14. Fourteen
FOURTEEN
My mother was in a mood.
Me? I was flying high. Huxley had actually gotten us into The Olde Pink House, just as promised, and it had been an amazing time. The food was great, and he’d even gotten in the ghost hunting spirit at the downstairs bar after we’d eaten our weight in scallops and potatoes.
Right up until my mother called me for a video chat.
“I’m not sure we should be having this discussion,” I said when she continued to stare at me through the small screen.
“Who else am I going to have this discussion with?” she demanded. “Your sister is driving me nuts.”
“I guess I didn’t realize that she was calling you as often as she was,” I admitted. I was on the couch with a fleece blanket and my e-reader. It was raining, so I had every intention of tucking in with a good book. My mother had thrown that plan right out the window.
“How could you not notice that?” Mom challenged. “Aren’t you guys living together?” She grew momentarily distracted when another figure filled the screen, cutting in front of her and leaning forward.
“Hi, Wylie,” my stepfather, Mick, greeted me with a broad smile. He was still a good-looking man — my mother called him a distinguished silver fox — and I always felt better after he bestowed one of his famous smiles on me.
“Hi, Mick.” I went warm all over seeing him.
He’d been the best thing that ever happened to my mother — despite the fallout with Eleanor — and they’d been happy together for years.
It was hard for me to even remember a time when he wasn’t in our lives, even though I’d been an adult when they got together.
“Hey, kid.” Mick plopped down next to my mother on the couch — they were in the library because I could see the huge window behind them — and made her laugh when he took the tablet to get a better look. “You look good. How are things?”
I shrugged. “Pretty good, other than Lucy not talking to me.”
“That’s because she’s talking to me,” Mom complained. “Twice a day, Wylie.” She looked exasperated. “You’ve got to do something to make up with your sister. I can’t deal with this many calls.”
“Tell her that,” I suggested.
“I have. She says she’s lonely and needs somebody to talk to because she has no friends.”
“She had friends,” I argued. “When I told her it was time to contribute to the household, though, they all dropped her because she could no longer go out partying.”
“Did she burn through all of her severance from the Wyoming thing?” Mick asked.
I sent him a pitying look. “What severance? It was an internship. They gave her room and board, and I had to send her spending money every month.”
That was something I should have kept to myself. I only realized it when my mother made a face.
“What?” she demanded.
I sighed. “I didn’t tell you because she asked me not to. She was embarrassed.”
“Yes, I know.” Mom’s voice was cold and icy. “She said the same thing to me when I sent her money in Wyoming.”
“Hey!” Mick swung his gaze to Mom. “We agreed that you weren’t going to do that, and not because I want to be controlling or anything. We talked about how it was best for Lucy to start figuring things out on her own.”
“I know that, Mick.” Mom didn’t look contrite as much as mad. “I really did intend to follow through. It’s just … well, it’s Wyoming. I was afraid of what might happen if she had to get a second job.”
My eyebrows moved together as confusion took over. “I’m not sure what that means,” I admitted. “Why does it matter that she was in Wyoming?”
“I don’t know.” Mom’s shoulders hopped. “I just always assumed that most of those things in horror movies happened in places like Wyoming, where there aren’t a lot of people. Like that killer with the hockey mask? I totally believe that could have happened in Wyoming.”
“Yes, Crystal Lake, Wyoming,” I agreed dryly. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “That is totally where the movie was set.”
“I hear the sarcasm,” Mom chided, shaking her head. She laughed at herself — or maybe both of us — and then sighed. “I should have checked to see if she was getting money from you, too.” She sounded as if she was angry at herself.
“It would have been smart,” I agreed on a sigh.
“Oh, don’t get too melancholy,” Mick interjected. “You keep helping because you love her. That’s a good thing. We all need to join together, though.”
“I thought that’s what we were doing,” I admitted. “Then Mom called to tell me to make up with Lucy.”
“Because I’m sick of her calling me and complaining about you,” Mom replied. “It’s painful.”
I could see where she was coming from. There was just one little problem.
“It is painful, but she’s trying to fire you up so you’ll come to me — as you have — and then force me to go to her.
If I go to her, she has the upper hand. She’ll press her advantage until I give in and tell her it’s okay for her to quit her job. ”
“Oh, she can’t quit that job.” Mom shook her head. “If she quits now, we’ll never get her back working.”
I agreed. “That means that you’re going to have to suck it up with the phone calls,” I warned her, although something else occurred to me out of nowhere. “Or you could just send her to voicemail constantly instead of picking up.”
Mom’s eyebrows migrated up her forehead. “What now?”
“You could send her to voicemail over and over again,” I said. “She’ll get the picture eventually.”
“Yes, and then she’ll start texting me.”
“Leave her texts unread for a little bit,” I suggested. “She’ll figure it out soon enough.”
“But … isn’t that mean?” Mom looked between Mick and me, and I could tell she wanted one of us to say yes.
“It’s what has to happen,” Mick countered on a sigh. “Aggie, we all love Lucy. She has a good heart. She just needs to learn to be an adult.”
“I think it would help if she had other people to talk to,” Mom countered. “If she lost all her friends, who weren’t friends anyway, then she’s probably feeling persecuted.”
It was an interesting point, and I took a moment to think about it. Just then, the apartment door opened, and Lucy trudged in. She wasn’t dressed for work, which meant she’d been out doing something else.
“You didn’t quit, did you?” I demanded before thinking it through.
She scowled at me. “No. I have the day off. You know, even people who aren’t famous authors get days off.”
Guilt rolled through me, which was her intention.
Mom was indeed famous, and it was sometimes daunting when dealing with people in the real world.
If you mentioned who your mother was, you always wondered if people wanted to be close to you simply because they wanted to be fame-adjacent.
I was grateful for my author friends because they could see beyond that.
“You know what?” I said out of the blue. “Since it’s your day off, you can come with me tonight.” It was out before I could decide if it was a good idea.
“And why would I want to do that?” Lucy sneered.
“Because I’m going out with some writer friends.” Worried that she might bring up Huxley, who I still hadn’t told my mother about, I kept going. “Bree, Bella, and Hayley want to go out for drinks. You can come with us.”
Lucy looked dubious, so I added an enticement. “I’ll buy the drinks.”
She perked right up. “Seriously?”
I nodded. “Yes. I think it’s time you meet some new people in town.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” Mom enthused. “I want to hear all about it tomorrow, Lucy.”
Lucy glared at the back of the tablet I was holding. Mom couldn’t see her expression. “I’m not some circus animal you can put on display,” she grumbled.
“Of course not,” Mom said brightly. “You have no rhythm, so you can never be the dancing bear.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
“Whatever.” Lucy grudgingly slunk toward her bedroom. “I’m going to take a shower and get ready.” The lure of free drinks was obviously too much for her to turn down.
I smiled in her wake. “Great. We’re leaving in two hours. Be ready.”
brEE CHOSE OUR DESTINATION. It was just easier to let her make the decision because that way, the only person she would have to blame if she didn’t like the cocktails was herself.
She debated a variety of rooftop bars before finally choosing The Nest Rooftop Lounge, which had a gorgeous view of the river and a variety of colorful drink concoctions and food choices.
Lucy had dressed conservatively — for her — in tight capri pants and an oversized shirt that hung off one shoulder.
I had no doubt that she was on the prowl — you never knew where a hot cowgirl might suddenly show up — and her mood, thankfully, wasn’t terrible as we joined the three other women at a table.
I took the time to introduce everybody. To my surprise, Hayley and Lucy exchanged shy smiles with one another and then immediately started looking at each other when they obviously thought the other wasn’t looking. There was an immediate vibe between them. I had no idea what to make of it.
I wasn’t the only one who picked up on it. Bree and Bella were both shocked into several minutes of silence as Lucy and Hayley talked about the drink options with only each other. Thankfully, they were seated next to one another, which made the conversation easier.
“Huh,” was all I managed finally when Lucy burst out laughing at something Hayley had said that only she could hear.
“Yeah, it’s weird,” Bree agreed, grinning. “You know, though, Hayley grew up on a farm. She’s not quite a cowgirl, but she’s not far removed from one.”
It was interesting, I mused. I couldn’t dwell on it, though. Once the server arrived to take our orders, I forced myself to focus on the menu.
“I will have the Dragon Berry Mojito,” I started.
“Is that that layered drink?” Bree asked, pointing toward a cocktail two tables over.
The server glanced in that direction, then nodded. “Yes. It’s one of our most popular drinks.”
“That’s what I want, too,” Bree said.