Page 20 of Stuck with the Grump

LEIGH

Inthespanofa ten-minute call, my brother had threatened to kill his business partner no less than a hundred times. In all honesty, I should have seen it coming. There was no other reason a successful man like him would have wanted to spend any sort of time with me. I was unemployed and much younger, his best friend’s annoying baby sister.

Those photos and his reaction were enough to convince me that nothing beyond the physical would happen between us. I wouldn’t let my emotions get involved where he was concerned. Clarke would only end up ripping out my heart and stomping it into tiny pieces if I let him.

There would be no more getting my heart hurt. I had come to the lake house to focus on myself and my business. That was what I planned to do. Especially once I saw that he had barricaded himself away in the dining room.

Fine,I thought as I gathered my notebook and laptop, heading to the large deck chairs on the back porch.If he wants to act like a child about this, he can suffer in silence.

Although, I wasn’t sure that he was suffering. After all, this was what he wanted to keep attention off the embezzlement case that was brewing. Using an intimate moment we had shared to keep the media away from his business was low. If he had spoken to me first, I might have understood. I knew what the media could do to a business. Unfortunately, now my name was being smeared across multiple sites.

In a matter of hours, I had been reduced to nothing more than a gold-digging whore.

The chair was damp but comfortable as I sat outside. The clouds were dark overhead, but the rain was still holding off. Wind blew the crisp scent of autumn through the air, promising that winter would only be a few short months away. I nestled down in the chair, opening the notebook and pulling a pen out of my pocket.

Money was sitting in my savings account, waiting to be put toward my art gallery. Finding the perfect location and allocating the budget was harder than all of my classes taught me, but it would be worth it in the end.

It had to be worth it in the end. I had nothing else.

I don’t know how long I sat outside but when the first few drops started to fall, I headed inside and settled back down on the couch. Scrolling through the internet and looking for gallery locations, dispersed with nasty comments about myself, was starting to make my head spin.

Closing the notebook, I leaned back against the pillows as the wind began to howl outside. There was nothing I could do now but sit and wait out the storm. As soon as the water had drained away from the road, I would drive back home and leave Clarke to his peace. He had already used me all he could.

When my phone started ringing, my mom’s name flashed on the screen. I swiped to answer, my heart threatening to beat out of my chest as I heard her shaking breath.

“Are you going into your appointment soon?” I asked, digging my nails into my palms and trying to remain calm.

“Soon. Another twenty minutes of waiting, probably. You know these specialists are never on time. I was calling to find out how you are, though. I saw those pictures. Saw the comments too.”

“It’s just some people who never got over their bully phase,” I said, trying to brush off the whole ordeal as if it were nothing. My mom had her own battle going on. She didn’t need to spend time worrying about me too.

“Why are you lying to me? I’ve spent my entire life raising you, Leigh. I know that you are not okay with any of this.”

“No,” I said with a sigh, running my hand through my hair. “I’m not okay with it at all but the pictures got posted and there’s nothing I can do about it now. They are out there and people are going to say what they want.”

“I could call all of their mothers.”

I laughed and cuddled deeper into the pillows. The smile dropped from my face as she started violently coughing.

“Mom, are you okay?”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, her labored breathing the only sound I could hear. I dug my nails deeper into my palms, willing the tears that rose to my eyes to go away.

“Mom?”

“I’ll be fine, Leigh. You know me. Stubborn as an ox in cement, as your dad says.”

“Well, he does have a point.”

There was a commotion on her end of the line. “I’ve got to go, Leigh. Seems like they’re finally ready for me. You keep your head up with this whole mess.”

“Call me when you find out what’s happening?”

“Absolutely. Love you, Leigh.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

As the call ended, thunder boomed outside, and lightning flashed. I stared at the rain pounding against the window, wishing I was with my mom to hold her hand. Although, that appointment would be the last place she would want me to be. She never wanted Tyson or me to see her as weak.

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