Page 6 of Heir

She hated my car.

Mostly because it was five years old, which wasn’t old at all.

She used the wordtackyonce, though I was trying hard not to think about that.

And she really shouldn’t complain, not since I was her and Kenton’s ride to Uncle Frank’s house.

They’d had to fire their chauffeur three months ago.

Kenton might have an old truck somewhere, but they didn’t use it unless absolutely necessary. Mostly, she called in for a car service when she went out to meet her friends.

I wondered if everyone could see the stress in her eyes—the lack of color and the desperation that emanated from her as she tried so hard to hold on to the life she’d had when Uncle William was still alive.

I didn’t know how to help her when she was like this.

I didn’t know how to get her to fend for herself.

I offered a small smile I didn’t feel when I pulled up in front of them and unlocked the door.

Mom and Kenton sat in the back, greeting me politely when they got in and buckled on their seat belts.

I briefly met Mom’s eyes in the rearview mirror before looking away and set off.

The ride there was quiet.

I had always been quite introverted. Another thing my mom hated about me, especially as her friends’ daughters were all social butterflies. They were all around my age, and they were all married, some with a few kids on the way.

Had I followed the plan she’d set out for me, perhaps I would be married to a nice, respectable,richman who could have helped solve most of our problems by now instead of being the awkward, single, twenty-nine-year-old virgin that I was.

I grimaced at my thoughts. Perhaps there was something embarrassing about being so inexperienced at my age. People might even call me strange or weird or psychologically unsound.

Only two people knew this about me, though. My mom and Blue.

Blue didn’t think of me as strange, but he had always been a little protective and never thought there was a guy good enough for me.

My mom…

Well, I already knew her opinion of me, so why should it matter? I wished I hadn’t told her about my lack of experience, though.

I hated the judgment in her eyes.

She had always been critical of me, but this perhaps really hit the nail on the head for her.

Mothers were supposed to love their daughters unconditionally, right? Despite all their flaws and weirdness?

I had thought so, but my mother had placed so many conditions on her love for me that I wasn’t sure anymore.

I made a right turn into the nicer parts of the city that held many big houses. I bypassed a white house that looked like it was straight out ofThe Notebook, and aFor Salesign out on the front.

“Such a shame what happened to that family,” Mom said from the back.

I frowned. “Are you talking about the Hudsons?”

She nodded. “After Judge Hudson died, Vivian left California because of her griefandher embarrassment.”

“Why would she be embarrassed?” I asked.

Judge Hudson died in a gang shootout. Everyone had called him a hero, but I wasn’t so sure. He was Uncle William’s friend, and I was sure the man was just as bad as Uncle William. But whatever bad stuff he got into never made it to the public, unlike our family. As far as I was concerned, Vivian had nothing to be embarrassed about.

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