Page 118 of Fierce-Gabe

“Thanks. I’ll call her now.”

“Want me to stay for support?”

“No,” she said. “Go home to your wife and daughter where you belong.”

She’d caught him packing up, she knew it.

“Let me know how you make out. If I don’t hear from you in an hour I’ll be calling.”

He would too.

“I’ll let you know.”

She went back to her office and shut the door. Carmen was still here along with several other staff but most would be leaving for the day too.

The phone rang three times and she was getting ready to hang up when her mother answered. “I didn’t think you’d call me back today.”

“I was busy,” she said. “I do have a job.”

“As you’ve said so many times, it’s your career and family business. You could stop to answer a call from me.”

She wasn’t going to fight about this. “Yes, I’ve got a boyfriend. But you know that.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It hasn’t come up and we haven’t talked much lately,” she said calmly.

She had Royce’s words in her ear. She was going to hold tight to them too.

“Because you never call me,” her mother said.

“I did now. You know his name and what he does. Go ahead, get it out of your system. I’m sure looking at him in a suit you didn’t know what he did for a living and probably snorted when you found out.”

“I should have figured that you’d find a man in the same field as you. It’s probably the only one that pays attention to you. At least he has his own business and money so he won’t be going after you for Kennedy Construction.”

“So you’re saying there are no redeeming qualities I’ve got that a man would want? I got him without even dressing up nice and pretty like you’ve been saying I needed to do for years.”

Elise actually laughed when she said those words. She found it funnier than she did annoying and that was a first.

“You’ve been a daddy’s girl your whole life. It stands to reason you’d want a man just like him.”

“I think you purposely try to get a rise out of me,” she said. “But it’s not happening. Dad happens to be the best there is. Right up there with Royce. It’s your problem that you can’t see it. We all just have different likes and dislikes in our life. You got what you wanted, and you should be happy Royce did too.”

There was silence on the other end. As if her mother didn’t expect her to calmly say that.

“Your brother is happyfor now.”

“He will be fifty years from now when he’s playing with his grandkids too,” she said. She believed that one hundred percent.

“If you say so. The question is about you.”

“What about me?” she asked. “You wanted to know if I had a boyfriend and I do. Someone I have a great time with and who understands me. I guess that’s more than I can say about my mother.”

“That’s rude,” her mother said.

“Sometimes the truth is,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry we have the relationship we do.”

“No, you’re not.” her mother said.

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