Wes thought she was going to share more but then she shook off whatever she was going to say.“Anyway, thank you for the most delicious matcha I’ve ever had.”She painted on a smile for May.Then she finally looked up at him.“Thanks, again,” she said begrudgingly before she made a beeline to the door.
He was getting ready to go after her, but May stopped him.
“I think she needs some space, Wes.That was a lot to happen all in one trip to the coffee shop.Poor girl just wanted a matcha,” May said, wiping down the tables and walking away.
He sat back down with a thump.May was right even if he didn’t like it.And since Shelby wasn’t calling him, he had to assume she didn’t want to spend more time with him.So he shouldn’t be worried about her, or trying to see her again, but for some reason he couldn’t resist thinking of excuses to head out to Old Man Shepherd’s place again.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Shelby
Making a Mess
“So far thistrip home was a disaster,” Shelby said to herself out loud as she gripped the steering wheel in her truck.
If it weren’t for Pops, she’d never come back again.But as it stood, she was going to be stuck in Sandy Point for at least a few weeks, if not longer.She had no idea where to even start with finding someone to help Pops out.And she felt sort of terrible with the plan to hire strangers to check on him weekly, if that was even frequent enough.Shouldn’t his family be the ones to help him?And wasn’t it just as much her duty to stay and be there for him?
With a heavy sigh she pulled into the private driveway of her parents’ home and stopped in front of the large black gate that hid the Shepherd estate.She pressed the button and waited for the butler to respond.
“Good afternoon, Miss Shelby, please come on in,” he said in his reserved tone that relayed no emotion.
Next the large gates rolled open, and she drove down the stone driveway framed by tall bushes trimmed into level squares and parked under the porte cochere.One last big breath and she exited the truck.She wore a simple navy-blue dress sprinkled with small stars, dark tights, brown boots, and her thick winter coat.It wouldn’t matter what she wore if it wasn’t designer, and her mother would probably find her lacking even then.
The front door opened before she could knock and the butler appeared.Neither of her parents greeted her at the door and the longtime family butler didn’t even crack a smile.
“May I take your coat, Ms.Shelby?”Mr.Brown asked.
Unsure how long she was staying she hesitated, but she knew keeping her coat on would only offer her parents an easy excuse for them to give her a hard time.So she unzipped her coat and handed it over along with her scarf.
“Are my parents in the sitting room?”
“I believe your father is, and your mother hasn’t joined him yet.”
“Thanks for the warning,” she said under her breath as she walked through the large two-story foyer toward the great room in her parents’ ten-thousand-square-foot, beachfront mansion.A monstrosity they’d had built and remodeled every few years.Adding on more ridiculous things like an in-home spa, tennis court, and pool house even though they were less than a mile from the beach club and platinum members for life.She sighed again.Her parents’ lavish lifestyle was probably the least offensive thing about them.And that was saying a lot.
Stepping into the large room with one wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out at the ocean, she couldn’t help but be impressed by the view.There was something about being close to the water that just settled her, soothed any worries.
“Finally decided to honor us with your presence?Honestly, Shelby, your mother has been in a fit all week knowing you were in town and ignoring us.”Her father’s voice effectively popped the calm bubble she’d had looking out at the ocean.
“Hi, Dad, it’s nice to see you again too.I hope you reminded Mom that the two feet of snow and the first blizzard Georgia has seen in decades kept me from even being able to get here?”
There was no warm hug.Her father still sat in his high-back leather chair, holding his paper barely low enough to give her a disapproving glance.
“If you had arrived before the holidays you wouldn’t have been stuck in town for the blizzard.”
She didn’t have an argument for that other than she hadn’t wanted to spend her Christmas and New Year’s with her parents and brothers.It would have ruined the holidays for her.Instead, she’d spent them in her little condo in Atlanta alone, writing, baking, and enjoying the holidays.
“I had a work deadline that couldn’t be missed.”
“What is this mysterious deadline?Since when do waitresses have deadlines?”her mother said, sweeping into the room in a flowing emerald-green dress, as if she’d be heading to a ball later.
“Hello, Mom.”Shelby walked toward her mother to greet her.
Instead of a hug her mom gripped both Shelby’s shoulders and looked her over from head to toe.
“I wish you would let me take you shopping—just because you choose to live like a pauper doesn’t mean you need to dress like one.”
Then her mother gave her an air kiss on each side of her cheeks, as if they were French, but without all the warmth that she knew was embedded in the tradition.Having visited France several times on book tours, she definitely knew more about the intended warm greeting than her mother who never left the state of Georgia.At this point she didn’t know why she didn’t tell her family about her success as a writer, but it was likely because she knew they wouldn’t approve.She knew they would diminish her books, and she just couldn’t subject her work to their scrutiny.
