Page 46 of What I Should've Said

She nods. “Uh-huh. Just a job. With the guy who rescues you from scary exes and—”

“It is just a job.”

“Yeah. I know.”

I frown. “You implied differently.”

She laughs. “Can I assume you’ll start contributing to groceries while you’re living here since you’re a billionaire now?”

I snort. “Shut up.”

She grins, but then her mouth straightens in a slightly serious way. “Listen, I don’t want to ruin the mood, but there’s something else I think I need to tell you.”

Immediate dread settles in my stomach. “What?”

“Mom called me today,” she states bluntly, her gaze holding steady on mine.

“Mom called you?”

“She called CAFFEINE, actually. She wanted to know where you were.”

Oh hell.

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her I didn’t know,” Josie answers without hesitation. “From where I stand, it’s none of her business where you are or what you’re doing.”

Instantly, my breaths start to get easier.

“Did she say anything else?”

“It’s Eleanor. Of course she said other shit.” Josie shrugs. “Doesn’t mean I listened or believe her.”

“Did she mention anything about Thomas coming to Red Bridge and Bennett hitting him?”

Josie just nods but doesn’t give me anything else.

I can only imagine my mother’s point of view on the whole Thomas debacle. Surely it’s all my fault, and the golden boy didn’t do anything wrong. He might not be her biological child, but they’re two peas in a self-involved, narcissistic pod.

“So…I take it she had some not-so-nice things to say about me, then?”

“Don’t take it personally,” Josie responds with a gentle smile. “Eleanor Ellis is the most judgmental woman on the face of the planet. Amazing how everyone she encounters is the crazy one. Seems to me there’s a common denominator she’s excluding.”

She’s not lying. Our mother never turns the harsh judgment on herself, even though she needs to.

“Norah, I’m hoping one day soon, you’ll tell me the whole story. I’m your sister. I want to be there for you,” Josie adds and leans forward to pick up one of the moving boxes on her porch. “Now, let’s start helping these guys get all these boxes inside so they’re not here until midnight.”

She doesn’t push any further. Instead, she carries one of my boxes into the house, and I follow her lead, picking up another box and carrying it inside.

When I catch up with her, I ask one more question, though it doesn’t have anything to do with our mother.

“Hey, Josie?”

“Yeah?”

“Did…did you know Bennett has a daughter?”

Her face softens, making it instantaneously clear that she did. “Yeah. He tell you about her?”

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