Mr. Malone nodded at me, though he didn’t contradict his wife.
Still, I knew what I was talking about when it came to headshots, and Ford’s mother was just plain wrong about Ford’s. It was professional and well-lit and fit in well with every other photo that Malone Real Estate had on their site. If anything, the headshot of Ford’s mother was the one that needed to be replaced. It was straight out of the eighties, with soft focus lighting and obvious Photoshopping that was clearly intended to make her look younger, but instead just made her skin look waxy and dull, like a doll’s.
“The photo is good,” I reiterated. “In my professional photographer’s opinion.”
Mrs. Malone just sniffed. Ford looked miserable. It made me want to stick up for him, so I figured I might as well sing his praises.
“I’m not sure if Ford mentioned it,” I said, “but he gave a seminar on the business of real estate last weekend for my nonprofit, and the students absolutely loved it. He’s an excellent teacher. And if he’s half as good at his job as he is at talking about it, I have complete faith that he’s worth his weight in gold at MREH.”
Ford’s parents were both staring at me now. Then a smile—one I didn’t trust—forced its way onto Mrs. Malone’s face.
“Well isn’t thatlovely,” she cooed. “I’ve heard all about your little charity, Mara. All the good it does. And you know what, we should all be helping out. Don’t you think so, Ford?”
“Ford already helped out a lot by teaching the class,” I tried to say, but his mother ignored me.
“I think we should throw a big fundraiser to help out, don’t you?” she kept going. “A big shindig, with all of Chicago’s cream of the crop. Why, I know theperfectperson to help.”
My heart sank. I knew exactly who she meant and where all of this was going. And the worst part was, I’d basically walked right on into it.
Ford’s parents were taking over, just like they’d done with my marriage. Only this time, they had their sights set on my charity—inserting fucking Claudia into the one thing in my life that I was most proud of, which frankly I’d busted my ass to build from the ground up.
Claudia. It was always Claudia.
I couldn’t help wondering if there was some sort of blackmail at play. Did Claudia’s family somehow own the Malones, have dirt on them the way the Malones had something on my family? It would make sense.
I looked over at Ford, hoping he would object. But as usual, he didn’t.
Instead he just looked at me and shrugged. “Claudiaisgood at fundraisers.”
My heart sank even lower.
“You see?” Mrs. Malone crowed. “It will be perfect.”
Right. Of course it would be.
Emzee
Chapter 17
Imanaged to keep my composure about the Claudia/fundraiser situation while Ford’s parents were still over, for Ford’s sake. The last thing I wanted to do was stand up for him one moment and then go on the attack the next over him not defending me. But I couldn’t wait for the senior Malones to depart, so Ford and I could be alone again. Because I was ready to unload.
As soon as we’d all said our good nights and Jacques and Pierre had left, I turned on Ford.
“I think that went…slightly better than last time,” he said. “All things considered.”
“Why did you let your parents say that Claudia could help with the program?” I blurted.
He looked at me blankly.
“I…thought it was a good idea,” he said. “Don’t you want the program to get more exposure? That’s what Claudia’s good at. Her family is even better connected than mine. She knows everybody.”
“But it’sClaudia! Are you seriously going to stand here and tell me you think she has my best interests in mind?”
Of course I liked the idea of promoting the program, getting more support and attention focused on it. And we could definitely benefit from more donations—and ideally more mentors. But at the same time, I was concerned about what Claudia would do with something I cared about so much in her vengeful, perfectly manicured hands. She knew how important See Yourself was to me. I didn’t trust her one bit, and I really didn’t want her involved.
Ford frowned, as if the implications of having his ex-girlfriend throw a fundraiser for someone she despised were only just now starting to sink in.
“Shit,” he said. “I didn’t even think—”
