Page 9 of Wilder

At one point in her life, if they’d come to the resort, Lexi would have been out on the ice, and her mom would have been sitting at one of the tables with an expensive coffee in hand.

Right then, however, she would have given it all up for the more practical rink she’d practiced in for years. Or a rink with ads on the boards and an audience who loved figure skating competitions, screaming and waving posters with her and Mikhail’s faces on them.

Lexi’s stomach tightened as a familiar anger flickered inside her. She took a deep breath, held it, then exhaled heavily.

Would she ever not feel angry and betrayed?

For sure, it wasn’t that day.

She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her jacket and checked the time. Seeing it was nearly six in the morning, she tapped the screen to pull up her mom’s contact information.

Every day at that time, she called her mom, since she was in the south of France, so nine hours ahead of where Lexi was in Idaho.

“Hello, Lexi, my darling.” Her mom’s face filled the screen of her phone. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, Momma,” Lexi said, unwilling to ever tell her anything to the contrary. “How are you?”

“I’m doing well.” The luminous smile on her mom’s face seemed to back up her words. “Leland is off checking on the yacht. They’re supposed to be finishing up the interior this week, and we’re going to go out for a few days once it’s done.”

Lexi smiled, though it wasn’t how she really felt in the moment. A small part of the anger she held inside was directed at her mom. Even though she loved her beyond words, Lexi struggled with how easily her mom had moved on.

That was probably because she hadn’t lost her career the way Lexi had, along with the betrayal they’d both been dealt. Shemight have lost her first marriage, but she’d already moved on to her second.

The moment Eileen Corbyn had gotten a whiff of the fact that her husband was under investigation for fraud, embezzlement and a bunch of other white-collar crimes, she’d filed for divorce. She’d put distance between herself and her husband as quickly as possible.

The man she’d married afterward was nice enough, but it hurt that her mom had been able to put everything behind her so quickly while Lexi still struggled.

Lexi hadn’t been able to escape the impact of her father’s actions as easily. The past year and a half had been a struggle, as she’d lost her career due to her father’s notoriety. And his recent trial had been a horribly difficult time for her.

Obviously, it had been difficult for her father too, but Lexi didn’t particularly care what he felt because he’d made his own bed. He could lie in it.

The punishment she’d been dealt for his actions felt particularly harsh, but she hadn’t been able to mitigate any of it.

The only reason she’d finally found a place for herself on the other side of the country in small town Idaho after her mom had left New York City for France was that her godfather—a man she hadn’t even known—had stepped in and offered her a job at the new ice rink he’d had built at one of his resort properties.

She was grateful that Alexander Remington hadn’t abandoned them like so many friends had, but she supposed it helped that his wife had been a friend of her mother’s, not her father’s.

“Do you think you’ll come visit soon, darling?” her mom asked, interrupting her rabbiting thoughts. “I miss you so much.”

“I’ve only just started here, Momma. I don’t think I can ask for time off so soon.”

Her mom wrinkled her nose. “Maybe I should have a word with Alexander. Surely he’d understand.”

Lexi wasn’t so sure that her namesake was going to cut her any slack. From what she’d learned about him recently, he was a fair, but firm, businessman.

He didn’t have any involvement in her job there beyond hiring her. The manager at the resort was a woman named Kayleigh St. James, who Lexi had discovered was married to a high-level employee in Remington Properties.

“No, Momma,” Lexi said firmly. “Don’t bother Alexander about it. For now, we’ll just have to be happy with this way of communicating.”

Her mom’s shoulders slumped as she gave a little pout. It was a pout she’d never grown out of, apparently, since Lexi had seen her doing it all of her life. While it might have worked on her husbands, both current and ex, it didn’t work on Lexi.

She was immune to her mom’s attempts to get her way. For as much as she loved her, Lexi didn’t like how she moved through life, usually manipulating in subtle ways to get what she wanted. She had a super sweet disposition, which helped make people want to give her what she wanted. That just wasn’t Lexi’s personality.

From a young age, Lexi had learned that if she wanted to reach her goal of winning gold medals for her skating, she wasgoing to have to work hard. No coy smiles or pouty looks were going to get her what she wanted.

It was a weird way for her mom to operate, considering she was also a Christian. Her dad had claimed to be a Christian, too, but that admission hadn’t been borne out by his actions. It was probably because of that claim that he’d been able to swindle so many people behind the scenes.

“You and Leland can always come visit me here,” Lexi said. “The resort would definitely meet your standards as a vacation destination. Lots of luxuries. Great views.”

---