“Keep telling yourself lies. Ain’t nothing you got worth what?—”
“Shut up.” I snapped my lips together. Had I really said that?
Mom could only turn her head, or she’d risk making the pain flare up. “Listen here, you little?—”
“No. You listen.” My heart ricocheted against my ribs. Anger made my throat thick and that blood pressure spike from earlier returned tenfold. My temples pounded. I fisted my hands. “I can’t believe you called me that. I’m yourdaughter.” I glared at her. “Mae Bailey wouldnever.”
Mom sucked in a righteous breath and pain puckered the corners of her eyes. Her pulse spiked on the monitor. “How dare?—”
“How could I not?” Adrenaline flushed through my veins. She’d humiliated me and she’d called me names. It wasn’t even noon. “All this time, I stuck around because you’re all I have, and I don’t get to see Logan. I wanted to take care of you because you never took care of me. To prove I’m not like you.”
I blinked rapidly, reality hitting me from all sides. Maybe I’d needed to prove it to myself more than anyone else, but that had been before.
Before I’d been treated with love and respect by people who took nothing from me. “You need me, Mom. I don’t need you.”
Her hard facade cracked, a hairline fracture. I’d hit on the truth. Was that why she resented me so much? The kid she’d never wanted was the one she had to count on? Perhaps it was one of many reasons.
“I don’t need you,” she said in a rough whisper.
“Good.” I yanked my purse over my shoulder. “You have a chance to prove it. I’ll make sure everything’s paid on time. Wait until the house sells to get kicked out, otherwise you’ll have to find a shelter to take you in. Don’t call me and don’t expect me to stop in. I’m done, Mom.”
I stomped out.
“Madison!”
I ignored her. A wide-eyed young nurse I didn’t recognize stared at me from the nurses’ station. She got to witness the infamous Townsends firsthand.
“If she wants to remove me from her contact information, let her,” I said.
“Madison, goddammit!” Mom yelled. “Get back here.”
I smiled at the nurse.
Her big eyes shifted toward Mom’s room. “O-okay.”
I breezed out of the hospital and nearly vaulted into my truck. I gulped down air and blew it out hard. My hands trembled on the steering wheel. When I glanced in the rearview mirror, tears were streaking down my face.
“Damn.” I swiped at my cheeks as I tore out of town.
At Teller’s house, I didn’t even pull into the garage. Sobs racked my body. Had I done the right thing? I’d cut off my mom. Wendi was being a manipulative hag with my nephew. I was alone.
I cried harder and rested my forehead on the steering wheel. Would Aunt Tilly be proud or horrified?
Was I proud or horrified with myself?
The door ripped open and strong arms gathered me to a hard chest. “Madison? What’s wrong?”
He was there for me. Concerned like I thought he’d be. Acting like I wasn’t an imposition. More tears fell. Faster and harder. I wept until my ribs hurt and my throat was raw.
Teller held me, stroking my back, rocking me as much as he could.
“She was so mean.” I hiccuped. “So mean.”
“Your mom?”
I nodded against his pecs. My face had to be a blotchy red mess and my hair was falling out of its braid. “She broke her hip.” I sucked in a shuddering breath. “And she called me a Bailey whore.”
He went rigid. “She did what?”
