Page 15 of Ring Me

IN SPITE OF MY FRAZZLEDstart, the meeting went great. I was still shaking Michael Wold's hand—the head of their PR department—while his crew waited to depart for lunch by the elevator. “We look forward to working with you soon, Ms. Fontine.”

“Me, too. I'll have my team send you the contract before the day ends.”

He beamed, letting me go and strolling off with the others. I spotted Aubrey staring at me expectantly from behind her desk; I flashed her a thumbs up. She made a fist, pumping it to her ribs. Today was turning around.

My shoe crossed the threshold of my private office just as my phone began to vibrate; it had multiple times during the meeting. I'd assumed they were notifications from the RingMe app. But when I looked, my blood went cold. It wasn't a message, someone was calling me. I saw the name on the screen. Oh, dammit! “Mom!” I said, answering instantly. “I'm so sorry! I meant to text you earlier to say I'd be in a meeting and we'd have to move our call!”

“Ten times!” she crowed. “Ten times, that's how much I called you!”

I glanced at the missed calls—yup, ten. “Mom—”

“For all I knew you were dead! A car crash, a shoot out, who knows!”

“Mom!” I sighed, shutting my door, walking around the room and closing the blinds. My optimism earlier that I wouldn't need to do that evaporated at the tone of her voice. “I'm fine. I just forgot.”

“Is that better? Forgetting your poor mother?”

“No, I just—I'm seriously sorry.” Propping myself against the wall, I shifted the phone to my other ear. “I'm here now. All yours. Let's talk, what's up?”

“Are you sure you have time for family, Maya?” she mused, managing to sound both sad and resentful. This had been a hot topic for the past few years.

“I can make time for family.”

“You're such a workaholic, it's always go go go, no moment spent to worry about me or Fiddler.”

“Fiddler?” I laughed. “Your cat?”

“He's family!”

“Then put him on the call. I'm down.”

She clicked her tongue, her voice getting softer, more strained. “Work and jokes. It's like you're avoiding everything important. That's why Ben left you, you know.”

My eyeball twitched. That's not why! I thought angrily. “If your goal was to beat me up verbally, I'm going to hang up.”

“I'm sorry. I'm just stressed out, dear. There's a lot going on and I'm sure it's going to give me a heart attack.”

“What's happening?”

“It's your grandfather.”

I perked up, clutching the phone. “What's wrong with Pappy?”

“The usual. Bad knees, bad back, bad hip. You'd know if you made time to visit.”

Her pointed jabs were wearing me down. “Mom,” I said gently, “Talk to me. I'm here.”

There was a long pause. “Your aunt Jemine has been spending more time at his house, taking care of him. I wish I could be there the way she is, but the school keeps me booked solid. You know I asked you to come out here and help him.”

“I know. But I'm—” I'd almost said busy with work but her comments from before shut me up. “I've got responsibilities here, Mom. Like you do.”

“Well, those responsibilities are going to cost me my inheritance.”

“What?”

“Jemine. She's got Pappy wrapped around her witchy little finger. She told me he's thinking about amending the will, leaving it all to her instead of giving me my share. Do you know how much I need that money, Maya? I'm killing myself for the school system but they'll never give me enough to retire on! I'll never get to rest, I'll be marching into a grave with book reports piled high in my arms at this rate!”

“Mom, calm down.” I tucked my thumbnail between my teeth, fidgeting as I absorbed everything she'd said. “I'm sure if you just talk to Pappy, he'll come to his senses.”

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