Chapter 5 #2
Bronwyn waved her hand back and forth. “It’s a gray area.
But he isn’t the one on the board. And his mother is dug in and has some supporters who think that she shouldn’t be booted out because of her son’s actions.
My father thinks she should be kicked to the curb.
That is one subject where we’re in full agreement, and I have no doubt I have his support. He wants her gone.”
“Does he want you gone as well?” Cal looked as confused as Mo felt.
“No. Well, I don’t think so. My father is a complicated man.
He doesn’t want to be on the board, but he would never give up our family’s place on it.
He doesn’t want me ever to stop paying for the shame I brought to our family, but he wants to tell everyone how proud he is of his phenomenal daughter who has”—here she put on a lofty tone with a horrible British accent—“taken The Haven to new heights.” She dropped the tone.
“Every now and then, he mentions that he’d appreciate it if I married and provided him with grandchildren.
” Mo clenched his jaw. “But he doesn’t want me to be a stay-at-home mom. ”
Mo tried to ignore the image that sprang into his mind—Bronwyn holding a little boy with her brown skin and dark hair and big blue eyes and . . .
This was not going to work. He couldn’t stand to be around her and not . . . not . . . he didn’t know what. But until she was willing to forgive him and move on . . .
He needed to leave. Soon. He didn’t want to be a jerk. He’d spent a lot of time in prayer and counseling so that he wouldn’t react badly in situations like this, but he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hang on.
“My dad is a conundrum, but I don’t think he wants me to step down. And he wouldn’t condone anyone harming me physically.”
Mo wasn’t sure he agreed with Bronwyn’s assessment of her father, but he kept his mouth shut.
“Unfortunately, I suspect Nathan has violated the morality clause in every imaginable way. I can’t prove it yet, but I’m trying and I think he’s on to me. He has a mean streak, and he wants my job. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
Bronwyn looked at her watch. “I can’t stay any longer. I’ll be missed and I—”
“Tonight.” Mo looked at Cal, then Meredith, then made eye contact with her. There was something in his eyes that sent a shiver down her spine. And it wasn’t in fear.
Meredith jumped in. “Tonight works. Bronwyn, thank you for inviting us over!”
Bronwyn looked between the three people who’d had her back for almost thirty years and who, even now, stood with her. They’d been friends so long that it took her only a second to catch on. “Tonight works. Say six o’clock?”
“Perfect.” Cal walked to his desk. “Landry will be thrilled that we have dinner plans.”
Meredith leaned toward her. “We’re going to work this out, but you have to tell us if it gets dangerous for you. We’ll get you out of there.”
Mo left the room without a word to anyone.
When he was gone, Bronwyn let her head fall back and she stared at the ceiling. The words came out without her permission.
“He hates me.”
The silence that followed her admission could have shattered eardrums and was broken only when Cal stepped closer and leaned until his face filled her vision.
“He doesn’t hate you. He told you he’d never speak to you again.
He’s keeping his word.” Cal put his phone to his ear and stepped out of the office.
Bronwyn straightened in her seat and caught Meredith holding her hands in a distinctive way. “Do you want to strangle me?”
Meredith didn’t back down. “Not really. I love you, but I’m starting to feel some intense emotions because of you. When are you going to get over yourself about Mo?”
“I think I have.”
“Then why won’t you talk to him?”
“What would I say?”
Meredith stared at her, incredulity written across her face. “You could start with ‘Good morning, Mo.’ Or ‘Hi, Mo.’ Or even, ‘Mo, I think you’re hot, and we should date.’”
Cal had taken one step into the room, but at Meredith’s last remark, he turned around. “I’ll be back when y’all are done.”
“Get in here!” Meredith called after him.
Cal returned, with Mo on his heels and Carla right behind them.
“What’s going on?” Bronwyn looked at the three who’d blown back into the office like someone was chasing them.
“Your mother.” Carla’s eyes were huge.
“My . . . what?”
“I saw your mother on the security cameras.” A chime announced her entrance into the front office. “She’s here.” Carla looked at Cal. “What do I do?”
“Welcome her in and ask her what she wants.” Cal opened the outside door to his office, which exited into a fenced-in area behind the building. “Meredith, you and Bronwyn come out here. Mo”—he tossed a set of keys to him—“go into Connor’s office and open his exterior door.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll call you.” Cal all but shoved them outside. The door closed behind them.
A moment later, a different door opened, and Mo waved them in.
Bronwyn followed Meredith into Connor Shaw’s office and when she did, she understood Cal’s plan.
Connor’s office had three doors. One to the exterior, one to the interior hall, and one that must lead back to the reception area.
From here, they could escape the building without her mother seeing them.
“Once we find out what she wants, we’ll sneak you out.” Meredith leaned a hip against Connor’s desk. “Let’s head to Mountain Brew. We’ll grab a latte. If your mom asks, we’ll say we met here and walked to town.”
Bronwyn had a moment of clarity. “Wait a minute. Meredith! What are you doing here? Why aren’t you seeing patients?” If Meredith had cancelled appointments to come . . .
“I don’t have any patients until ten thirty. You’re good.”
“I thought you had something planned with Gray this morning.” Mo gave Meredith a pointed look.
“I did. But Gray wanted me to come to the aid of my oldest and dearest friend. We’ll do it again another day.”
Bronwyn shared a look with Mo. They still hadn’t spoken directly to each other, but sometimes, words weren’t necessary.
“Would you two stop already?” Meredith asked.
“We were going to talk to Cal about house plans this morning. It’s not like we can’t talk to him any day that ends in y.
The land is mine. It isn’t going anywhere.
Cal is obligated by blood and friendship to build us our house, and we aren’t in a hurry.
Gray’s house is adorable, and I’ll be perfectly happy to move in there after the wedding.
I’m not rushing this. Besides”—Meredith leaned against Mo—“there was no way I was going to leave the two of you to stare at each other and try to communicate without speaking. Full disclosure, I’m done with both of you.
Get yourselves sorted.” She pinched Mo’s arm.
Based on the way he jumped, it hadn’t been gentle.
Mo grabbed Meredith’s hand when she went to pinch him again, and for a brief moment, they were all ten again. Mo and Meredith were squabbling over something while Bronwyn and Cal looked on and waited for them to work it out.
And like they had as children, they resolved the fight almost as soon as it began. Mo pulled Meredith into him and hugged her close. He whispered something that sounded like, “You need to back off.”
Meredith replied, “Not until you two are married.”
Bronwyn choked on air. She tried not to make any noise as she coughed and attempted to regain her composure.
Married? To Mo? What was Meredith thinking? Maybe that had been their future at one time.
Not anymore.
The door to Connor’s office opened, and Carla stepped in. “Your mother is in Cal’s office. She declined to tell me why she wanted to speak with him. He’ll text later. Go!”
Mo handed the office keys to Carla and led the way. Bronwyn followed him out into the reception area. A few minutes later, she and Meredith were seated in Mountain Brew, Gossamer Falls’ best and only coffee spot. Mo was at the counter.
“It’s going to look weird if we don’t have any coffee,” Bronwyn pointed out to Meredith.
“Mo will get us some. Sit tight and act like you’ve been here for hours.
Breathe in the aroma of dark roast. Inhale the doughy scents of freshly made pastries.
Savor the unique energy of a room full of people in varying degrees of caffeination who should be drinking water and going for long walks in the woods.
But are they? No. They’re here. Filling their bodies with stimulants and hoping that helps. ”
“You can’t be serious.” Bronwyn pointed to the seat Meredith occupied. “You’re here so much, you have your own chair. I tried to sit in it one time and one of the baristas told me that if you came in, I would have to move.”
“What can I say? I’m a woman of the people.” Meredith tossed her hair and looked around the room. “Also, why were you here without me? Friends don’t drink coffee alone. They call their besties and say, ‘Hey, I’m in town. Want to meet me for coffee?’”
“I did call you. And you were up to your elbows in a root canal.”
Meredith grimaced. “Okay. You’re forgiven.”
“Forgiven for what?” Mo set a large iced coffee with some kind of cream in it in front of Meredith. And then he set a medium hot coffee in front of Bronwyn.
Meredith eyed it. “Ooh, what did you order for Beep?”
“A mocha. Extra shot. Two pumps. No whip.”
Bronwyn’s heart nearly flatlined, then raced for the fences. Was that vein in her neck pulsing as fast as she thought it was? Could anyone see it? She managed to pick up the cup and take a tiny sip. “It’s perfect. Th—”
“Bronwyn?” Her mother’s voice had a unique pitch. Some people said it was soft and girlish. Others said it was like nails on a chalkboard. Regardless, she’d silenced the entire room with one word.
A sip for luck. “Mother. Good morning. What brings you into town?” Another sip because it was delicious, because it was warm, and because Mo had remembered her favorite.
“I would like to have a word.” How many times had Bronwyn heard that phrase from her mother?
“Good morning, Mrs. Pierce.” Mo extended his hand, and Bronwyn’s heart launched back into a chaotic rhythm that couldn’t possibly be healthy. “Good to see you. It’s been too long.”
Her mother looked at Mo’s outstretched hand and then took it for the shortest handshake in human history.
“Montgomery.” She said Mo’s name like someone might say “pond scum” or “phlegm,” and if Mo hadn’t bought the coffee for her, Bronwyn would have spilled it on her mother’s new pumps. Accidentally, of course.
Meredith grabbed her iced coffee and took a long sip. Then another. Bronwyn knew that maneuver. Meredith would either burst out in laughter or say something she shouldn’t, so she shut herself up.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option for Bronwyn.
“Mother, please join us. We were catching up.” Mo sat in the chair beside her, and she was sure she imagined it, but for a second, she thought he might be leaning toward her. He was definitely giving off a “touch her and die” vibe.
Maybe it was time for her to stop reading romance novels.
“Yes, Mrs. Pierce. Sit.” Meredith had recovered and now flashed her trademark smile. “It’s been ages. How are you?”
Bronwyn enjoyed the long moment it took for her mother to devise a graceful way to extract herself from the situation.
Quinns being friendly to a Pierce! Perish the thought.
But for a Pierce to act out in public? That couldn’t be borne.
Pierces were better than everyone else, of course.
And that included in their manners and decorum.
How many times had she heard that?
Her mom pasted on a smile only the people at the table would know was fake. “Darling, I hate to disturb your social time with work matters. Why don’t you step outside with me for a moment?”
It had been fun while it lasted, but her mother had boxed her in. Bronwyn stood. “Of course.” She took the coffee with her. It was still hot, and she wouldn’t let it get cold while her mother berated her for some perceived slight.
They stepped outside and took a few steps down the sidewalk before her mother turned. “Bronwyn Elena Elizabeth Pierce.” She’d been full-named. It was on. “Why are you not in your office?”
Bronwyn could remind her mother that she was the one who worked far more than full-time hours.
She could have pointed out that it was rich being taken to task for her work ethic by a woman who had never worked a day in her life.
Or she could have asked her why she was slumming it in town when The Haven currently hosted this year’s Oscar winners in both best actor and best director categories.
But her mother didn’t give her time to do any of that.
“I came to see you during normal business hours,” she continued, “and you were not there.”
“Clearly.”
“Do not sass me, young lady.”
“Mother, if you could get to the point of why you’ve chased me down, that would be great. I’m enjoying coffee with friends this morning, but I do have appointments that I need to return for.”
“I received a phone call that you were seen walking into SPQ Construction this morning at 8:45. Why were you there?”
Bronwyn took a sip of her coffee. A tiny rebellion that only worked because her mother would rather hike naked than cause a scene. “I was there to meet with Cal, Meredith, and Mo.” Truth was always the best policy.
“Why?”
Another sip. Her mother had no right to any of this information. “Why not? Cal couldn’t join us for coffee. It’s easy to park in his lot. Meredith doesn’t have patients until ten thirty. I got to see Carla. It was a win-win.”
“But why are you in town at all?”
“Mother, this is ridiculous. Did you really drive into town because you think I’m hobnobbing with the lower classes again?”
Her mother’s eyes widened. If she’d been wearing pearls, she would have clutched them. “Of course not. I came to tell you that your grandmother is sick.”
This wasn’t news. Her grandmother had been near death for the past decade.
“The doctor called this morning. The scans show that her cancer has spread. It’s everywhere. There’s nothing they can do. The hospice nurses are coming this afternoon.”
That was new.