Pouting, Gina spun on her heel and stalked into the room. Evie turned to Thorn, his calm, solid presence grounding her in a way nothing else could.
“Keep an eye on her. I need to make a phone call,” she murmured, heading back into the funeral director’s office.
She finished signing the remaining papers as she spoke with the lawyer, who was equally shocked that Oscar had remarried and never updated his will. “It was a real wedding,” she told him, stacking the documents neatly on the director’s desk. “Tommy confirmed it.”
Fred exhaled heavily, and she could practically see him running a hand through his snow-white hair, his permanently pink face creased in irritation.
“She could take us to court and contest the will, and she’d win,” he said. “Rather than going through that, I suggest we offer her a lump sum and have her sign an agreement stating that it’s all she’ll receive.”
“How much?” Evie asked, glancing up as she heard Gina’s voice from the other room and Thorn’s low, unintelligible reply.
“I’ll need to review the accounts first. Get her contact information and tell her I’ll be in touch.”
“Thanks, Fred. You’re a lifesaver.” Relief rippled through her as she hung up, gathered the papers, and left the office.
“Dad’s lawyer will contact you about his estate and what you’re entitled to,” she informed Gina as she approached, too drained to soften the edge in her voice.
“Oh, good.” Gina brightened instantly, and Evie almost admired how quickly she could pivot from teary-eyed grief to radiant greed. “I want his ashes.”
Evie was completely done with her father, with Gina, with all of it. She just wanted the woman gone.
“Take them,” she said flatly, turning away to look for the funeral director. “Saves me the trouble of throwing them out,” she muttered as she walked off.
Chapter Twenty: Breaking Point
Thorn brought Evie to the Tower to pick up her car and fill Tommy and Nissa in on what had happened after they left, and to see how her mother reacted to Gina’s sudden appearance. Tommy wasn’t surprised that Fred had suggested paying Gina a lump sum to make her go away and agreed it was the bestpossible option to ensure she didn’t try to come after Evie for more money later on.
He told her that Della hadn’t really reacted to Gina’s declaration that she was Oscar’s wife.
“She made a rather snarky comment about him having traded down - what was it, Nissa?” Tommy looked like he was struggling not to laugh. “He really put the bar on the ground this time, but I guess he didn’t have a lot of choice, being a convicted felon who couldn’t even finish the job.”
Nissa nodded, her eyes sparkling as she hid her smile behind her mug. “Your mother is surprisingly witty when she wants to be.”
Evie rolled her eyes, remembering her mother’s “witty” comments that had caused Oscar to have the temper tantrum that killed him. “Yeah, she’s a regular Lucille Bluth,” she muttered, not in the mood to discuss her mother’s snark after the day she’d had.
“Did you drop her off at the apartment or at the church?” Evie glanced at her watch. It was almost dinner time, and she was planning to stop and grab takeout on the way home.
“She wanted to go home and lie down.” Tommy’s amusement faded as he saw how annoyed Evie was. “We dropped her off a little over two hours ago.” He draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a brief hug. “Come on, I’ve got some homemade tomato basil soup warming up on the stove, and I was about to make some grilled cheese sandwiches for supper. Let’s get something warm in your belly, and you can bring some home to your mom.”
Evie hesitated. She had been keeping up with her coursework for the most part, but she still had a lot of workto do. Still, homemade tomato basil soup and grilled cheese sandwiches were very tempting.
“Yeah, that sounds great.”
**********
Riding up in the elevator to her apartment, Evie checked her phone again, wondering why her mother hadn’t responded to her texts or returned her calls. She had been sleeping more than usual lately, eating less, and had lost some weight, but Evie had chalked it up to depression. She’d suggested a doctor’s visit a couple of times, but Della had brushed her off.
Opening the door to the apartment, Evie looked around but didn’t see her mother anywhere. “Hey, Mom!” she called, setting the Tupperware bowl on the small table next to the door as she took off her jacket and hung it up. “I brought food if you haven’t eaten yet.”
There was no response, and Evie sighed. Her mother’s jacket and boots were in the closet, so she was home, either choosing not to answer, which, given the day’s events, was possible, or still sleeping, which meant she’d been asleep for close to five hours if she’d lain down right after Tommy dropped her off.
Walking down the hall, she paused outside her mother’s room and listened for a second before she knocked. “Mom?”
There was no answer, so Evie opened the door just enough to look in and make sure Della was asleep and not simply ignoring her while praying. She wasn’t in bed, but Evie almost staggered back as the stench of alcohol and vomit hit her.
“Mom?” Gagging, Evie walked in slowly, afraid of what she might find. Peering over the side of the bed, she found Della lying on the floor in a pool of vomit, a large bottle of vodka practically empty beside her. “Oh God - Mom!”
Running around the bed, she dropped to her knees and hesitantly reached out, picking up Della’s hand and feeling her wrist for a pulse. Finding one, she breathed a shaky sigh of relief and reached up, shaking her shoulder. “Mom? Mom, wake up.”
