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“Alone, Francesca. Do not be an idiot on purpose.”
Yeah. Another reason I hated that name. It sounded way snootier than I would ever be.
“Not happening,” Jake informed her as he pulled me back a step and edged slightly in front of me. “You aren’t cautious or caring enough with her. I have zero intention of letting you take that temper out on her, lady.”
There was the faintest tremble to Maddy’s hand, and the color in her cheeks went hot. I bet if she pulled off those sunglasses, her eyes would be blazing. “I will not air our personal business in front of others.”
“Whatever, see you later then.” I took a couple of steps, with Jake keeping himself between me and Maddy. “Or not. I know it’s a crapshoot with you.”
“Frankie.”
I stopped.
“You can’t ignore me forever.”
“Sure I can,” I said, and this time, I didn’t bother to try and soften the derision in my voice. “Just following the example you set, Maddy.”
I was almost to the stairs when she let out a little scream. “I could have given you up for adoption.”
The words stung.
They always did.
“Or an abortion. I could have done that. Then where would you be?”
“Bitch,” Jake muttered, but I turned around and stared back at my mother. She was the one making a scene. I had to guess at least one of the neighbors heard it. But still…
“Where would I be? Better off in the first case, I would imagine, and in the second? Well, I wouldn’t have to deal with you then either.”
“Go away, Maddy,” Archie said as he descended the steps. “Don’t make us get a restraining order.”
She glared. “This isn’t over.”
But that was it. She turned on her expensive heel and walked back to her… Holy shit, that was not her car. It was far more expensive than the car she’d owned.
My heart raced and sweat prickled along my skin as she slid behind the wheel of the Mercedes and stared at me for several long seconds, then Jake, before the engine purred to life, and she pulled away.
That car so did not belong in this parking lot. Not even with the nice SUV and the pricy Ferrari currently parked there.
Ian lowered his phone and then moved toward us as Jake slid an arm around me.
I needed to call Mr. Wittaker. Whatever happened, I couldn’t let Maddy take it out on the guys, and the way she’d looked at Jake worried me.
Maybe Mad Maddy wasn’t the joke she’d always made it out to be.
Maybe it was a warning.
Chapter Eighteen
High Anxiety
The doctor elected to put me in a cast. Archie and Coop had both taken me to the doctor’s appointment while Ian rode with Jake to school. I’d really wanted different news, but he was concerned about the fracture itself.
On the upside, the swelling had reduced, and he’d made the fiberglass cast red—Archie picked the color—and it was kind of pretty. On the downside, it could be six weeks in this cast.
Six. Weeks.
What the hell was I going to do for work in a cast?
