Page 41 of A Touch Charmed

Never mind that my best had never been anything to write home about.

Her mother answered the door, coifed and beautiful as ever. She’d been a pageant queen in her glory days and hadn’t ever learned how to let that go. Her gaze bounced between the two of us. I might’ve said she looked concerned, but it was hard to tell. Her face didn’t seem to have a lot of movement.

She opened the door wider to let us in. “Your father is out.”

“We’ll wait until he gets back, then,” Thora said.

Her mother gave us a stiff smile that didn’t reach her eyes, but I didn’t take that personally. Not much reached her eyes. Anytime I’d seen her in town or around here when Thora and I were in high school, she reminded me of a doll. Always beautiful, not really alive.

She led us to the sitting room. An odd name for a room with chairs that were more for decoration than comfort. I couldn’t imagine a whole lot of sitting happened in here. A vase of roses sat on one of the ornate side tables and their cloying scent filled the air. Thora frowned, her distaste wrinkling her nose.

“Would you like anything to drink?” Sharon asked.

“Nope. We’re good.” I wrapped a protective arm around Thora’s shoulders, tucking her into my side. In that place that had always been carved out for her.

Her mother’s eyes widened as she took in the steady light that glowed from our palms, but she didn’t say anything about it. She just filled a crystal glass with amber whiskey, the expensive stuff, and gave us glassy-eyed stares. “I see the rumors in town are true.”

“If the rumors are that we’re together, then yes.” Thora held her lifeless gaze. “And if you heard that something went down with Olivia Beaumont at the festival, that’s also true. Which is the reason why we’re here.”

Her lips trembled. “Whatever she told you is a lie.”

Thora and I glanced at each other, a worry line forming between my brows. Carefully, she approached her mother. “What makes you think she told us anything?”

“I can’t say. If I do, we’ll both lose everything.” Tears sprang to her eyes, and I think that’s the first time I’d ever seen her display anything that resembled an emotion.

Thora stiffened beside me. “What are you talking about?”

“I loved you.” Sharon threw back another drink, drying her tears on the burn of liquor that was surely hitting her stomach. “I didn’t always show it, but when you were born, I loved you so much I would’ve done anything.”

I clenched my jaw. What a bunch of bullshit. If Sharon had loved her daughter, she never would’ve let her think for a second that she was alone.

From the skeptical look on Thora’s face, she wasn’t buying it either. “I don’t have anything to say to that.”

Sharon’s face crumpled for the briefest of moments before she put her mask back in place. Even if she had been genuine in her appeal, it was too late. Too many years and too many opportunities for her to be a decent parent had passed her by.

“You should talk to Hank Wilder before talking to Warren.” Sharon turned to me. “If you want to know what happened with Olivia, ask your father why he really got fired. That’s where this all started.”

It had been bad enough when I’d heard he brought Thora over on the ferry and didn’t tell me, but now I had to find out from Sharon fucking Chase of all people that he kept another secret from me? I took Thora’s hand. “Let’s go.”

Sensing the frustration simmering beneath my skin, Thora squeezed my hand. She gave her mother a terse goodbye and told her we’d be back later.

Once we stepped outside, she turned to me. “If you’re mad, you can be mad around me. You don’t have to bottle it up and push it down.”

“I’m not mad.” I was furious.

My dad had been my rock, my hero, the person who had given me a second chance at life when everyone else would’ve thrown me away. I thought he’d always be straight with me. If he knew why Thora and I had been kept apart for seven years and didn’t tell me, I didn’t know how I’d reconcile that. How could I forgive him?

I didn’t want to unload all that on Thora, though. She had enough of her own family problems to deal with and I still wanted to be the person she needed. The person she could lean on, who’d promise to hold her up. So I swallowed my anger.

“Finn.” She ran her fingers through my hair, drawing my head down to meet hers. “If you’re upset, I want you to share it with me. Don’t hold back because you think I can’t handle it. I need you to trust that I can.”

I blew out a breath. “I’m fine.”

This wasn’t about me not trusting Thora or doubting what she could handle. She could handle anything. I never wanted her to doubt that I could too. Too many people had let her down, and I’d be damned if I became one of them.

She eyed me with a heavy dose of doubt. “Don’t lie to me.”

Tension began to build in the back of my neck, and I cracked it from side to side to loosen it. “I’ll feel better once I talk to my dad. Because right now I’m just drawing a bunch of shitty conclusions that are only pissing me off.”

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