Chapter 1We were supposed to meet his family. My mom showed up on a motorcycle. Blonde curls, ripped jeans, engine still going.
Jace took one look at her and dragged me aside.
"Remy, can you ask her to go home and change?"
The look on his face said everything. Disgust.
"You literally used to say you respected her. Said she raising me alone wasn't easy."
"That was the woman you TOLD me about. Not... THAT."
Then his girl Ava cut in.
"She's what, fifty? Trying to dress like she's twenty?"
"We're not exactly nobody in Newport. You really think your mom showing up like THIS is gonna fly at the same table as Jace's parents?"
Jace didn't stop her.
Turned to me. "Remy, she's not wrong. If you're serious about us, just this once—do this for me."
I looked at his face.
Actually laughed.
Poor guy had no idea WHO my mom was back in Miami.
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My mom lit a cigar right outside the door. Just standing there smoking, totally unbothered.
I thought she looked so cool.
Jace looked like he wanted to die.
Rushed her inside. Couldn't get her off the street fast enough.
The Whitmores had booked the big suite. I knew that.
My mom ended up in some tiny back room. Nobody even came to check on her.
Jace came over and handed me a bag.
"Got these from the boutique downstairs. They pulled her size. She's gonna love them."
I opened it.
Blazers. Wrap dresses. Stuff you'd wear to a job interview. Or a funeral.
My mom had never worn anything like that. Ever.
"Jace." I kept my voice even. "Is this about what she's wearing? Or is it about my family?"
He went red."Remy, come on—it's not like that. I'm fine with you. But my parents gotta be okay with this too—"
Something in my chest just... dropped.
"What if they actually like her? What if you're totally wrong about this?"
Ava laughed. "Oh my god. Are you serious right now? Your mom wouldn't even be in this hotel if it weren't for the Whitmore name."
Jace said nothing.
Yeah. That told me everything.
"She's different, okay? But she's also one of the most generous people I've ever met. Like genuinely."
Ava looked at me like I'd just said something stupid.
"Look, I'm just gonna say it—the way she showed up? People are gonna talk. And she's a single mom on top of that? You know how that looks for Jace?"
I turned to Jace. "You think that too?"
He looked at me, "Remy, we've been together five years. I've never asked you for a single thing. Just this once—one outfit. Why can't you just do that for me?"
"Because I love her. Exactly how she is."
If he actually loved me, he wouldn't be trying to turn her into someone else.
He shoved the bag back at me. "If she loves you, she'll do this. Just try, okay?"
His hands were warm. But I felt nothing.
I dropped the bag. "No. I'm not doing that to her."
Chapter 2
Jace made that face.
"Remy, you know how much I put into this? Five years. And you're gonna blow it over this?"
Okay, yeah. Five years. He'd been good to me.
Knew I grew up with just my mom. He used to hold me and say he'd give me everything I'd missed. Like he was gonna fix something.
But here's the thing—there was nothing to fix.
My mom had been there the whole time. Never left. There was no gap. That was just him not getting it.
"Jace, even if she changes tonight—what happens next time? And the time after that? She's just supposed to keep pretending every time she's around your family?"
You can't build something real on that. It falls apart eventually. It always does.
He was out of patience. "So you'd rather lose us than just try?"
"If your parents can't deal with her, then honestly? Maybe we're not that right for each other."
That pissed him off.
"Our families aren't on the same level, Remy—I'm not trying to be a jerk about it, I'm just saying I've been busting my ass to make this work. For us. Because I love you."
That's when I got it.
He was always gonna look down on me.
Didn't matter that I had a better degree than him. Didn't matter that I made it to equity in five years on my own.
My mom was a single mom with no job. That was enough for him to decide I wasn't good enough.
He didn't even notice what she pulled up on—a custom motorcycle. One of three ever made.
"You know what, I think there's a gap too," my mom said.
Leaning in the doorway. Sunglasses on. Not moving.
"Your parents probably dress real nice. I'm just not into all that." She checked her watch. "Five minutes. Go tell them to change."
Jace actually laughed. Like she was kidding.
"Ma'am, my family built Whitmore Tech. In Newport, we're—"
"Don't care. Go change." She tapped her watch. "Four minutes."
Nobody had ever talked to Jace like that.
He looked at me. "So this is really how you wanna do this?"
Then Ava cut in.
"Lady, your daughter has been with Jace for five years. You really wanna blow that up today?"
"Everybody here knows she jumped into a frozen lake for him. That's how far gone she was."
That part was true.
Jace's sister had passed away. Her locket fell off the dock into the ice that winter. Jace can't swim and he was losing it.
I thought about my mom.
How she used to stay up late with my dad's old watch. Just sitting there with it. Not saying anything.
And I jumped.
Got the locket back. Spent a week in the hospital with a fever.
My mom didn't say a word when she heard that. I knew she felt bad for me.
She took her sunglasses off and walked over to me. "You want me to change? I'll do it."
"No."
I meant it.
There are things I'll do for people I love. My mom isn't one of them.
Ava stared at me. "Then she's not getting in."
Jace didn't say anything.
My stomach dropped.
"Then we're not going in."
Jace backed off.
Stopped pushing my mom to change her clothes.
He just found someone else to be her instead.
Chapter 3
"Come on, your mom's already in the suite—let's go."
Jace grabbed my hand and pulled me inside.
The room was packed. Everyone looked expensive. My mom wasn't there.
Ava smirked. "There she is."
Some woman stood up and smiled at me.
Pearls. Blazer. Mid-fifties.
"Remy, come sit down, sweetie."
I looked at Jace.
He said it like it made total sense—he'd hired her. An actress. Just for tonight. Just to get through dinner.
"So where's my actual mom?"
"Next door. She's having coffee. She's fine."
He squeezed my hand and pushed me into a chair. "Just go with it, okay? This is for us."
"And after we're married?" I said. "What then?"
"We just say she moved overseas. That she's not coming back."
He'd already figured all of it out.
Wanted me to cut her off. For good.
My eyes stung. "She only has me."
"We'll send her money. She'll be taken care of. It's not like you'd never talk to her—just not as much."
"You're saying I can't see her?"
"Better if you don't. Keeps the story clean."
"And when we have kids—I just don't want them around her vibe. You get what I'm saying?"
I actually laughed.
Seriously, who did this guy think he was?
I started to stand up. Ava grabbed my shoulder.
"Remy, don't. Jace's uncle flew in from Miami for this. Your mom wouldn't budge, so we had to do something. You tank this right now, that door is closed. For good."
That door was never gonna open for my mom anyway.
Yeah. I was done.
I stood up. "Where is she?"
Nobody said anything.
"Pay her and let her leave. She didn't do anything."
Jace saw it was over. Face went stiff.
Ava walked the woman out, shot back a "you're gonna regret this" on her way.
I looked at Jace. "Where's my mom?"
Because I knew her.
No way she was just sitting next door having coffee while some random woman pretended to be her.
Then I heard it—shouting in the hallway.
I ran out.
Jace's mom Diane was standing there pointing at my mom, looking completely disgusted.
"I don't know how you got in here. This is a private event." She looked her up and down. "Get out. Now."
Five or six staff members came in, grabbing at my mom. Trying to push her toward the exit.
Her sunglasses got knocked off. Someone stepped right on them.
I pushed forward. Jace grabbed me.
"Remy—don't. If my mom figures out she's yours, we're done. I mean it."
I slapped him across the face.
"THAT'S MY MOM!"
I shoved past everyone and got to her. Stood right in front of her.
Her hair was everywhere. She was pissed. "Who the hell locked me in that bathroom?"
I looked over at Jace.
That was what he'd set up for her.
"I was in there yelling and nobody showed up," she said.
"So I kicked the door open—hit someone on the other side, I said sorry, but she just wouldn't drop it. Claimed I messed up her bag."
"I looked at it—it's a Birkin, barely even a mark on it—so I wrote her a check right there, and now she's trying to kick me out?"
Diane laughed. Short. Sharp.
"A check. Sweetie, that bag costs more than you probably see in a year. You think I'm taking a check from you?"
She pulled herself up straight.
"Today's a big day for my son. I don't have time for this. But if you're not gone in the next two minutes, I'm calling security."
Jace stepped in. "Mom. Stop. She's Remy's mom."
