Page 85 of Single Girl in the City
Abi wasn’t so sure about that but when Owen gave her aYou okaylook she nodded. This time when she turned to Margo, the woman’s face had hardened.
“Why don’t we go over here so we can have a bit of privacy?” Without waiting for Abi to join, Margo walked to the back corner of the bar.
“I forgot to wish you a happy birthday,” Abi said brightly as she fell into step with the older woman.
Margo studied her with a sour look on her face. “I’m not quite sure how to proceed.”
“Proceed?” Abi asked, her stomach roiling.
“I nearly lost two of my sons because I was judgmental and overbearing. I’d like to think I’ve grown since then, which is why I’m not here to judge, I just want answers.”
This was it, the moment that Abi had been dreading had finally come. She’d come clean with Owen, but admitting her role to Margo would be a completely different beast, which was why her plan had been to avoid the matriarch of the family for as long as possible.
Abi felt her face heat and her head go light. Margo was sharp and informed and would never make a move unless she knew the outcome. The tempered censure in the older woman’s eyes had Abi’s palms sweating.
“Did you grow up here in Portland?” Margo asked politely, her hands going to her pearls, her fingers running rhythmically back and forth along the strand.
“No, ma’am, but I did spend summers here with my grandma.”
Margo didn’t say a word, just made a sound of disapproval and Abi had a feeling, deep in her gut, that the jig was up. Margo knew. Abi didn’t know if Owen had already told her, but the woman had put it together.
“And the lawsuit against my husband? Were you a part of that?”
Abi’s knees went weak, and a painful lump formed in her throat. “I want to say no. I wish I could say no, but I can’t.”
“And the testimony that won over the grand jury? Was that you?”
When Owen told her that she wasn’t the only minor involved, Abi had assumed that she wasn’t the only one who testified. “I was deposed, and that went to the grand jury. But I wasn’t aware that my testimony had much effect on the outcome.”
“It was the backbone of the district attorney office’s case.” Instead of flaming with anger, Margo’s eyes went still with sadness. A bone-deep sadness that came from wading in enough grief to take one under. “Even though it never made it to trial, that case derailed my family’s life.”
“I know.”
“In part, your testimony was the reason Owen came from Austin to help his father with the bar.”
Abi had taken a lot of blame for a lot of people’s choices over the past few months and, at that moment, she realized that being sorry about something didn’t make her guilty. “While I’m sorry how it affected your family, I only testified to the truth.”
“And were you truthful with my son about everything?”
“Yes, ma’am.” And all the lightness she’d felt after coming clean suddenly wrapped around her neck and slowly started to choke her.
Margo went silent, her lips pursing as if she’d come to some idea of who Abi was as a person. And she didn’t think it would be all that flattering. “So did you come to work your way into my son’s life out of remorse?”
Oh my god.She hadn’t meant to but that’s what she’d done. “It might have started that way but—”
“But what? You befriended my son, myself, and my friends by doing little favors to appease your own guilt. Is that what my son is to you?”
“No! It wasn’t like that.” But when she heard it said aloud, she knew it was exactly like that.
“How much of why you’re in Portland does he know about?”
Abi closed her eyes and expelled a deep breath. “He knows that I came back to heal after an accident and to right some wrongs.”
“Does he realize that he was nothing but a wrong to right?”
“I was going to tell him everything about why I came back to town tomorrow after your party.”
“What were you going to tell me?” an achingly familiar voice said from behind. Then there were his hands, gentle and protective as they settled on her shoulders. As if she needed the reassurance.
