Page 20 of No More Billionaires

By the time I went downstairs and joined everyone at the dinner table, Momma had already cheerily reported my Nashville trip opportunity to Daddy.

“Sounds like it might be fun—what do you think, Kens?” he said.

“Well, I don’t know about fun, but my supervisor said it could lead to a promotion.”

“It could lead toall kindsof things,” Momma said with a suggestive raised brow.

I suppressed a snarl. “All I care about is what it could mean professionally.”

Momma sniffed a laugh, so sure she would eventually get her way where Larson was concerned. I cut my small piece of grilled chicken breast with more vigor than necessary.

“I may not even go. I’m leaning toward ‘no’ at this point.” I glanced up to check Momma’s expression and got some perverse satisfaction from the look of disapproval I read there.

She recovered quickly. “Well, maybe we can arrange for your sister to take a tour of WNN soon—you’d like to, wouldn’t you, sweetie? You’re interested in that TV engineering stuff.”

She directed a smile at Cadence then turned a challenging expression to me.

“Just because you’ve decided you can’t get a quality man like Larson Overstreet, it doesn’t mean your sister has to give up on herself, too. I’d bet he’dloveto meether.”

“Mom,” Cadence barked, her voice a sharp blend of offense and disbelief.

I shot to my feet. My fork clattered on the china dishware Momma always insisted on using. “I’ve had enough.Thanksfor dinner.”

Walking stiffly to the kitchen, I scraped my plateful of food into the sink disposal. Cadence came up right behind me and dumped her plate as well.

“The funny thing is she thinks she’smotivatingyou,” she grumbled.

“She is motivating me—to move out.”

I slammed my fork into the dishwasher basket but found enough self-control to place the china plate gently between the rack guides.

“I’m so mad at myself for quitting my anchoring job in Peachtree Valley. I was actually happy living on my own, choosing my own meals, answering only to myself. Of course I did missyou.”

Cadence scraped her own plate clean and put it into the dishwasher. “You know what—you should get the promotion just to spite her. Then you can move out and take me with you. For God’s sake, take me with you,please.”

She giggled and called back into the dining room, “Kenley and I are going to the gym. We’ll be out for a while.”

Giving me a shoulder nudge, she whispered, “Come on. Chik-Fil-A?”

“Oh yes. I may order one of everything on the menu—with extra waffle fries. Let’s go.”

EIGHT

Life Story

“Delta Airlines Flight 785 to Nashville is now boarding. We’d like to welcome our first-class passengers at this time.”

Larson stood and stretched as the squawky announcement ended, extending his arms above his head to their full impressive wingspan and tilting his head back with a silent yawn. Then he lifted his carry-on bag and grabbed the extending handle of mine, as if ready to take them both on board.

“What are you doing?”

I rose from the low airport chair and reached for my bag’s handle, reclaiming it from his apparently instinctive chivalry. “We still have a while before it’s our turn.”

“Oh—they had a few first-class seats available when I checked us in—we’re on the same reservation—I just upgraded us both. Might as well be comfortable. It’s bad enough getting up this early.”

Stifling another yawn, he turned and walked toward the waiting gate agent.

I blew a straggling section of hair out of my face and followed him. What choice did I have, really? But I was annoyed.

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