Unapologetically, Juliet

Chapter One

WHEN it came to my relationship with my mom, I had four strikes against me.

I was 83% tomboy, the most graceless person on the planet (or at least that she'd ever met), godless, and lastly, I really didn't care about food. I was a quadruple whammy that way. In my twenty-two years on the earth, I'd gotten used to being exactly the opposite of what she'd wanted.

But that didn't stop her from trying to change me.

Which was also the reason why, on a crisp afternoon in early October, she burst into the office of the nonprofit I worked at and practically scared the piss out of the old secretary that manned the front desk. Martha didn't scare easily, either. My mom just sometimes had that effect on people.

"Uhm... Jules...?" I knew just by the sound of her voice when I picked up my extension what was happening.

"You can send her back, Martha. It's okay." I was caught between wanting to smile and wanting to bang my head against my desk repeatedly.

"You sure you don't want me to call Jamal and have him extract her for ya?"

I laughed at the incredulity in her voice. "I'm pretty sure Jamal would mind. He likes her."

Martha grumbled something incoherently, but I heard her give my mom permission to head back to my office. "Just don't say I didn't warn ya, kid. It looks like she's up to something today." I laughed again as she hung up, and the flimsy wooden door in front of me burst open.

I tried not to jump, but I did anyway, especially when I saw the particularly determined look in my mom's eyes. She had two sacks of groceries slung over her arm and a greasy paper bag with what smelled like fast food dangling from her fingertips.

Plopping in the rarely used chair in front of me, she dropped the grocery bags on the floor and carefully placed the junk food on my desk. She moved things around a little and started pulling paper plates and plastic ware from some unknown spot.

"Oh, uhm... Hey, Mom. I didn't know you were stopping by?" I finally said, after the initial shock of seeing her wore off a little. Mostly, because I'd purposefully moved about four hours away on the other side of the state from her.

She waved her hand at me a little. "It was nothing. I'm in town doing a lecture at Pierce's university and I thought it'd be fun to surprise you. Oh, and I also stopped by your apartment on the way here." The stern look on her face had me choking on air. "There is absolutely no food worth eating in that place. I swear, Juliet Grace, I don't have any idea how you've survived this long without me." I wanted to roll my eyes but I didn't.

"I only ran out yesterday..." I tried to say, but I could almost bet she hadn't heard a word.

"Stand up and turn around, let me see you." Her demands were accompanied by that severe look she always shot me from behind her sleek, fashionable, glasses. Every time I saw her she wore a new pair that was more elegant than the last. That's right, she made glasses look elegant, while they made me look like a snot-nosed nerd. I generally opted for contacts because of that.

Slowly, feeling like a teenager again, I stood up and turned around for my scrutinizing mother. Diana Archer was the most demanding and intense person I'd ever met. Which was definitely saying something, because I worked at a nonprofit helping bring language to deaf children all over the world, and my primary job was squeezing every cent of money I could out of eccentric rich people.

"I knew you weren't eating enough. Chance sent me a picture he took of you last week. You must've lost ten pounds since I saw you a month ago." Sitting down, I felt her watching every move I made as I picked up a fry and started nibbling like a mouse. "I'm serious about this, Juliet. If you don't get your act together..."