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“Oh, Mom, about that,” I said, pressing my lips together. “Simon will be there, but we’re not attending together. And probably won’t be seeing much more of each other.”
“Addison, what did you do?” The judgment dripped from her voice as she stepped back, putting her hands on her hips, and shaking her head. My bottom lip trembled, but I bit the inside of my cheek, focusing on the sharp tang of blood on my tongue. It took away from the pain caused by the thorns wrapped around my heart.
“Wait, I don’t mean that,” she said, scrunching her face and leading me back to sit beside her on the couch. “I had reservations about him from the start, with how he groped you in that picture. But that’s not a reason for me to jump to conclusions and assume anything about the two of you. Please, tell me what happened.”
Her honestly surprised me, and my face brightened, wondering if she deserved the same in return. Perhaps not entirely, but since she laid it all out there these last weeks, our relationship was better than it had been in years.
“Honestly, that article forced us to move too quickly—prematurely—and we found we don’t want the same things.” My face went blank as I tried to take a page out of his book and school my features. I failed miserably, looking past my mom and out the window.
“I’m sorry to hear that, but I commend you on recognizing your differences early in the relationship.”
That’s putting it lightly.
“And I have to share how proud your dad and I are of you,” she continued, pulling my eyes away from the windows and back to her. “We talked this past weekend at the conference, where we didn’t even entertain the notion of selling. You’ve more than proven your desire and ability to immerse yourself in this company.”
“Mom. I think you should sell.” The words left my lips, and where I expected panic, I felt only peace and contentment. It solidified that this was the right decision—for the company and me.
“What?” she said, the disbelief evident.
“I’ve done a lot of thinking, and though I want to make you proud, if you want your legacy to live on you and dad should find someone who will love this business as you do. That person isn’t me. I want to keep working here. I want to keep taking on the fixer-uppers, mentoring interns, and working with the marketing department, but as far as taking over this office and filling your shoes… it’s not something that will truly make me happy.”
“What will make you happy?” she asked, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she tried to hold back a smile.
Was she relieved I didn’t want the business? Or did she think I’d go back to the way things were the second she and Dad handed me the keys to the Kingdom?
Would she think I was nothing more than a flake if I told her I didn’t know what I wanted?
“It’s okay to tell me you don’t know, Addison. Admitting that shows me how much you’ve grown.”
“Nothing’s happened like I thought it would, Mom.” I ran my fingers through my hair, surprised they barely made it to my ears, before finding knots.
“Is that such a bad thing? Just because things don’t go according to your plan doesn’t mean it isn’t working out as it should.”
“I don’t understand.”
She took my hands in hers and squeezed them, then angled her body so her legs pressed against mine. “Maybe that picture was a good thing because it forced us into a conversation about your future and made you realize the path you were on isn’t the one you want. You have a keen eye for design, and if you’d like to apply it to marketing, I think that’s a fabulous idea. Perhaps we can expand the intern program as well. Would you like to go to lunch and talk more?”
“Yes. I’d love that.”
“Okay. Let me call La Fawkes for a table.”
With one last squeeze, she stood, summoning her assistant with a flourish and a tap of the intercom, successfully securing reservations for us within the hour.
