Page 13 of The Affair
My eyes widened. “Mom—”
“I know it’s a lot.”
“A lot? A lot would be you refusing to get out of bed for a month, but this? This is maddening. You can’t just give me the house and the store. They’re half Jack’s. Surely, he—”
“He’s agreed. He doesn’t want them.”
“Of course he doesn’t,” I said, tears stinging my eyes. “He already has everything he wants anyway.”
And now, he has you …
“I know this is a change for you. I know it’s not what you expected. But I have faith you’ll do what is right. Keep the house, or don’t. The same goes for the shop.”
She didn’t care about the shop anymore?
My nose felt runny, my eyes burned, and I hated myself for it. I couldn’t tell which one of us was being selfish—her or me—but I knew one thing.
I wasn’t hungry anymore.
“I’m gonna go to bed,” I announced, rising from my spot at the table.
Her face fell, and I could see that I’d upset her.
For the past year, it had been my job to make her feel better.
But not anymore.
She didn’t need me.
She was moving on, and I guessed, somehow, I had to find a way to do the same.
Chapter Three
I’d like to say I’d handled my mom’s departure with all the grace and maturity my thirty-three years on this Earth had afforded me, but unfortunately, I’d acted more like an overgrown toddler throwing a temper tantrum.
When that fateful Friday arrived, I’d sat in my room and sulked as a hired driver came and whisked my mother away to her new life. I’d looked out the window as the sleek black car drove off—something else my brother had arranged—and I’d wondered,is she doing the same?
Was she looking back and reflecting on all the memories she was leaving behind?
Or was she just breathing a sigh of relief to be rid of it all? The pain, the emptiness … the constant reminders.
Maybe, someday, I’d ask her, but for now, I had a business to run.
Since I’d been running mostly everything—business-wise—on my own since my father got ill, I hadn’t pressed Mom for many details regarding the day to day operations of the store before she left. I’d just assumed I had most of it under control.
Unfortunately, I came to learn during my first week as official owner that there were quite a number of things my mother had still been handling behind the scenes that she’d failed to mention. Like taxes for instance.
I did the daily bookkeeping, which was a nightmare in itself since we’d started renting space to local vendors, but the actual filing part? I hadn’t realized my mom had been sending off those quarterly payments, even while taking care of my father.
It was something I should have been taking care of.
She’d also managed to keep us well stocked in coffee supplies all the way up until today when the nifty little coffee pods I so loved magically ran out.
“Well, crap,” I said to no one as I looked at the empty box and mentally huffed.
Holding my wrist to my bleary, bloodshot eyes, I noted the time on my watch. Eight thirty.Was half an hour enough time to run down to the market and grab coffee supplies?I guessed I’d find out because this girl could not run properly without caffeine in the morning.
Feeling another yawn coming on, I grabbed my purse from the counter and the Help Wanted sign I had planned on putting up later today and stepped out into the cold autumn air.
