I motion to my friends and tell my mother. “I’ll meet you inside.”
Mom nods. “Very well.”
Phew. I move over to my friends, needing a breather.
Sylvie deadpans at me. “So, your mother comes home and now we needanothermeeting? What could’ve changed since Saturday?”
“The menu, apparently,” I reply. “We’re doing a tasting.”
Sylvie’s eyes light up. “Talk about burying the lead. The food at the cafeteria today was a disaster. I could do with something actually tasty.”
Hope flicks her chestnut hair over her shoulder. “Not that Vanessa would know. Where were you today?”
I avoid her gaze. “Since when is it surprising that an Ashworth doesn’t go to school?”
Sylvie nudges me. “We just miss you. You know that.”
I smile. “Thanks.”
Sylvie covers her mouth, sniggering. “Hope’s just being aggressive because her mother’s in a panic.”
Hope clicks her tongue, turning her shoulders away as her arms cross.
“Believe me,” I say to Hope, “I’m not exactly thrilled to have my mother back.”
“It would’ve been nice to have a head’s up,” Hope grumbles.
“Agreed,” I reply. “It was a surprise to me too.”
Hope’s scowl deepens. “Sure it was.”
I back up, unnerved by her hostility.
Sylvie steps between us. “Hope, chill.”
Frustration coats Hope’s tone. “Whatever. My mother puts her all into these events. Yet, your mother still believes she controls everything. In reality, she couldn’t do anything from her ivory throne in Switzerland.”
“Well, she’s back now,” I mutter, dumbfounded. “Besides, I was here to…”
Hope huffs so violently, it cuts me off. “Yes, Vanessa, you were here to undermine my mother too.”
I clutch my chest, hurt by the cruelty of her words. “I was just doing what my mother asked. You don’t think I want to be anywhere else instead of these meetings?”
Sylvie slings an arm around me. “We’re all just here as our mothers’ puppets.”
Hope cackles. “Oh, yes, Sylvie darling. Your martini-addicted mother is such a dictator.”
Sylvie drops her arm from around me and turns her back on us. “Why am I even trying to help?”
“Sylvie,” I call, but she walks toward the dining room.
“Look, you know this is nothing personal,” Hope says. “Your family takes up so much space in this town. My family is just trying to take a piece.”
“And you expect my mother to back down? You know better than that. It’ll never happen.”
Hope shrugs. “We’ll see.”
Pain spasms inside my head as Hope walks toward the dining room.
