“Dinner?” I laughed. “Mother, you do realize I no longer live in Jacksonville and have my own life now in Tampa.” There were more days than not I’d wished I’d taken a job across the country.
“Your father was supposed to call you.”
“He tried but didn’t leave a message as usual.” Not that my father would. We were definitely oil and water, our beliefs completely different. “And I’m busy just like he is.”
“This is important family business. You must attend.”
I almost hung up. “What family business?”
“For one thing, your sister is engaged.”
I burst into laughter. “What is this, the seventh time?”
As expected, my mother was annoyed. “You have no right to make fun of your sister! Besides, she assures us this one is the right one and we’re already planning the wedding. So this is a celebration of her upcoming nuptials.”
“What else?” I could tell she was hiding the real reason.
“Your father has an important announcement and he deserves to have your presence every once in a while. Besides, your father’s birthday is on Sunday.”
“If you think I’d stay through the weekend, you’re wrong. I have a life.”
“Doing what? Grading papers for delinquent, vagrant children?”
I sucked in my breath to keep from telling my mother off. Tawny could obviously hear my mother’s loud voice. I bit my tongue until I tasted blood. “Mother, the children I teach are our future leaders. They are highly intelligent, extremely talented kids who just happen to come from normal families. Not like the plastic version I grew up in. So don’t you dare get on your high horse. I’d rather spend time with my kids than some trumped-up people with lots of money but no class.”
Tawny sucked in her breath and I couldn’t help but tell I suddenly had an audience. Fantastic. Just what I needed. “You go, girl,” she said quietly, pumping her fist in admiration.
I rubbed my hand through my hair, shaking from anger. The sudden silence on the other end of the phone likely meant my mother was ready to explode. Go for it. I hadn’t enjoyed a knock-down drag-out fight with my family in months. I was long overdue.
“Please come to dinner, Christine.” Hearing the change in my mother’s tone knocked the wind from my sails. “It would mean the world to Delaney and to me as well. You’re part of the family. I know we haven’t always gotten along and I want to change that.”
Uh-huh.
While she sounded sincere, I couldn’t say anything. At least at first. Not until I’d counted to ten. “Why?”
“Because I need my daughter here. Both daughters. We’ve grown apart and I don’t like how we ended our last conversation. Because I worry about you. Because I’d like to see you. Do I really need a reason?”
With my eyes narrowed, I pulled the phone away from my face, staring at the screen. Had I just walked into an alternate universe? I must have for my mother to be begging. “Is there something going on I should know about?”
“No, honey. Just… Please come. I’ll send a car and you can leave first thing on Saturday. Okay? No strings.”
Now I cinched my eyes closed. My mother had only begged once before in her life. When I was so sick I needed her. Damn it. “I don’t need a car sent for me. I have a perfectly good vehicle.” That spent a lot of time in the shop, but I refused to be beholden to them for even a car ride. If I needed to leave, I’d leave.
“So you’ll come?”
Don’t do it. Don’t you dare do it.
Even my inner voice was concerned. Then again, how bad could one dinner be? “Fine. I’ll come, but bright and early Saturdaymorning I’m out of there.” If I dared tell her I had a second job, I’d never hear the end of it.
She laughed as if she’d just won a round with me. Maybe she had.
“Good girl. Oh, this is a semiformal event with several very special guests. I assume you have the money to purchase a decent dress, or do I need to give you my credit card number?”
My mother was an evil woman. Just plain evil. “Did you forget the part where I do have a job?”
“You can barely pay your bills. However, that’s fine. As long as it’s presentable given the formality of the dinner. And don’t worry. I have a young man who will be your date for the evening.”
How would she know if I could or couldn’t pay my bills? Because I didn’t beg for my trust fund? I couldn’t care less about the money.
