Page 20 of The Hometown Dilemma
“Right.” I let go of the punching bag and Austen fell forward as it swung out of his reach. I didn’t want to be a part of some sort of love triangle, so I’d obviously do the right thing and step out of Austen’s way. Much like my dad had earlier, I’d step away without a fight.
Later that night, I sat on my couch, trying to make sense of the license applications for showing sports. I wished Mom was with me, she was so much better at understanding all the legal jargon. I didn’t want to inadvertently sign us up for anything which would cost us more than it should.
As I was about to give up and go to bed, my phone pinged with a message.
Expecting it to be from someone at the bar with an issue, I groaned, preparing to get dressed and go over there.
But the message pleasantly surprised me.
Jaime:Hey, sorry I didn’t reply sooner, it’s been a crazy day. I’m a bit tired, but otherwise okay. See you at the bar soon xx
The clouds lifted and everything about the evening seemed brighter. Perhaps Austen hadn’t spoken to her yet.
Wade:No worries, been a bit of a day here too. Look forward to seeing you xx
A grin spread across my face.
The fight wasn’t over yet.
ChapterNine
Jaime
“She’s going to hate it.”Cami surveyed the current state of the dining room, then turned to me. “Can you put it back to how it was?”
“Why should I? Mom’ll be here for the weekend, complain abouteverything,then leave again. Why should we change things for her?” I pulled a face.
“Because it’s easier than listening to her go on and on?” Cami wrinkled her nose.
In truth, I welcomed the distraction of Mom’s impending visit. Since meeting Austen the other day to show him the possible designs for Moira Channing’s house, there had been radio silence. Well, on the work side anyway. Austen had messaged me a couple of times asking if I wanted to go on a date with him. So far, I’d managed to come up with suitable excuses as to why I couldn’t. But the real reason was because I was trying to figure out my feelings about Wade. I didn’t want to pit the two friends against each other.
“I want to leave it as it is. I want to show her I’m serious about creating a business for myself.” That statement was the absolute truth. Mom hadn’t exactly been supportive when I’d told her about my plans for the future. She thought that leaving a secure job in New York would be the end of my career, not the beginning. I wanted to prove her wrong. Much like I had been trying to do my whole life.
“Yeah, good luck with that.” Cami snickered. “You know what she’s like when she doesn’t agree with you.”
I had almost thirty years’ experience of exactly that.
“What time’s she getting here?”
Cami checked her phone, consulting the last message Mom had sent her. “Should be here within the hour. So, what are we going to do to tidy the house before she gets here?”
“The bare minimum we can get away with.”
For the next forty minutes, my sister and I turned into a pair of cleaning tornados. We went from room to room, vacuuming and dusting, tidying where we needed to and making sure Mom’s room was pristine. Given that no one had been in there since the last time she’d visited, it didn’t take too long.
“See, if we did this once a week it wouldn’t take us so long to clean,” observed Cami, collapsing onto the sofa once we’d finished.
“Who has time to clean anyway?” I countered. “You’re always at the salon and I’m…well, busy.”
Cami let out a laugh. “Busy? All you’ve done the past couple of days is refresh that damn website for the show you’re obsessed with. Are they even doing another series?”
It hadn’t occurred to me that they wouldn’t. The show had already enjoyed two successful series and the winners had gone on to great things - according to their social media anyway. Why wouldn’t there be a third? But Cami’s words instilled a sense of doubt in me. By now, applications should have been open based on when the previous series had aired. My fingers itched to find my phone and refresh the page again.
But there wasn’t time for me to contemplate the future any longer as the front door burst open.
“Girls! Are you here?”
Cami and I exchanged a glance. We were twenty-six and almost thirty, hardly girls any longer.
