Free Love in a Small Town (Pine Harbour Book 1) by Zoe York Page A

starting anew with Liv would also have to be repairing his relationship with his mother, because eventually he was going to have to ask her to be nice to his wife. So without a plan but with a clear mission, he headed over to his parents’ house a few days later, when he knew Dani had an evening shift. The last thing he needed was to have mother and daughter picking sides and hollering at each other over his head. Besides, he wasn’t going to dive right into the Liv conversation. That could come later.
    Unfortunately, his mother did not get that memo. He found her in the kitchen baking bread. She barely let him sit down before serving the first volley. “According to Toni Ross, you were seen leaving your former residence at four in the morning on Sunday.”
    “Is that right?” Rafe couldn’t care less what the uptight shrew across the road from Olivia thought of his comings and goings. For that matter, he didn’t really care what his mother thought either. He didn’t bother to set the record straight that he’d just walked Liv to her door, and it was closer to midnight than four a.m.—and Dean had been sitting in the truck the whole time. She wouldn’t believe him.
    “It’s not the first talk of a reunion that I’ve heard about.”
    “We’re not reuniting, Ma.” Not yet. They were just…rediscovering each other. Maybe. Liv still hadn’t given him a clear answer on if she’d be at the stag and doe. The next time he saw her, he was going to get her to say yes.
    “So if someone said they saw you kissing in the woods behind the diner?”
    It would, strictly speaking, be a lie. “I haven’t kissed Olivia in two years.” She kissed me a week ago, but I kept my hands mostly to myself . 
    “That city girl has you wrapped around her finger, Rafe. It’s not healthy.”
    “Ma, you can’t talk about Liv that way.”
    “I’m your mother. I can talk about whatever I want.”
    “Not if you want me to listen.” He shook his head. “You’re the only person who never welcomed her to Pine Harbour.”
    “I gave her a job!”
    “So you could keep her close and monitor her every activity.”
    She gasped. “Rafaelo, that’s not true.”
    “No?” He stood up and grabbed his jacket.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Something I should have done two years ago. Setting some boundaries.”
    “This isn’t very mature.” Her voice slithered under his skin, the reproach making him doubt himself for a second before she made his point for him. “Besides, she never embraced our family.”
    “Why was it her job to build the bridge?” She didn’t have an answer for that. Obviously didn’t think she needed one, because she waited until he winced in apology. “I’m sorry, Ma. Look, I need you to dial it back. I’d prefer if you actually tried to make an effort to like her—”
    She sniffed. “I don’t know where you got the idea that I hate her. I don’t, you know.”
    “It never felt like that to Liv.” He took a deep breath. “It doesn’t feel like that to me, either, I gotta tell you. Maybe if I’d said something early on, Liv wouldn’t have left me.”
    Silence was rare in the Minelli household, but it was never a good thing. This was no exception. His mother’s back stiffened and she resumed her kneading, this time without the commentary on his life. Which is what he wanted. Too bad thirty-one years of conditioning had trained him to feel badly for hurting her feelings.
    “Ma…”
    “Don’t Ma me, Rafe.” Her voice was cold and stiff. 
    “Maybe this isn’t an all-in-one-day kind of conversation.” He waited for her to say something, anything, but she’d returned to the silent treatment. He thought about getting up and leaving but that didn’t help Liv at all. Or himself. “Ma, I’ve missed feeling welcome here.”
    “You’re always welcome. You should have moved here instead of that stupid apartment. Then maybe you wouldn’t feel like a stranger in your parents’ home.”
    “I