Page 104 of The Wrong Side Of Us

My mom sat back, setting her hands on her lap. “What do you think you should do then?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. What could I do?

I couldn’t stop her from going anywhere. I also couldn’t force her to talk to me if she didn’t want to. All I could do was be there for her.

“What about the gallery? I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to work with Jessica anymore.”

I snorted. If she only knew the hell that Jessica had caused. My mom was very much capable of searching for her and telling her exactly what she thought about her. Not only did I lose a person who I’d stupidly considered a friend, but now I was also going to lose a business that had cost me every cent I had, all my efforts. It was the business that was supposed to keep Evelyn and me afloat now that we were forming a family.

Her grandmother left her money, but I didn’t want to touch it unless we absolutely had to.

“I’m leaving the gallery.” My mom’s eyes widened in shock, and then a scowl formed on her lips.

“I know I raised you to be smarter than that, Nathan Maxwell. Why in the hell would you do that?”

I frowned. “Clearly, Jessica needs to be away from us. All she does is cause trouble and every time I’m near her,” I laughed humorlessly, remembering what she’d done just a few hours before; I still found it unbelievable, “every fucking time I’m near her, she pulls some crazy shit, and I can’t do it anymore. It’s causing too many problems in my relationship.”

“Then she should be the one to step away, not you.”

“She’s not going to,” I said.

Disapproving, my mom stood up. “You are being incredibly stupid, Nathan. You shouldn’t let go of what you’ve been working for over someone else’s mistakes. Evelyn wouldn’t like that either.”

Where the hell was she?

The day had already turned cloudy, and it was a clear warning of the storm to come. Evie hadn’t bothered to send a single text message. She’d left without eating.

My mother, ever the intuitive, quickly picked up on my concern. “Have you heard from her?”

“No.”

“It looks like it’s about to storm. You tried getting her on the phone?”

“She won’t reply.” I knew Evie well enough. If she needed time alone, she wasn’t going to reply to any of my messages or pick up my calls.

Within fifteen minutes, it was already pouring outdoors. I groaned, calling her phone number though I knew she wasn’t going to answer.

“Calm down. She’s okay,” my mom comforted. “What you need to do is be able to keep it together while she gets here.”

“I am keeping it together.”

As the words left my lips, the door to the condo opened, and a soaked Evelyn walked in. She smiled sheepishly, waving when she saw us.

“Are you okay?” I asked, walking up to her.

“Yeah, it just started pouring, though.” She laughed, her eyes brighter than they’d been earlier.

“You should go shower, hon, or you’ll get sick,” my mom said, returning her smile.

“You’re okay?” I asked her, brushing her hair away from her face.

“Yeah, just had to go handle some stuff.” She took a stack of papers from beneath her shirt and smirked.

“What is this?” I asked. I immediately recognized the paperwork: ownership of the gallery. “Why do you have this?”

“You’re the sole owner of the gallery now.”

It was in that moment my mother decided to laugh. She muttered something about that being the reason she liked Evie before pretending like she hadn’t said anything.

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