Page 101 of Always Be Mine

When her friend had finally forced her to face her phone, she wasn’t sure what she expected to find, or more importantly, what she’d been hoping to find. Part of her wanted Craig to have called and left a heartfelt voice message admitting that he knew how wrong he’d been not to defend her and claim their relationship. She wanted him to tell her how sorry he was and tell her how much he loved her and needed her and wanted her to come home.

Home.

But that hadn’t happened.

There had been two missed calls from him. No voice messages at all. And one text message that asked if they could please talk.

That was it.

Had she been wrong to expect more?

Maybe she should have been the one to call. After all, she’d been the one to leave without notice.Did that mean she’d quit? How was Meri doing without her?

Before she could stop herself, she pulled up Craig’s contact information, and her finger hovered over the button that would call him.

She squeezed her eyes and?—

Her phone vibrated with an incoming call. Lucy’s eyes snapped open.

Charli’s name flashed on the screen.

Her hand shook as she took the unexpected call. “Hello?”

“Lucy. I’m so glad I got you. How are you?”

She swallowed hard and decided to go for honesty. “I’ve been better.”

“I’m so sorry I haven’t reached out until now,” Charli said. “I wanted to give you some space, and Symon tried to tell me to stay out of it because it’s none of my business. Whatever is going on with you and Craig, I…well…I guess he’s kind of right. It’s not really any of my business. But?—”

“Thank you for calling, Charli.”

She heard the other woman exhale. “Are you okay?”

“No,” Lucy said. “But I will be. How’s Meri?”

“She’s good. I think Craig told her you were on a holiday. But she misses you, Lucy.”

Lucy blinked back the tears that threatened. “I miss her, too.”

“Look,” Charli started. “I can’t speak for Craig or what went on between the two of you.”

Lucy swallowed.

“And he’ll probably get upset with me for calling you, but I don’t care because I think there’s something you need to know.”

Whatever it was, she didn’t want to know but she couldn’t find the words to tell her.

“I’m not defending my brother,” Charli said. “Not at all, but I don’t think he ever told you why he hired you in the first place.”

Lucy shook her head before realizing that Charli couldn’t see her. “No,” she said softly. “He didn’t.”

“He had to hire you because of a stipulation our father put in his will. It’s kind of complicated, but he’s basically giving all of us a task for six months that we have to complete in order to keep our family’s inheritance. It’s Craig’s turn.”

“And he had to hire a nanny? That seems?—”

“Strange?” Charli chuckled. “I would tend to agree with you, except my father definitely had his reasons for everything he did. And as upset as Craig is about it all, he knows it, too. He’s just having a hard time seeing it.”

“So he had to hire a nanny for six months? That’s it?”

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