Page 56 of Rocky Mountain Desire
She banged loud enough that there was no way her sister could claim to not have heard.
The door swung open, and the bright red scraps of fabric masquerading as a nightgown assaulted her eyes. “Your date over so soon? It wasn’t anything I said, was it?”
Hope stepped in and looked around the room. There was an open suitcase on the dresser and another spread at the foot of the bed. “No—we decided to have an early night. What are you doing here?”
Helen sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m back. Figured I can work here just as easy as in Calgary for a while. Things were getting tough—it was too expensive to get by.”
There was a sour taste in Hope’s mouth and she straightened her spine. Poor little Helen. Things were getting tough? “Well, good luck finding work. I know there’s an opening down at—”
“What? I’m working here. At the shop. Like we’d planned all along.”
Hope shook her head in disbelief. “You can’t be serious. And you’re planning on living where? Not in this apartment. You know, the one you left me high and dry to make full payments on all by myself?”
Her sister wiggled back until she leaned up against the headboard. “I’m sorry about that. I needed to get out of town quick. I was dying. Suffocating.”
Yeah, right. No sympathy coming from this quarter.
“So that made it all right to try and drag me under with you? It wasn’t all roses and ponies after you left. I worked like crazy to not lose everything before the shop even opened.”
Helen glared back. “I said I was sorry. What else do you want me to do? Open a vein?”
The urge to snap out a nasty response was so strong, Hope actually trembled as she contained it. This wasn’t supposed to be a discussion. This was her announcing the way life was going to be. Nothing to debate. She leaned back on the wall beside the door and crossed her arms, getting into a safe, solid position to present the facts.
Because if she guessed right this conversation was about to get nasty.
“Helen, I’m sure all your reasons for leaving were very sound and logical to you, but they tore apart everything we’d worked for. I had to make big changes and sacrifices. The bank manager finally set up an agreement—hell, I’m not going into that because it doesn’t involve you.”
“My name is on those papers too.” Helen wasn’t so casual and relaxed anymore, perching taller on the bed.
“Ha. That’s bullshit. Because even when we first started this venture you were always too busy to get the things done you had to. So if you remember correctly, it was my name alone on the original loans, it’s been my ass on the line in terms of meeting the deadlines for rent, which in fact means it’s my business. All of it. Stitching Post has one owner, and that’s me.”
Helen stared across the room, her face gone red as she shot to her feet. “You can’t do that.”
“Can’t do what?” Hope stepped into the doorway. “Can’t run my business the way I feel best?”
“You can’t cut me out like that. It’s notonlyyour business.”
“You try and tell a lawyer that and they’d laugh in your face. Especially since you’ve been gone for a full year. All payments, on time, in my name. Bank account, in my name. Insurance, orders—everything we were supposed to do together, done by one person. Me.”
Helen stopped for all of ten seconds, like she was regrouping and recalibrating her demands. “You really won’t let me work in the shop? You’re kidding.”
“Bullshit, I’m kidding. The place is just surviving, and I learned enough during school to know this isn’t the time to make any rash financial mistakes. Which means not hiring on unneeded staff who have no idea how to deal with customers or how to sew enough to handle the average question.”
Helen waved a hand. “I was going to do the banking and the orders and the…non-sewing stuff.”
“Right, operative word,was. Get this clear in your head, Helen. Last January, I didn’t kick you out. You left, and that changed everything. Don’t go thinking I’ll let you come in and destroy what I’ve fought for, because it’s not going to happen.”
“Well, there you go.” Helen shook her head in disbelief. “You’re just like Mom. So much for caring about family.”
Hope had held it in pretty good until now, she really thought she had, but that stupid comment was enough to break through her tenuous layers of control. She planted her hands on her hips. “You know what? You’re lucky I do care enough about family that I’m not kicking you into the street right now, tonight. But I want you out of the apartment first thing in the morning. You will not hang around the shop, you will not try to get me to change my mind. If you find a place to live in Rocky and a job, then you can call me and we can see about having a coffee some time.”
“A coffee? What the hell are you talking about?”
“A coffee in a coffee shop. Like somewhere I’d meet a stranger and start to get to know them. Because that’s what you are—a stranger.” Hope slowed her speech, squeezing her fists tight to stop them from shaking. “If you really are sorry for your actions, then I’m willing to forgive you. But I’m not willing to let you drag me around and use me.”
Helen looked her up and down. “You’re a fine one to talk about using people.”
No more. Helen wanted to turn this into an all-night event? Hope was cutting that option right here.
