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“I have an army mate with a security business. He’s looking for a partner. I need the money to buy into the business.”
Rainne’s mouth opened and closed for a moment.
“I thought you were getting the place up and running for me,” she said.
Lake felt on about the same level as muck on the bottom of a shoe.
“I gave you six months, Rainne. The business went from bad to worse in that time.”
“But...I had plans!”
“That’s all you had.” He tried to keep his voice soft and non-threatening. “I should have helped you out in the beginning. You really didn’t have a clue what you were doing.”
“You mean I wasn’t doing it your way?” The tears started to pool in her eyes. “Just because I wasn’t doing it your way, doesn’t mean I wasn’t doing it.”
“You weren’t making any money,” he said.
“Money!” Her cheeks burned red. “That’s all you care about.”
“I told you,” said his mother. Her eyes flashed with smug superiority.
Lake shot her a steely glare.
“Business is about money,” he told Rainne. “You can’t implement any new ideas unless you have money to back them. That’s why things need to run properly first. I thought you understood that now?”
“It doesn’t matter what I understand now, does it?” Rainne rubbed the tears off her cheek. “Because you aren’t doing this for me, you’re doing it for you.”
“Look,” Lake said. “I’m sorry that I don’t have so much money that I can finance a business for you at the same time as sorting out what I’m going to do with my life. I have a set amount of funds. If you wanted to run an experiment, why didn’t you ask dad to dip into his trust fund?”
“Huh?” said his father as he came back to the planet.
“I did ask them,” Rainne said. “They didn’t want me to do it.”
“That’s not true,” his mother said, stepping towards Rainne. “We wanted you to have a better sense of the purpose of the shop. Selling knickers wasn’t enough. Not for you. You’re meant for so much more. We always support you, you know that.”
Lake had heard enough.
“Is that right?” It was time to call his mother’s bluff. “Well, the shop is for sale. Do you want to buy it so that Rainne can get on with her earth-friendly plans?”
Rainne looked at her mother so hopefully that it almost tore Lake to pieces. Even after all these years she couldn’t see them for who they were—users. His mother’s lips tightened.
“Of course, we can talk about it,” she said.
She was going to sidestep the whole thing.
“No. You need to tell me now. Do you want to buy it or not? If not, I put it on the market Monday. This is your only chance. How badly, exactly, do you want to support Rainne?”
There was a tense silence. Betty’s frown was so deep you couldn’t see her eyes. His mother looked cornered. For one hopeful moment Lake thought she might step in and do something for her kids instead of expecting them to do everything for her.
“All our money is tied up,” she said at last. “It wouldn’t be possible to sort things out that fast.”
“I can wait until the new year,” Lake said.
He knew he was pushing at Rainne’s expense, but just once, he wanted her to see them for who they were. Maybe then she would be able to let go and be herself. His parents shared a look.
“Not possible,” his father said at last, and all the hope went out of Rainne’s eyes.
“Do you mean it isn’t possible,” Lake asked him, “or that you don’t want to do it?”
