Unable to hold it in any longer, I grinned at him. His mother was priceless; she was obviously very happy to see him, and I loved that about her. I never warmed to people this quick but she had a special kind of something that had touched me.

Nash narrowed his eyes on me. “Why are you grinning like an idiot?”

“Your mum has you, doesn’t she?”

“She has me where, babe?”

I grinned even harder and leant into him before saying, “I’ve never seen a woman have any say in your life, Nash, but your mum does, doesn’t she?”

A lazy smile formed on his lips. “A man owes a lot to his mother, sweet thing, so yeah, as you say, she has me.”

We were caught up in each other until his mother cut in. “Nash, off you go. I want some time with Velvet.”

He shook his head in amusement. Before he left he whispered in my ear, “Don’t let her talk you into anything, okay?”

“I’m thinking that your mum could talk anyone into anything,” I murmured.

“She fuckin’ could,” he muttered as he left us alone.

Linda watched him go and then she smiled at me again. “Are you a coffee or a tea girl?”

“Coffee, please.”

She nodded and then set to work making it. “It’s great to finally meet you,” she said, surprising the hell out of me. Finally?

“Umm, yeah, you too,” I stuttered, not really sure what to say because it wasn’t like I knew much about her. Nash didn’t often talk about his family. All I knew was that he had a couple of sisters who sometimes did his head in.

“Nash has talked about you a couple of times.” She continued to stun me, and I stood speechless because I didn’t know what to say to that.

Linda didn’t need me to be involved in the conversation to keep going. “Nash hasn’t mentioned any other woman since Gabriella so I figured you must mean something to him.” She paused and pinned her gaze on me before saying, “Something special that is.”

Gabriella? I had no idea who that was; Nash hardly ever talked to me about any of the women in his life. He’d once mentioned a woman trashing his heart, and I considered whether that could be who his mother was talking about.

“Velvet, did you hear what I said?” His mother was watching me carefully.

I did hear what she said but I’d been focusing on the part about Gabriella rather than on the part about me being something special to Nash. “I’m not special to Nash,” I eventually said.

Her lips pressed together and she made a funny face at what I’d said. “I beg to differ, honey.”

It felt like I was being bombarded from all directions this morning. For a start, Nash had changed towards me and was being nice, and now his mother was throwing ideas out that made no sense to me. And on top of that, I’d learnt something about Nash; he’d had a woman in his life called Gabriella. I would never have picked that; he seemed hell bent on avoiding relationships.

His mother was waiting for me to say something. “We’re friends,” was all I could muster.

She pulled a face that I assumed meant something like ‘sure, if you say so’, and then finished making coffees. She brought them to the table and indicated for me to take a seat. “Nash, coffee’s ready,” she yelled out.

He didn’t reply but I figured he would have heard her as she yelled so loud. It reminded me of the way parents yelled out when they had a tribe in the house and needed to be heard.

“So, tell me about yourself, honey. What do you do for work?”

I just about spat my coffee out. That question was always a make or break question for my friendships. A lot of people struggled with the idea that someone would choose to be a stripper. However, I loved my job and had no qualms telling people what I did; it was up to them what they did with the information. And, if they were the kind of person to judge someone based on their profession, I’d rather not have them in my life anyway. “I’m a stripper at Indigo.”

She didn’t even blink. “How long have you been working at the club?”

“Just over four years now.”

“So that’s where you met Nash?”

I nodded. “Yeah. He used to sit and talk with me after my shift some nights. He was different to the other guys there.”

“What do you mean?”

“Most guys just wanted one thing from me; they assume that if you’re a stripper you must be up for anything. Nash never did that.” I smiled and then added, “Well, your son is a huge flirt, but he never assumed anything about me and I loved that about him.”

“You said that he used to sit with you. Doesn’t he do that anymore?”

Damn, his mother didn’t miss anything. “No, he’s drifted away from me a bit lately.”

Her face softened and she looked sad. “It’s not just you that he’s drifted from lately, honey,” she said softly, “He’s going through some stuff at the moment and he’s taking it out on everyone he loves.”

“Oh.” What did someone say to that? This visit had been very enlightening but at the same time, I had more questions now than when I’d stepped foot in this house.

“Please give him some time to sort himself out. He’ll push you away because that’s how Nash deals with his pain, but please promise me you won’t let him.”

“Linda, I’ve gotta be honest with you; this has been going on with Nash for awhile now. I’ve tried to be there for him but he’s made it really clear he doesn’t want me in his life. I’m not sure what else I can do.”