Page 79 of Hot and Bothered
I pressed my lips together. It seemed that the last few months were supposed to remain a dirty little secret. Well, whatever. I’d apologized. Hopefully, that was enough to mend bridges so my parents and Jacob’s parents could get on with all that business merger nonsense. Now all I had to do was get through this dinner and go back home to—
My thoughts halted.
Could I even go back to Evan’s place? Did he even still want me there? He’d been spending his days at his mother’s. We hadn’t had a chance to talk. Was this like the last time we’d fought, when he simply needed some time to cool down? Or was this it? Was this the thing that broke us up?
If it was, I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. Where I was supposed to go. I technically had enough money for first and last’s month rent, but just barely. It would eat all my savings and I’d have nothing left for groceries or other needs until my next paycheck. And even then, I couldn’t continue paying rent on a part-time bar salary, even with tips.
I swallowed through the lump in my throat.
That didn’t leave me with many options.
I snuck a look at my father. He seemed pleased. That was a good sign. I looked at my mother. She didn’t lookdispleased, which was the most I could have hoped for.
I couldn’t believe I was even contemplating it, but coming home for a little while, even just a few weeks… It couldn’t be so bad, could it? Just long enough to figure out what I was going to do. Aside from the apology, my parents hadn’t asked anything else of me. They hadn’t yelled, or made threats, or given me ultimatums.
Which was more than I could say of Evan.
His words kept echoing in the back of my mind.
Maybe you shouldn’t be a part of my life.
I squeezed my eyes together to stop the onset of stinging tears.
“Alice?” my mother prompted. “Are you feeling all right?”
I opened my eyes and blinked them a few times. I stood from the table, surprising everyone.
“I’ll be right back,” I said. “I need some fresh air.”
I made my way down the hallways and out onto the veranda through the French double doors in the parlor room. Hundreds of thoughts were swirling through my head.
Even at their worst, my parents had never told me to get out. If anything, they wanted me to stay. Sure, they’d cut off my credit cards after I’d run off, but that was because it normally would have forced me to come back. They’d tracked me down and sent Grace to Sin and Tonic to bring me home.
After everything I’d done, they’d invited me to a family dinner and only asked for an apology in return.
As for Evan…
I exhaled a breath and rubbed at my tired eyes.
The minute things got tough, he shut me out.
My phone rang, startling me. It was Mason. Dread filled my stomach as I remembered those spreadsheets he’d asked me to look at. I had done my best, but I still wasn’t sure I’d gotten all the calculations right. What if he was calling to chew me out for messing things up? What if he was calling to fire me?
Grimacing, I answered the phone.
“Hey Alice, listen, I know you’ve got the night off,” Mason started without preamble, “but I just had a thought and I wanted to run it by you.”
“Okay…” I said doubtfully. “What is it?”
“You know all those numbers I’ve been asking you to look at?” He didn’t wait for my response. “I handed it all over to our accountant to look over the books. She was extremely impressed. She asked if I’d hired a professional bookkeeper.”
“So I did a good job?” I asked, hopefully.
“You saved my ass, is what you did,” Mason said. “Last year I had to pay thousands to get my books in order. This year our accountant says you basically did half the job for her.”
I hadn’t messed up. Relief, and then elation, filled my chest.
“I’m glad I was able to help,” I told him. “I can keep doing the bookkeeping if you want me to.”
