Page 135 of Broken Grump

She grins and shrugs her shoulders. “I didn’t plan on it. But she saw it when going through the channels one day, and she absolutely loved it. The Child Snatcher and all.”

“Catcher, Mom. Catcher,” Luna corrects.

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

“Huh.” That is apparently something she didn’t get from me because the thought of that character still sends a shiver down my spine.

“Next, I’ll draw you,” Luna says to her mother.

Not surprising at all, that depiction comes out much more flattering. She even manages to capture the little wisps of baby hair that Addie has just above her temples.

We stay up there for a while, and just as the sun starts to set, Luna asks, “Can we have dinner up here?”

As the parental figure, I let Addie decide that one.

“Um . . .”

“It’s fine by me,” I mouth behind our child’s back. “We can just order pizza or something.”

“Okay, fine.”

“Yay!” Luna cheers.

Despite Addie’s initial enthusiasm about the treehouse, her mood seems to have dampened a bit, and she’s more stone-faced now. But she agreed to stay for a while longer. That’s all that matters.

Chapter thirty-nine

Addie

Part of my mindis still reeling from everything that happened a few days ago with Hayden and the tree house. And since its erection, I’m feeling even better about my decision to stay in L.A. Luna is also happy as a clam, but my bestie, Sam, is not.

However, I promised her I’d take her to Outside Lands—a hip music, art, and food festival in Long Beach to see one of her favorite bands, The 1975, to make up for it.

“Fine,” she said after I proposed those terms in exchange for her forgiveness. “But I want to be drunk off my ass with the classiest red wine the whole time.”

I just smiled on the other end of the line and agreed.

So, it looks like we’re staying. But I still need to get my mother off my case. And if that means she gets to run Flores Holdings and get a small chunk of my abuelo’s fortune, then so be it.

“Good morning,” Steven greets me in the subsidiary office early that morning.

“Good morning,” I respond curtly. It’s nothing against him, I just always get nervous whenever I have to be around you know who. “Is she here?”

“She is. She’s sitting in the conference room.”

I usually love it in this office, as it reminds me everywhere I look of my grandfather. That’s why I’m so happy I get to keep it just the way it is. But with Mother Dearest’s impending presence in my brain, everything I see is tainted in darkness.

Can’t wait for that to be over once and for all.

Before going in, I pour myself a cup of coffee in the break room.

“Do you need one?” I offer to Steven after peeking my head in and intentionally not extending the same to my mother.

“No, I’m fine. Thanks.”

After that, I sit down across the table from both of them. As usual, she’s wearing a ridiculous outfit that I’m sure cost an arm and a leg.

“You just need to sign right here, Addie,” Steven says before sliding a piece of paper over to me.

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