Page 74 of The Usual Family Mayhem

For a few seconds neither of them said a thing. They stared at me with identical, unreadable expressions.

Then Gram looked at Celia. “I told you.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

The last few minutes had been a blurry mess of silent pleading and too many words. But I heard Gram’s comment. Her really scary comment. “You told Celia I was the problem?”

Celia sighed. “Not exactly, but yes.”

“We’ve known you a long time, young lady.” Gram loved to pull out theyoung lady. “You can’t shock us.”

“We guessed you being home had something to do with your job. At first, I assumed you lost it because you were being secretive, but your odd behavior suggested it was something else. Something you were afraid to tell us. Then Harlan showed up.” Celia made a face that suggested she wanted to be done talking about him.

“He thinks he’s so smart but asking you to walk him out?” Gram snorted. “That was the tip-off that you were messed up in something big and he found out about it.”

Defeated by age, wisdom, and subterfuge weaponized by two sneaky ladies with CIA-level skills. They should have been undercover operatives. Knowing these two, maybe they were. They sure proved they could keep a secret.

I waited for a smack of emotions. Anger, frustration, relief. All I could muster was a massive case of confusion. A big ball ofwhat the hell.All that worrying and guilt... well, that wasjustified. I deserved both, but still. They’d conned me, the brilliant little devils.

“Was that fake outrage over Harlan’s comments? Were you two trying to teach me a lesson?”If so, bravo.Their teaming up with Harlan made me want to spit, but the rest of their act was pretty impressive.

“Heaven’s no.” Gram’s clipped response didn’t bode well.

Oh...

“Not at all.” Celia’s tone and delivery were a bit less abrupt. “The shock over him trying to weasel into our business was very real.”

“The toad.” Gram continued without further defaming toads. “But there’s one thing I don’t understand. Why not come to us and ask first?”

Her words were a reminder that I had so much left to disclose. “That would have been wise, yes.”

“And why would you enlist Harlan’s help for a sale?” Celia asked. “Your company must have other investors, ones not tangentially related to us.”

They thought I was working with Harlan? Talk about a communications misfire. “I didn’t. No way. His plans are his plans. I didn’t know about them until he unloaded over tea.”

Celia looked like she kept sorting through the information she’d gathered and couldn’t put it together. “What about the call he says he received? Was that from your company or was it a lie?”

“That beady-eyed guy with the California name. That’s where it came from.” Gram made atsk-tsking sound. “Must be. He looked like trouble.”

Brock strikes again. He was the answer in my theory, too. But even I had to admit Brock didn’t touch off this cascading disaster. The honor of lighting the initial fire went to me. “Yes. Well, no. I caused it. Sort of... mostly.”

Gram’s mouth flatlined. “Explain.”

“Now, Mags.” Celia put her hand over Gram’s. “We’re prepared to listen and be fair.”

“We’ll see.” Gram didn’t even snort this time. She didn’t need to. Her tone said enough.

The green light kick-started my brain. No more stalling or being careful with my words. The truth tumbled out. Every last piece. That ambush at the business meeting. The part about my job being in jeopardy. The pressure from Brock that led to the spontaneous pitch. My panic. My guilt. The regrets that piled on every day I stayed without being honest with them. Coming home and enjoying being here. Ignoring my grown-up responsibilities.

Self-preservation be damned. I verbally vomited all of it. Every last unattractive detail.

Then I waited.

Silence descended. Intense and crushing. Who knew the absence of noise made a pounding sound? It echoed in my ears and vibrated through me. It sucked up all the oxygen in the room and squeezed, touching off a tightening in my chest.

Gram didn’t react to the suffocating stillness. Her facial expression stayed the same. An atmosphere of foreboding wrapped around her. Celia rubbed her forehead as if my long-winded, topsy-turvy explanation gave her a headache. I had one, so it could happen.

The quiet stretched on. Every so often I’d think about stepping in and saying something else, but Gram’sdon’t you dareglare stopped me.

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