Page 93 of All I Want For Christmas Is You

She just couldn’t understand how she’d given up her life again. So easily.

And why is Lorelei’s comeback more important than mine?

The singer had walked in the front door about an hour ago. With a distracted wave, she’d ducked back into her room. Margot got it. She recognized the intense look in the singer’s eyes, like she’d received a massive gift of inspiration and had to get it down before she lost it.

Margot didn’t want to interrupt her, but she had no choice. She had a taxi coming.

“I have to go see Aunt Lorelei, and I need you to come with me, so please choose one truck.” The boy clutched a bright yellow school bus to his chest. “Awesome. Let’s go.” With Colt in her arms, she headed down the hallway. At her knock, she heard a muffled, “Come in.” When she entered, she found Lorelei on the floor surrounded by photographs. “What’re you doing? With that look on your face when you came home, I assumed you were writing a song.” Not reminiscing.

“I am, yeah. Everything I’ve written so far is angry, and I was like, up to my eyeballs in ugliness, and I thought about what you said. About how it was an endless loop. And I wanted out, you know?”

“I do.”

“So, I took a long walk, and it hit me.” She lifted a few photos. “A lot more than betrayal has happened to me this year.”

She gestured to them. “What are they?”

“All my life, my mom told me my dad didn’t care about anything but the mine. That he was a narcissist, obsessed with his work.”

Margot sat down beside her, settling Colt in her lap.

“Did he tell you about the lawsuits?” the singer asked.

“A little.” But it was all over the media. Everyone knew what Courtney had done. “He said she signed a lot of contracts that weren’t necessarily in your best interests, and when you finally became successful, she walked away from them.”

Lorelei nodded. “She acted like the deals were nothing but pieces of paper. But all those people put their hearts and souls into helping me move my career along. She’s the narcissist. I only found out when we got sued. I spent the summer with my dad and brother and sister, and it was amazing. I had the best time. And I found all this stuff in a closet in his office. He’d saved pictures and posters…memorabilia from my entire life.” She glanced at the photos. “He’s been there all along, every step of the way. And all those years that I was surrounded by shitty people like my ex and my friend, and my mom, I missed out on my dad. I needed him. I needed a brother and sister. And that’s worth writing about.”

“It is. You’re absolutely right. I’m glad you can see beyond what those people did to you. For me, that’s when the healing began. Now, I have to talk to you.”

Lorelei set the photos down. “What’s wrong?”

“Remember I told you my daughter’s getting married?”

She nodded, clearly sensing more was going on.

“Well, I’m leaving early. I’m leaving today.” Before Beau got home. She had a reservation at an airport hotel because she knew if she talked to him, he’d convince her that he was the only one who could make the critical decisions to save the mine. And she’d believe him. Because it was true—he wasn’t exaggerating. She knew that. “And I need you to take care of your nephew until your dad gets home. Can you do that?”

“Um, yes. Of course.” She gathered the photographs and slid them back into the large file folder. “Is he on his way? Because I know he’s trying to set everything up so he can go with you.”

“No, he’s not coming.” God, this hurt. It hurt worse than when her ex dumped her. But she couldn’t go back to the woman she used to be. She had to stay on this new path. “I need to go without him.” A hard knot formed in her throat, making it painful to swallow. “Because I’m not coming back. I’m sorry, Lorelei, but this is goodbye.”

* * *

Beau was issuing instructions to the hydrologist when he heard the knock on the door.

Only when his assistant peeked in and waved did he shift his attention to her. “Your daughter called,” she whispered. “She’s been trying to reach you on your cell, but she says you’re not answering.”

Even as he asked, “Lorelei?” he was unearthing his phone from the pile of schematics and 3-D imaging cluttering the table.

She nodded.

Found it. He swiped the screen and found missed calls. His first thought was Colt. He felt like shit for hanging up on Margot, but he’d been in a board meeting, his team watching, waiting for him to give their marching orders.

Maybe it was more than a nightmare. Was he hurt? “Excuse me. I have to take this.” Anxiety ripped through him as he strode out of the conference room and tapped the screen.

“Dad?” Lorelei sounded like she was barely holding on to her composure.

“Yeah, honey. What’s going on?”

---