Chapter 6
Chapter Six
The very first thing Sky was doing when he got back to New York was changing his phone number.
He should have hung up as soon as his mother told him he would have to come home for the funeral.
Even worse, Adele wanted him to stay for three weeks to sort out the estate and attend a ceremony in Nana’s honor.
His grandmother had donated a large sum of money to the town and started an endowment to provide college scholarships for underprivileged children and single mothers.
Mason was clearing out and renovating Roseview’s outdated park and baseball field in Nana’s honor and there would be a dedication ceremony.
“You don’t need me there and we all know that Nana wouldn’t care. She hated funerals. Why can’t I send flowers and help pay for the field or the ceremony?”
“Hush. She left you and Sarina everything else, including Sutton House. It would be tacky if you didn’t show up for the ribbon cutting.”
“So? Nana doesn’t give a shit about what anyone thinks. She never did,” Skylar countered and his mother pushed out a bored sigh.
“We still have to live here and I like to pretend we’re decent people. And I’m tired of making excuses for you. People want to know why you never come home and when the next book’s coming out. What am I supposed to say?”
“They’ll get over it and I’d rather…not. I don’t want to deal with Sarina and the Prince of Roseview.”
“You can’t be mad about that old business with your sister and Mason. You aren’t a child anymore, Skylar.”
“Wanna bet?” They had barely spoken in almost five years and Nana’s death wasn’t going to change that.
“Fine, darling. Don’t talk to your only sister.
I’m sure you have plenty of time and will have no reason to regret your behavior in the future.
But you have to come to the funeral and stay for the dedication.
Nana left you a lot. The Sutton estate is vast and you and your sister are going to have to make some decisions. ”
“She can do whatever she wants with everything but the house. I trust her with the estate.”
“That’s good to hear but you’ll look like an ungrateful monster if the media somehow finds out that you didn’t come to pay your respects.”
“Alright!” Every bone in his body ached with foreboding. “I’ll come to Nana’s funeral and stay until the ceremony but I have no intentions of talking to Sarina or Mason.”
“I wish you would get over whatever it is that set you off all those years ago. Your sister’s marriage is her own business and Mason is…
” His mother scoffed and took a drag from a cigarette.
“Just between the two of us, he’s the blandest, sappiest asshole in Roseview, but he’s nice to look at and he worships the ground your sister walks on.
He’s also a much better father than Stewart or your grandfather were. ”
“Not that high of a bar,” Skylar replied, making her snort.
“No, it isn’t, but Sam adores Mason and the home environment is unbearably wholesome.”
“God forbid.”
“I know, it must be so exhausting for Sarina. We didn’t raise her like that but Mason made her read all those parenting books and they go to therapy.”
“Good for them. Why are you telling me this? I want to see Sam but Sarina’s marriage is her own business, right?”
“You’ve missed a lot, Skylar, and I think Sarina has enough on her plate. Don’t you?”
“I wouldn’t know,” he bit out, hoping she would take a hint.
“Of course, not. You’re famous now and planning to write another book.”
Sky really should have hung up then. “I am writing another book. We go through this every time we speak, it’s starting to concern me. Have you talked to your doctor about your memory loss?”
“That’s very funny, Skylar. You should put that joke in your book when you finally write it.”
“I have been writing and I planned to write more over the next few months but Nana went and died.”
“Finally. I might have cried when Stewart died if I had known I’d be stuck taking care of his mother for this long. They should make me a saint after everything she put me through.”
“I agree. You are grace and mercy personified.”
“And you’re still a miserable, sarcastic shit.”
“Just when I thought I couldn’t be more excited about coming home,” Sky replied tightly.
It was impossible for them to have a conversation without her calling Sky some kind of a shit.
Usually, he was a stuck-up or entitled shit, and when she was really mad, he was a worthless shit.
Like his father, if she wanted to twist the knife a little more because they both knew he was nothing like his father.
Sarina was just like him and had been their golden child but Stewart Sutton had been disappointed in Sky from the day he was born.
“I suppose it’s too much to ask for you to do your duty to your family,” his mother had murmured between puffs.
“What else do you want? I’m coming to Nana’s funeral and I’m staying.”
“There’s also the matter of this house. There are things here that you should take. I’ve started downsizing.”
That was news and pretty unbelievable. His mother wasn’t popular in Roseview and didn’t have a lot of friends after Aunt Cora died.
If anything, she was feared, but that had its own allure for Adele.
She held a certain amount of power in Roseview because her family, the Ainsleys, had helped found the town.
Her father and grandfather had owned most of the land before it was divided into parcels and sold off to wealthy Manhattan families, looking for weekend homes and beach “cottages.”
“Why? You’ll never leave Roseview.”
“I might. I don’t think I’d mind moving somewhere good, like Coral Gables.”
“I’m not visiting you if you move to Florida,” Sky vowed.
“Well…I sort of assumed that would be the case, darling.” she replied. “I’ve asked Sylvia Wescott to have that son of hers see if he can find something small, yet tasteful down there. Since it will be just me.”
“Whatever. Nadine can move into Sutton House.” Sky smiled as he imagined his mother’s apoplectic glare.
“How lovely for Nadine. And who will she take care of in that big, empty house while you’re away?”
“She doesn’t have to take care of anyone. She can just live there and fuss over me whenever I do come to visit.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, I haven’t made up my mind yet. We’ll circle back to this later.”
Adele ended the call and Sky knew that “circling back” meant that she was going to hold onto his comment with a grudge and find a way to rub it in his face.
If he had been a smarter and braver man, Sky wouldn’t have boarded the train to take him out of the city.
He would have turned around and texted Kayla to have a large cheese pizza waiting when he got home.
But being a dutiful and masochistic son, Sky had rode the train for nearly two hours to the station in Southampton and got out, expecting to see Nadine. She usually picked him up or warned him to get a cab if she couldn’t make it.
“Fucking Adele!”
Sky would not be giving his new phone number to his mother.
And this time, he meant it. Adele Ainsley-Sutton had pulled some nasty stunts in the past and it was just like her to be petty and malicious, but Sky had never resented her more as he made eye contact with his sister across the train station.