Page 64 of A Touch of Spring Magic

“Mulligan. It’s a do-over free of charge.”

Jessica nodded. She wanted a mulligan with Storm. Maybe even two, but she’d have to earn them. Prove herself to him, but first to herself.

“It’s a little like forgiveness?” She looked at him as he steered around an older driver who pulled into his lane going half the speed of traffic as she merged onto the highway. Storm didn’t complain or swear, just let her in and safely changed lanes.

“Yeah,” he said quietly.

Jessica watched the sky turn pink and she thought she’d need to not only earn Storm’s forgiveness but quite possibly her own as well.

Chapter Twelve

“Idon’t believeit. I simply don’t believe it.” Sean Patrick Ryan Maye, her father, paced in front of her.

She’d asked to come over after Sunday’s church service.

Her mom had made a light lunch, but no one had gone anywhere near the table.

“Why would you put up with that? Why didn’t you consult me?”

He’d asked this too. She’d predicted his anger and frustration but not his bewilderment. That hurt had kept her quiet, probably seemingly appeasing, and yet, other than the fact she should have come clean a couple of weeks ago, Jessica still felt in the right.

“They can’t treat you like that.”

“I know,” Jessica said, again, although her company’s behavior was not at all the point, although the settlement Meghan was negotiating had reached ridiculous numbers, but Jessica veered back and forth between taking the money or becoming a whistleblower.

Meghan thought she could do both, and although she and Sarah had offered to accompany her to speak to their parents, Jessica knew this was best to do on her own.

“It’s going to be all right, Daddy,” she said softly while her mother fidgeted with her glass of chardonnay—an unexpected afternoon beverage, showing how unsettled her mother still was, and for that Jessica felt sorry.

“I acted when I shouldn’t,” she admitted. “But I did nothing wrong other than discover that several employees were helping to launder money and embezzling small amounts from clients. The numbers never lie, you taught me that.” She wanted to reassure him, find common ground.

“The guilty should pay, not you.”

They’d gone over this.

“Sit, Daddy. You’ll wear a hole in Mama’s favorite Turkish rug.”

He made a sound.

“The partner responsible was fired.”

“The one who fired you?”

“Yes. He was let go. So were the three others involved. Meghan is negotiating a severance package for me, but I…”

“You should have your job back. You were up for partner, but they hired that nepo baby straight out of Wharton.”

Jessica had no idea her father knew the term ‘nepo baby.’ And while she’d been upset that Drew the III had taken what she thought she’d earned, she was now relieved.

“Daddy, please sit. I love you. I do. But I want you to hear me. I don’t want my job back,” she said as he all but collapsed on the couch near her mother.

“And I don’t want to be the CFO of your company. I want to start a nursery. I want to restore the Cramer gardens—even create a botanical garden that could be open to the public sometimes.”

He stared at her aghast. “A nursery? Plants. On a prime piece of real estate? The lots alone would bring in over six million and that’s low-balling.”

“I know but it’s our family history, Daddy. The Mayes and the Cramers started off as farmers. Thousands of acres. All of that’s gone but this, and Grandma Millie’s family farm. I have so many memories there with Meghan, Sarah and Chl…”

“I don’t want to hear it.” He stood up. “Preposterous. My mother never should have done such a thing. Putting property in trust to the four of you? It will cause problems for all of you. Mark my words.”

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