Page 88 of Break Out

“Unless you’re calling to apologize, I don’t want to hear it. The way you acted to me, to Clara, to everyone, was absolutely uncalled for. You left on Clara’s wedding day. Why? Because you didn’t get your way? Did you apologize to her?”

She huffs out a breath. “Aubrey Elizabeth. That is no way to speak to your mother.”

I scoff. “What am I, five? I’m an adult. But you never treat me that way. You never show me any respect, so why should I show you any? And you didn’t answer my question. Did you apologize to Clara?”

“There’s nothing to apologize for.”

I roll my eyes so hard I’m surprised they don’t get stuck. Sucking in a deep breath, I say, “I’m done. I’m done letting you treat me like this. I refuse to put up with it. So until you can apologize to me and the rest of the family and speak to me with respect, I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Aubrey—“ she starts to say, but I don’t want to hear it. I pull the phone away from my ear and hang up, my hands shaking. I take a few deep breaths. Shit, I can’t believe I did that. But also, holy hell that felt good.

I shoot off a quick text to my siblings, giving them the Reader’s Digest version of what just happened. Clara and Bri both respond quickly, saying they’re behind me one hundred percent and that they plan to tell Mother the same thing. Thad responds with a thumbs up. I take that as he’s agreeing with us, too, but I don’t know. He’s in a different situation since he has to talk to her because of the business.

That done, I put my phone on silent and finish packing so I can get ready for bed.

I hope I can sleep tonight after all of that because tomorrow is going to be a long day. I plan to get up bright and early. I have things I need to take care of before I catch a midafternoon flight to Orlando.

I hope it’s not too late to make things right with Brody.

To tell him that I love him.

Here’s to hoping he answers the door.

Chapter thirty-six

Brody

“Did you get a hold of her?” Caleb asks.

“No. The university told me that yesterday was her last day.”

“I’m sorry, man. And you tried calling her?”

“Yeah.” I run a hand through my hair, leaning my head against the wall behind the couch and cradling the phone between my shoulder and chin. “She didn’t pick up.”

I’ve called Aubrey at least a dozen times this morning. I want, no, I need, to talk to her before she leaves for Hawaii. I was hoping she’d pick up the phone so I could ask her if we could talk in person. I even searched for flights last night, and there’s one this afternoon that I can make.

Before Caleb can answer, there’s a knock at my front door. I frown, pulling my phone away from my ear to see if I have any missed calls from the front desk. There are only a few people, mostly my teammates, who are approved to come up without the doorman calling me first. And since the front desk hasn’t called, it means someone who’s on my approved list is here. “You’re not knocking on my door, are you?” I ask, getting to my feet.

“Nope. I can come over later if you want, though.”

“Give me a minute,” I say into the phone as I pull the door open.

I blink a few times at the woman standing in front of me, my mouth opening and closing, before finding my voice.

“I gotta call you back,” I say, hanging up before Caleb can respond. “Aubrey?” My voice is barely above a whisper.

“Hi. Can we talk?”

I hold the door open and gesture for her to come in. Silently, we take seats on opposite ends of the couch. Aubrey turns to face me, her back against the armrest and her feet tucked up under her.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry, Brody. I was–am, an idiot. I got scared and ran. Instead of staying and having a conversation with you.” She drops her head into her hands. “I’m such an idiot. I don’t know why I wanted to throw away what we had.”

I stay silent.

Holding my breath.