Chapter 10
The one thing I hadn’t accounted for in going away to New York was the fact that it was the twins’ second birthday next week.
Katy and Bryce were having a big party, and Katy was going to be pissed with me.
I called to deliver the news as soon as I got the flight and hotel confirmed by my new Voss PA.
“But you’re their godmother, Pops!”
She and Margot were the only people in the world allowed to call me that. “And as their godmother, I will bring them back the best gifts from New York.” How could I sweeten the deal? “Plus, I’ll babysit so you and Bryce can have a night out, too.” Surely that would do it.
There was a pause on the end of the line. “I guess that would work. So long as you throw in a gift for me from New York, too.”
I laughed. Maybe I should hire my sister to work with me. She was a skilled negotiator.
“Done deal.”
“But let’s circle back to the facts of this. You’re going to New York with Eliza?” Katy’s tone was sharp, surprised. “I’m pretty sure the last time you said her name, it was laced with venom.”
I waved a hand even though she couldn’t see it. “Water under the bridge.”
Katy didn’t need to know my fears about Eliza, because neither of us could do anything about them. I had to trust Eliza, or this was never going to work.
“As long as you mean that. But even with Eliza’s help, this is a tall order. Give it your best shot, and whatever happens, at least you tried. You don’t owe me and the girls anything. Our family is way more than Voss Watches.”
Sometimes, Katy channelled so much of our dead grandma, it made me forget to breathe. That’s exactly what she would have said. Mum, on the other hand, would have told me to go in all guns blazing and not to leave until the deal was done.
“I know that.”
Another pause. “For the record, Eliza has never been the villain you made her out to be. You needed someone to blame for everything, and she was a convenient stooge. She went off to college and you were 14. She’s allowed to ignore you for a bit. It was never the crime of the century.”
“Whatever. We’re friends again now.”
“Right.” Katy cleared her throat. “She broke up with her wife, right?”
But she’s still sleeping with her. “She did.”
“Sad for her. Interesting for you.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Oh come on. Isn’t there a reason you had beef with her all this time? If you hate someone that much, there’s usually some underlying reason. Like, maybe, that you like them?”
I hated when she was that perceptive.
“Not everything comes down to sex. You’ve been watching too much Grey’s Anatomy.”
“True. But certain things do.” I could almost hear her grin down the phone. “Plus, wouldn’t it be nice to meet someone?”
“Not this someone. I have issues with her, remember? Plus, no distractions. I’m not even starting anything new on Netflix. I’m following everything that Roka does on her socials. I’m watching all our competitors and influencers. I’ve got spreadsheets coming out of my ears.”
“I seem to recall you telling me that you weren’t going to become obsessive and block out everything else in your life for the sake of the business like Mum did. You’re missing the twins’ birthday, and you’re cutting off parts of your life. This sounds precisely the opposite.”
It wasn’t the same at all. This was short-term pain for long-term gain.
“I’m not going down the same path. As soon as I’ve secured the company, I’ll take my foot off the gas. But for now, nothing can distract me.”
I changed the subject before she could respond.
“But before I go to New York, can you tell me about your meetings with Sage?”
“What do you want to know?”
“How long you’ve been chatting to Mum without telling me?”
She paused before she replied. “Why would I mention it? You’d just tell me I’m throwing money down the drain.”
I cringed. That is what I might have said.
“What does Bryce think?”
There was a longer pause. “He doesn’t know. He thinks I’m at yoga. I know he’d have the same tone as you. But I don’t care. She’s told me things she had no way of knowing.”
“She has the internet.”
Katy growled down the phone. “Thanks for illustrating my point. I know she has the internet, but there are things the internet doesn’t know — couldn’t know — that Sage has told me.”
I thought about Gran’s scone recipe, and Mum telling Sage about missing my school pantomime. I knew she was telling the truth. But I wasn’t ready to share or believe it quite yet. I needed a little more hard evidence.
“Like what?”
“Sage said Gran kept calling me ‘her little piglet’ and laughing about how I used to snort when I was a baby. Nobody outside the family ever knew Gran called me that. It wasn’t something we ever talked about with friends or posted anywhere.”
I swallowed that one down. “Even I don’t remember Gran calling you that.”
“It was before you were born, and luckily I grew out of the snorting thing. She also said Mum was really proud of how good a mother I was. Better than she was.”
“Successful businesswoman isn’t the best mother, shocker. Even I could have magicked that one up.”
“Yes, but she also said that Mum was tapping her Montblanc pen.”
Something cold settled in my stomach. Sage had brought up the Montblanc pen when we’d spoken. I’d forgotten how much Mum loved that thing. She’d carried it everywhere, claimed it was her lucky charm, never signed anything important with anything else.
“It could be a lucky guess.” But that wasn’t what my stomach said. “Successful people often have favourite pens, it’s not that unusual.”
But even as I spoke, I could hear how thin it sounded. A Montblanc, specifically?
“I thought that. But then she mentioned about the red chair in Mum’s office. The one she loved to sit in.” Katy’s voice was gentle but pointed. “Come on, Pops. What are the odds she’d pick that exact detail?”
I rubbed my temples, feeling the beginnings of a headache.
Because Katy was right: what were the odds?
However, acknowledging that meant accepting something I’d spent my entire adult life dismissing.
It also meant I might need to listen to what Sage and Mum were saying.
Could Sage help me stop Margot selling the company?
Could she tell me what Mum thought about it all?
“I have to meet with her again,” I blurted.
“Sage?”
“Yeah. Mum might have some advice that I haven’t thought about yet. Some words of wisdom.” I paused. “And I need to buy a Montblanc pen.”
“You can have Mum’s.”
“I said I’d do things my way, which means I need my own pen.”
“It’s just sitting in my drawer, but suit yourself.
” Katy paused. “I really do think Sage is telling the truth, because how could she not be? Plus, we hadn’t seen each other in literally years when we ran into each other again and she told me so many things about Mum.
She couldn’t possibly have researched our family beforehand. ”
“Like when I ran into her with you.”
“Exactly.” She cleared her throat. “Did she sit with you? Say anything that day?”
“Not much. Just a couple of things.”
I was going to have to give her something.
“She told me about Gran’s scone recipe which I’d been searching for the week before. Gran told me where to find it.” A shiver ran through me again. “She also told me about a time Mum missed a show I was in.” I stroked my face. “It was… a lot. But also, kind of comforting?”
Katy sucked in a breath. “You’ve been in your own world over the past few years, pulling your life back together. I’m proud of you for that. But I miss Mum and Gran. Sage was an opportunity to get back in touch with them. I wasn’t going to pass that up.”
And now I saw that Sage might be the key to knowing what to do.
“Do you have her number?”
“It won’t work if you’re a sceptic.”
“I promise, I’ll go with an open mind.”
“That goes for everything in your life, by the way. Including Eliza.” She paused. “And don’t forget the presents.”