I’d just vowed to avoid the Slade-Gordon-Flame situation, and yet here I was sitting on this piece of information. I had to tell Colin. Maggie’s excuse for having been gone was 100% a lie. She’d been right here the whole time.
As a guest, I presumed. I didn’t think that Malia would be an accomplice to kidnapping Maggie.
Something else struck me. Malia gave me that bit of news in a very off-hand way. I was willing to bet that Colin had always known where she’d been that week.
More lies. More secrets.
I shook my head and packed my bag while I waited for my breakfast.
The brunch was to begin at eleven o’clock, so I snuck down at quarter to ten to wait outside by the field.
Hearing my name from the sunroom, however, made me scrunch my face. I felt like I’d been caught doing something naughty, but I walked into the sunroom with my head held high. Mrs. Gordon was sitting in the same position as she’d been the day I’d arrived.
“Oh, Kate, thatwasyou. I’m sorry you were unwell last night. I hope you’re alright now?”
“Yes, and I wanted to say thank you all for your hospitality. Please tell your family goodbye for me, and I’m sorry I can’t stay for the brunch.”
“I was quite surprised that Colin had to leave you so early, but he’s so devoted to his work. Always has been. Even as a child, he was very different from Stephen and Landon.”
I tried not to make judgments on that, but the fact that she was making comparisons of her sons, some of whom she’d sent to boarding school for most of their childhood, had my stomach turning.
“He is a very hard worker,” I agreed.
“Very loyal, too. He’s always the one who helps me. I don’t know if he’s told you, but I have suffered throughout my adult life from various bouts of severe depression. Colin used to write me such lovely letters from school when I was in treatment.”
I blinked a few times, unsure why she was sharing such intimate details with me, but suddenly her distance from her children made a different kind of sense. “I’m sorry to hear you’ve suffered with depression.”
She waved her hand. “It’s something I live with. An old friend by now. I wanted you to understand that when Colin is in, he’s all in.”
I couldn’t fathom the complicated Gordons, and now I’d never get the chance to. I smiled at her and simply said, “I have to get going. Thanks again.”
Her smile was rather emotionless, and I wondered about the demons she regularly fought.
I walked out of there, praying the helicopter would take me far, far away from the wreckage of Colin Slade.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
By the time I landed at a field a couple of blocks away from my mother’s place, I’d learned to open my eyes in the helicopter. My fingers were white from gripping the bottom of my seat almost the entire way. I didn’t have Colin to distract me this time, and I doubted the very serious pilot wanted to have a chat. Not that I wanted to distract anyone I was depending on for survival in any way whatsoever.
As I pulled my suitcase along the sidewalk, I wondered if I should have called my mother beforehand. She might easily have been at any of the neighbors’ apartments, a restaurant, or any other entertainment venue.
When I reached her apartment door, I figured I’d try knocking, but the sound of music by the pool gave me the idea I’d likely find her there. Sure enough, no one answered the door. I slipped into the tiny plot of garden that she’d been allotted, found the stone with the built-in hide-a-key, and let myself into the apartment.
I’d felt at home there for the past few months, but today was different. I noticed she’d printed and framed new pictures. Most were of us together, but there were others of her and her newfriends. My parents’ wedding photo remained front and center, just as it had in our old house.
With a loud sigh, I peeked through the back door window, where a view of the pool area revealed a group dancing around the pool. My mother’s mix of blond and silver hair shone in the sunlight, and I giggled to myself as she attempted to do a line dance.
It was a couple of hours before my mom came home. In the meantime, I helped myself to leftover lasagna and watched almost all of theBridesmaidsmovie in an attempt to laugh away my problems.
“What the—! Katie! What are you doing here?” She dropped her towel and tote bag on the floor by the door and rushed over to hug me. Her wide-brimmed sun hat hit me in the eye.
“Ouch, Mom.”
She whipped it off, grabbed me by my shoulders, and tried to will me to speak with her expressive eyes. “What happened, sweetie?”
I told her most of it, leaving out the sexy bits, though I was pretty sure she’d have been happy to listen to that too. I also left out Blake and my subsequent hypothermia episode.
“Well, that’s disappointing, isn’t it? You think things are going well, and then you find out someone’s true colors. It’s good you found out now that he’s not trustworthy. He would always have put his job before you. That’s how these rich men are. Afraid of losing their money.”
