Page 60 of That Reilly Boy
“Aunt Tess called me today,” Gin says just as I’ve taken my first bite. “Somebody in this town likes to gossip and she heard you’re marrying a Reilly.”
Somebody in this town likes to gossip? I chuckle. It’s practically a competitive sport in Sumac Falls.
“It’s not funny, young lady. She said if you go through with it, she’s not coming to the wedding.”
“Did you tell her she wasn’t invited?”
“Of course not. That would be rude. She’s threatening to disown you.”
“Oh no. I’m really going to miss that ten dollars in every birthday card.” I say it with a sarcastic edge, but at this point in my life, every dollar counts. Ten dollars pays for almost a half a tank of gas, if nothing else.
I’ll buy a bicycle, though, before I’ll walk away from this opportunity to get Gin and I out from under this house just because my elderly aunt is chirping about the Gamble legacy and how I’m disgracing it.
“We might need her generosity someday,” Gin says quietly, which is as close as I’ve ever heard her come to admitting we’re not okay in this house. There’s also the fact we will be okay thanks to Hayden’s generosity, but she’s always been a people pleaser when it comes to anybody born a Gamble—except for me, of course.
“Mom, she’s never given us a dime for this house and she never will. Except for those ten dollar bills in my birthday cards and that twenty dollars when I graduated from high school, she’s never given us anything.”
“She’s under no obligation to?—”
“She didn’t help us bury Dad or offer to help with the medical bills,” I say, and then I pause before dealing the death blow to this conversation. “And she didn’t come to his funeral.”
All the fight goes out of Gin in a long, defeated breath. My mother can embrace varying degrees of denial when it comes to issues of money, but her husband’s aunt not showing up to pay her respects was not only an emotional blow, but an affront to that Gamble legacy everybody claims to care so much about.
I wrack my brain to come up with something to talk about as the silence drags on. Usually I’d ask about Sherry and the shop, but they’re probably working on the flowers for my wedding.
“I had the cutest border collie pup in the shop today. It was his first time going to the groomer,” I say, because Gin doesn’t like dogs, but at least they’re a safe topic. She’ll probably ask who owns the dog and since it’s not a Reilly, she’ll tell me everything she knows about the people.
“Is that man going to let you keep your business after you’re married?” she asks sharply, stabbing a chunk of pork chop with an enthusiasm that makes me wince.
“One, he’s not going to let me do anything because, you know, partner in life and not my boss and all that. And two, that man is going to be your son-in-law in two days, so maybe you can use his name.” I take a deep breath, trying to smooth some of the edge out of my voice. “Hayden knows Pampered Pets is important to me, and we’ll work it out.”
She doesn’t ask any more about it, and I can’t think of any topic that might not circle back to Hayden, so we finish the meal in silence. Then she leaves me to clean up without another word, which is fine with me. Her bitterness is like a smog cloud tonight—as it often is after a call from Aunt Tess—and I can breathe easier when she’s not in the room.
After drying the last of the dishes and putting them away, I’m not sure what to do with the rest of my evening. I don’t really want to go watch TV because it might draw Gin back downstairs. And I just ate, so it’s too soon to hide in the garage with my secret stash of snacks.
I pull out my phone, intending to text Mel, but I type out a message to Hayden instead.
CARA
I hope your life is as ridiculous as mine so I’m not suffering alone.
HAYDEN
Ice cream in our spot?
Is he serious? We’re adults now. And also, we’ve already forced our families to accept that we’re getting married. There’s no reason for us to sneak out and go hide in the woods with quickly melting ice cream.
CARA
I’m on my way.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Hayden
I bring Penny with me. She doesn’t love being out in the woods very much, but she hasn’t loved the general vibe of my mother’s house lately, either.
I can’t blame her, and I decide she’d rather be out in the woods with me than alone in her bed again.
