another part hated that I needed them at all.

We drove through busy streets until the car stopped near the ice cream shop where I was meeting Sasha and Cora. The second vehicle parked behind us. One guard stepped out and opened my door again.

Sasha spotted me as I stepped out. Her eyes widened, then she burst out laughing as she walked toward me.

“Wow, look at you.” She walked around me, exaggerating the inspection. “Security convoy. Madam, are you a regional queen now?”

I rolled my eyes. “Shut up.”

She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “I feel like I should bow.”

“Don’t you dare.”

She laughed harder and hooked her hand through mine as we walked toward the entrance. “You look great, though. What have you been eating? Oh, and your pregnancy glow is blinding.”

I rolled my eyes again. “Can you stop teasing me?”

Inside, the shop smelled like sugar and waffle cones. Cold air hit my face from the freezer displays.

Cora rushed over from a table near the window, almost knocking into a chair. “Let me see you.” She grabbed my shoulders and looked me up and down. “Okay, this is insane. You disappeared and came back with bodyguards and a baby.”

Standing there with them, in a place that smelled like sugar and noise, felt unreal after weeks of isolation.

I rested a hand over my stomach without thinking. There was still nothing to feel, but the habit had already started.

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We walked to the counter, and I pressed my palms against the cold glass display, scanning the flavors like it was the most important decision of my life.

For the first time in days, I felt almost normal.

“I don’t think she’s going to come.” Sasha looked toward the door again. Her spoon sat untouched in her cup.

“Your ice cream is melting.” I pointed at it. “Cora is on her way. Perhaps it’s traffic.’

Her leg bounced under the table as she shoved the cup away, so I pulled it toward me and took a spoonful.

“How are you sure she’s the one? This could just be a passing infatuation. You know you get bored easily.”

“I know she is. We’ve never felt this way toward anyone before. Same way you have feelings for Cameron and you don’t want to admit it.”

“Sasha, stop. Cameron belongs to someone else. I’d be foolish to fall for him.”

“We’ll see about that.”

She tugged her earrings and made a face at me, then the bell over the door rang.

We both turned.

Cora stepped inside with her daughter’s hand in hers. Her posture changed when she spotted Sasha, her steps slowing like she hadn’t expected this.

Her daughter tugged her hand. “Mommy, ice cream.” The little girl bounced on her toes.

Cora walked toward us, her smile tight. “Hi.”

Sasha pushed up from her chair so hard it scraped against the floor. “Hey, Cora.”

Cora looked at me. “I didn’t know you were bringing her.”

“I thought the three of us should hang out. I’ve been stuck in that safe house for days. I hope that’s okay.”

She nodded, and I opened my arms toward the little girl. “Hi, princess. Do you remember me?”

She nodded. “You’re Lisa, my mommy’s friend. You gave me candy.”

I laughed. “That sounds like something I’d do.”

We ordered ice cream for Cora and her daughter, then sat back down. Cora and Sasha faced each other across the table, neither speaking. I stayed quiet. This wasn’t my conversation.

Sasha leaned forward. “Why did you say no?”

The bluntness of it hit hard.

“I told you I’m not ready.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Cora focused on opening the cup and handing her daughter the spoon.

“I just want to understand why you don’t want to give me a chance. We have great chemistry, and I want to know

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if there’s someone else.”

Cora looked up. “There is no one else.”

I watched her throat move.

“Look, my past isn’t simple. If people start asking questions about where I came from and what I did to survive, you will not hear anything nice about me, and I don’t want that attached to you.”

Sasha leaned closer. “I don’t care about that.”

“You say that now, but later when someone throws it in your face, when your family asks questions, when they look at me differently, I’ve lived that already. I won’t put you through it.”

Her hands tightened around the spoon.

“Stop deciding for me. You don’t get to do that.”

Cora shook her head and took another scoop. “You deserve someone better.”

“Bullshit,” Sasha snapped.

“Of course not.” I kept my voice low, hoping the little girl didn’t notice.

The little girl held up her spoon toward Sasha. “Taste.”

Sasha leaned over and took the bite, making a dramatic face. “Okay, yours is better than mine.”

The kid giggled and kicked her legs under the chair.

Sasha pressed her lips together and looked back at Cora. “I like you. I don’t need the perfect version of you. You, the one sitting here, are what I want.”

Cora looked at me, searching my face for confirmation. I shrugged.

She looked back at Sasha. “I’ve spent years surviving. I don’t even know how to do this. What if I ruin it?”

“Let’s take baby steps. That’s how relationships work.”

Cora wiped her daughter’s chin, the movement grounding her.

“You’re good with her,” Sasha said.

“She’s my whole life.”

She glanced at me again, still searching. I didn’t say anything.

Her shoulders dropped. “I need time.”

“You can have it. But I promise you… I’m not going anywhere.”

The words hit hard.

I wondered what it would feel like to have someone say that to me and mean it without complications. My mind went straight to Cameron before I could stop it.

The freezer hummed behind the counter, and someone dropped a metal scoop into a sink with a loud clatter.

“Progress.” I looked between them.

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Sasha shot me a glare. “Don’t start.”

I lifted my hands. “I’m just observing growth in the wild.”

Cora relaxed, and something warm settled in my chest as Sasha started talking with the little girl about school, toys, and her favorite flavors.

Watching them, I understood something I hadn’t before. Love wasn’t about being perfect. They were both scared, and they were still choosing each other.

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