Page 98 of The Write Stuff

“Because, deep down, your mother is an unhappy woman. She didn’t want Aggie to be happy. She wanted them to be miserable together. If I was miserable too, so much the better.”

He wasn’t describing my mother. I wouldn’t believe that. And yet I did. I’d seen my mother in action so many times I’d lost count. I loved her, but she was a very difficult woman. I’d seen her revel in the misery of others as well.

I could imagine exactly what he was saying. “You still left her for Aggie,” I persisted. “You broke her heart.”

Mick took a deep breath, and I knew he was about to finish things out. Whatever he was going to say wasn’t going to make things better. No, it was going to make things worse.

“The night I told Aggie that I still loved her, I had to track your mother down at a hotel,” he said. “We were all in Austin, as I’m sure you remember. I found her in a hotel room with Cliff.”

Cliff. Mom’s fourth husband. “But …”

He nodded as I let everything sink into place in my head.

“Your mother is not a bad person,” he said. “She was just sad and didn’t want to be sad alone. I don’t even think she realized, not truly, what she was doing. The second I saw her with Cliff, though, I was so relieved. We hadn’t been living a real marriage for years at that point. I took advantage of the opening and professed my love to Aggie. Everything sort of spilled out once I told her how I felt.”

He sipped his coffee again before continuing.

“There are a lot of little intricacies to the story,” he said. “I’m not the hero. I’m a villain too. We all did things we regret, and I’m really sorry for how your mother found out I’d gone back to Aggie. She saw us in Aggie’s dressing room. I hadn’t had a chance to fill her in yet.”

“Did she say anything?”

“Nope.” He shook his head. “She pretended she didn’t see it and then marched out on that stage and attacked Aggie 15 minutes later. Everybody’s lives changed in that moment, and I’m sorry that it happened. I’m sorry you suffered for it, and I’m sorry Aggie suffered for it. I’m sorry your mother suffered for it and Wylie. I am not, however, sorry that I followed my heart.”

I let the information sink in. He was telling the truth. I didn’t question that. The only thing I questioned was how I was supposed to feel about it.

“I’m going to have to talk to my mother,” I said finally. “There are some things we need to discuss.”

“I’m sure,” Mick agreed. “If you want me there to apologize — I never really got a chance to say I was sorry because she refused to talk to me after the fact — then I’ll go with you. I deserve whatever ire she wants to throw at me.”

Maybe he did. She deserved his ire, too, though. She’d manipulated him and then thrown a fit when things hadn’t gone her way.

“I think it’s better if I talk to her first,” I said, pulling out my phone. I couldn’t call her. This wasn’t a conversation that could be had when we weren’t face-to-face. Instead, I started typing out a text.

“What are you going to do?” Mick asked.

There was only one thing I could do. “Get her here. After that, we’ll have to figure things out like one big, messy family.”

Mick smirked. “Do you know how ugly that’s going to get?”

“Yup.”

“Are you going to tell her about Wylie before she sees Aggie and me?”

“Nope.”

He burst out laughing. “That’s probably a smart move.”

I finished the text and sent it without reading it.

You need to come down here. It’s important. Nobody is dying, but there’s something we need to discuss.

That was it. That was all I was giving her. “I think I need some alcohol,” I said, looking for the server.

Mick nodded and sighed. “Now you’re talking.”

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