Chapter 25
I’m speeding as responsibly as possible to Grady’s place, and Magnolia is sitting in the passenger seat. In my distraction,
I give her the rundown about Exquisite Interiors.
“But why on earth would you want to be on reality television? It’s a bit tacky, no? That’s daytime talk shows, and by God,
I would rather shrivel up than embarrass myself like that.”
I blow through a barely-still-yellow light. “That’s not what Exquisite Interiors is.”
Magnolia sighs. “So what is it? You know I don’t watch the crap.”
“They follow the work and produce a show that’s interesting to viewers—showing the design process and the build, the challenges,
us addressing issues, a gorgeous outcome.”
“So they want to make y’all look like idiots for not getting it right the first time?” she asks.
I sigh. “Maybe just watch an episode, and you’ll get it. But I’m doing this. I want something of my own.”
“And the whole studio isn’t your own?” Magnolia asks. “I just simply can’t see how showing all your mistakes on television
is the way to achieve any sort of success at all. Heavens, it’s all a bit much .”
If I wasn’t so panicked I would laugh, because my mother is not, and will not ever, not in my lifetime or any alternate universe, be in a position to call anything a bit much . She is a bit much come to life.
“It doesn’t feel like my own when we’re relying on work funneled from your committee,” I say. I pull out of a slow lane and
make it a few cars farther.
“What’s the point of being from a wealthy family if you can’t benefit from a little nepotism here and there?” Magnolia mutters.
“I want to earn it, not inherit it,” I say.
“You don’t want me involved,” Magnolia says. “Which is quite obvious, considering the measures you’re now willing to go to.”
“ No , that’s not it.” I turn onto Grady’s street. “You and Hallie are the only family I’ve got.” I say it even though I hate the
reminder. “I want to make something of my own, not cut you off.”
I pull into the driveway and see Grady’s taillights up ahead.
“But a show is so far from the quiet prestige of the city fellowship we almost had,” Magnolia says.
Her casual use of we jabs me like a bee sting, but I let it go.
“Maybe it seems desperate and loud to your crowd, Mother, but not to me.” I hop out of the car and slam the door behind me
as Magnolia follows suit. “And if it is desperate and loud, then maybe I am too.”
Magnolia gasps.
I take off to the carriage house just as Grady jumps out of his car. We jockey to the door as if it’s the last leg in a race
around the world.
“I’ve got this,” he tells me.
“Fat chance.” I elbow past him, flashing the children’s Benadryl at eye level.
We tumble into the apartment and right to Hallie, Magnolia lagging behind. Hallie looks fine, save a few red pocks on her
face, sitting there watching home renovation shows.
Lacey, on the other hand, is in tears.
“I’m so sorry,” she says. “I feel terrible.”
I reach out and squeeze her hand. “It’s not your fault. Grady should’ve told you about the egg allergy and also what to do
if she gets some accidentally.”
I rip the medication bottle from the packaging and pour a pre-memorized dose. I glide over to Hallie and hand off the medication
cup. “Your drink, madam.”
She grins at me and downs the dose in a single shot.
I run a gentle hand over her forehead. “How’re you feeling, birdie?”
Magnolia rushes up behind the sofa. “My sweet grandbaby, you appear to be breathing.”
“Just a little itchy.” Hallie looks up, the beginning of tears in her eyes. “I can still do the play tonight, right? I’ve
practiced so long for it.”
Grady stands off to the side looking sheepish and pays Lacey for her babysitting hours. I drop down beside Hallie and bundle
her into my arms, squeezing her tight. Yes, she’s fine, and yes, this really should be a small deal, but it also didn’t have
to happen, and it could’ve been much worse—if the sitter hadn’t been so attentive, if neither of us had picked up, if Grady
had let her wander into a worse kind of danger.
“If you’re feeling up to it,” I say. “The medicine usually works fast.”
Magnolia drops down on Hallie’s other side and gently squeezes her knee. “I’m not sure anyone needs to be eating fried rice
at two in the afternoon, but I guess that’s a college student for you.”
I lean farther into my Hallie and run my fingers through her hair just like she loved when she was a toddler.
“Jeez, Mom.” Hallie wriggles free of my grip.
“It just feels like I haven’t seen you in weeks,” I say.
She grins, and I notice one more gap.
“Another?”
Hallie nods proudly. “Yup. And the tooth fairy in Dad’s neighborhood brings twenty whole dollars per tooth! Can you believe it?”
I shake my head. “Wow. No. I cannot believe it.” Not one damn bit. “Five more minutes, and then we’re heading home for a rest before call time.”
“It’s fine,” Hallie says, getting up and shuffling toward her room. “I’ve seen this one. They turn the barn into an event
place, and then the designer gets proposed to. If you ask me, she didn’t seem too surprised.”
I look over my shoulder at a shamefaced Grady.
“I can’t believe him,” I mutter to Magnolia, only because she’s here and not because I expect her to take my side.
She purses her lips. “Between you and me, child, his intelligence was never top-notch. Which is a great shame considering
the stock he comes from.”
Magnolia stands and marches over to Grady, who waits, prickling, at his kitchen counter. “You’d best keep your sitters informed.”
Grady nods. “It was an innocent mistake.”
“There’s not a thing innocent about putting our Hallie in harm’s way,” Magnolia says. “I trust you’ll tell your mother about
this because I’d rather not have to relive it at our post-theater dinner.”
Hallie’s voice floats out from her room. “Almost done, Mom!”
I pull myself up from the sofa and it feels like a treat not having to tell Grady off. Usually, my mother would take his side—particularly
regarding things to do with the breakdown of our marriage—but Hallie reconfigures this alliance.
“I’ll be waiting in the car.” Magnolia exits with a tired sigh.
Grady levels his gaze at me. “What? I mess up once , and you think you’re winning?”
I raise my hands. “What on earth about this situation makes you think I’m winning ?”
“Somehow you always end up looking like the good parent.”
Whenever this came up in the past (which wasn’t infrequently), I always soothed him, made promises about his strengths as
a parent. I promised him we were a team who picked up each other’s slack. But now? That’s no longer my job. He can have himself
a pity party and clean up after it as well.
“I’m sorry you feel that way.”
Grady rolls his eyes. “ So high and mighty.”
“Says the guy paying twenty bucks a tooth.”
Hallie emerges from her room, backpack in tow, and goes to her father for a hug. I afford her just enough time for a quick
goodbye with the terrible man, then carry her off to the car.