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TWENTY-NINE
HADLEY
I don’t know why I was worried about Colton and Piper finding out about my relationship with Theo. For most of the week, Piper seems to have forgotten anything that happened Sunday night on the beach. She flitters about happily, playing with her dolls or demanding we go to the beach so she can search for dogs. Colton is a little more reserved, glaring at me every so often. He understands the relationship I have with Theo a little more than his sister. Every attempt I make to talk to him yields one-word responses.
“I don’t understand why he’s so angry,” I complain to Theo over the phone.
“He’s not angry,” he reassures me. “He’s probably confused. Maybe he’s in love with you too and thinks I’m stealing his woman.”
“That’s outrageous. I just want to make things right with him, okay?”
“I’ll talk to him when I get home on Friday.”
I sigh and lean against the bed. I started sleeping in the master bedroom, not because Theo said I could, but because it makes me feel closer to him while he’s in Portland during the week. “Home on Friday,” I repeat. “Can’t come soon enough.”
“I wish I could come home sooner, but I’ve spent so much time away from the office,” he explains.
“It’s okay. I get it, and so do the kids. We miss you, but we know you’re working.”
There are voices on the other end, as if people walked into his office. “I have to go,” he says. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
The call ends before I even have the chance to say goodbye.
The next day, I get a happy surprise when the auto repair shop calls to tell me my van is fixed. “Sorry it took longer than expected,” the mechanic says. “Foreign parts are hard to find.”
“As long as it’s fixed,” I tell him. “I’ll stop by and pay for the repairs.”
“There’s no need. They’re already paid for. You can pick it up when you’re ready.”
I roll my eyes. We never quite finished our discussion about paying for car repairs. He said he was going to pay for them, as if that decision was final and there would be no more discussion. “Can you give Mr. Franklin back his money? I’ll pay for the repairs.”
“Franklin? The dude who murdered his wife? No, he didn’t pay for them.” There’s a sound on the other end, like a shuffle of papers. “Curtis Gerard. He paid.”
How in the hell did my brother pay for the repairs? “Please refund Mr. Gerard, then. I’ll stop by this afternoon and pay for the repairs.” The mechanic agrees but before the call ends, I tell him, “Oh, and Mr. Franklin didn’t murder his wife. She’s very much alive. Kindly pass that on to whomever told you that stupid rumor.”
When the call ends, I immediately dial my brother who answers the phone as if he’s been expecting my call.
“Finally,” he says. “When are you coming home?”
“You paid for the van’s repairs? How did you even know which repair shop to call?”
His annoyance is loud and clear through the telephone as he sighs. “I have assistants, Hadley, who do exactly what I tell them. When I instruct them to call every auto repair shop within a fifty-mile radius of Seaside, Oregon, they do it.”
“Unbelievable, Curtis. Why can’t you leave me alone? The summer isn’t over.”
“Things have changed. Gerard Fine Foods is being sold and I need you here to help with the deal.”
“You don’t need me; you have plenty of lawyers.”
“You’re right, I do. But none of them have a vested interest in the company. If you want a piece of the fucking pie, Hadley, get your ass on a plane and come home to help negotiate this deal. It’s why I fucking paid for you to get your MBA.”
“You didn’t pay for shit, Curtis. My trust fund paid for it. You were merely kind enough to dip your fingers intomycoffers for someone other than yourself. If I come home, then I want immediate access to my trust fund. Then, once the deal is finalized, I’m done with you and the rest of the family business.”
“So, when can I expect you?”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes, trying not to think about how my brother manipulated me into getting what he wants. “Theo will be back on Friday. I can leave on Saturday.”
“Fine. I’ll have someone pick you up.”
