Page 61 of Side Hustle
“Understand?” I shouted, arms wide. I laughed again, this time sounding more like Granny’s cackle.
“Calm down.” Rip reached his hand out and I smacked it down with mine, much to his surprise. Felt good to hit something, though, and I wasn’t sure what that said about me.
“Don’t you tell me to calm down. You think you can get scared and break up with me and I won’t have a thing or two to say about it?” I jammed my hands on my hips to stop myself from reaching out and strangling him. “You literally just told me yesterday that you wanted to marry me. What changed?”
Rip’s face drained of color. He hunted around the bed, coming up with his undershirt and pulling it on, which was a nice gesture. It wasn’t fair to show off six-pack abs while you broke up with a girl. Different circumstances I would have laughed at that, but as it was, I was focused on not passing out. And not strangling Rip.
He stood and I took another step back, having to tilt my head to look up at him. “We’re too different, Hazel. It might seem exciting right now, but eventually, we’ll come to hate each other. You deserve so much better.”
My sixth sense had been right once again. I knew there was no sense in fighting it. We were done. All the arguing in the world wouldn’t change his mind and I was too mad to grovel.
I scoffed and turned to walk out of the room, spinning around when I got my hand on the doorknob. “You got one thing right. I do deserve better. You are no man, Rip Bennett, and you’re certainly not the kind of mayor this town needs. You’re just like your father, wreaking havoc wherever you go. You should have just stayed a wallflower. Better that than spreading your black cloud to everyone else!”
I whipped the door open—narrowly missing my nose—slammed it shut, and stomped down the stairs to the front room. Righteous anger fueled me. Getting the last word in felt fucking good. The old lady’s jaw hit the floor and her coffee cup tipped, spilling onto her lap. Guess I’d been a bit loud. I’d have to apologize to Amelia later. When I reached the front door, the anger petered out and the tears hit, burning my eyes and streaming down my cheeks. Fuck, this hurt badly.
“Hazel?” Amelia’s voice rang out behind me as I trudged to my car.
I didn’t wait for her. I just needed to get home to Granny’s where I could fall apart in private. Amelia grabbed the keys out of my hand and steered me to the passenger side of my Jeep, running to get behind the wheel in her pajamas. She slammed the door shut and tried to start the car. It took several tries, but Amelia wasn’t a quitter. She kept darting glances at me as she got the dang thing started and pulled out onto the street, but didn’t actually say anything.
“You’ve got a nip slip,” I said, pointing to the barely there tank top she ran out of the B and B in. Until I could let loose in the privacy of my own home, I was going to act like nothing had happened. That could work.
“Seriously? That’s what you lead with?” She adjusted her shirt and then spun in the seat, not even watching the road. Highly dangerous. “What the hell happened?”
I pointed out the windshield. “Stop sign.”
She turned back around and hit the brakes. Then she sped through the intersection and yanked the wheel to the right, pulling us off into the gravel. My head hit the roll bar and I rubbed the spot, still in a daze. Really? A concussion on top of all the bullshit of today?
Amelia grabbed my hands and held them tight. “Is this because he took your mom to the bus station last night?”
My head suddenly felt like it might explode. “He what?!”
Amelia’s eyes went wide and then she winced. “Uh…I mean. What?”
I yanked on her hands. “Spill, woman.”
She sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes. “Fine, but you didn’t hear it from me. He offered your mom half of his take from the gold mine to leave town and leave you alone. She took the deal and he drove her to the nearest bus station. I didn’t really hear much after that because he started going off about pep talks and peacocks and people moving to big cities to let their sunshine not suffocate. It made absolutely no sense and I was too pissed at him to stick around. I think Titus got him to bed at some point.” She wound down, her eyes shifting into a sympathetic look that made my tear ducts act up. “I’m so sorry, hon.”
I had to swallow hard past the lump in my throat. “After what she said yesterday, can you believe she left without even saying goodbye?” I lost the war and the tears started flowing as soon as the last word came out of my mouth.
Amelia lunged for me and tucked my head into her bosom, which was weird but also quite nice and soft. I blubbered into her satin cami, the ache in my chest something I remembered from many years ago. At eight years old I’d promised myself never to hurt like that again. And here I was, nearly thirty and still letting that same woman bring me down.
“I know. Get it all out, sister. She’s not worthy of being your mother. She has no idea how wonderful you are. If she did, if she had even an ounce of maternal affection, she’d stick around. That’s on her, not you.” Amelia softly crooned over my head, petting my hair and letting me sob.
It took a while because I was a naturally well-hydrated person, but eventually the tears did dry up. Amelia somehow produced a wad of tissues, which I used to mop up my face.
“Sorry about the shirt,” I whispered, unable to look her in the eye. Losing it completely in front of someone was not something I was proud of.
“Pssh, this old thing?” Amelia reached behind my seat and fished out a crumpled sweatshirt of mine I’d been looking for. She pulled it on and then held it to her nose.
“Why does this smell like beets?”
I huffed out a watery giggle. “Some girls wear perfume, I wear the smell of fresh juiced veggies.”
Amelia scoffed. “Oh great. You and Charlie are more than enough for one group of friends.”
I bit my lip and tried to make sense of things. “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted my mother. Or Rip. I should have walked away from both of them right from the start and stayed away.” I shook my head at myself. This pain that threatened to take me under was ultimately my fault.
Amelia argued with me the whole way home to Granny’s house, but at least verbally sparring with her kept my mind from drowning in betrayal. I waited until Titus came to pick up Amelia, but the second the door closed behind them, I headed to my room, dove between the covers, and made a decision not to come out for a few days. They said time healed all wounds, so I was willing to put in the time. As long as I didn’t have to come out of this bed.
