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“Linden, it’s your mother.”
Crap.
Her voice was frosty, and I swore I could feel the proverbial ice shards she was throwing at me through the phone.
“Ah. Hi, Mom.”
“You must be going out,” she said. “Do you have a date?”
“No. I’m going out with a friend,” I lied.
“That’s how you talk to your friends?”
“What can I do for you? I’m kind of on a time crunch here.”
“Who is this friend?” she pressed.
“Peyton. She’s a nurse I work with.”
She paused. “So, you’re not going on a date with that tattooed heathen?”
I lowered the mascara wand. “Tattooed heathen? Who are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb. It’s beneath you. Seriously, Linden. What are you doing with that man?”
“That’s none of your business,” I seethed. “How do you know about him? Hmm? Who did you pay to spy on me?”
“You forced me to pay someone to spy on you,” she stated, not even denying that she’d done it.
“You’re psychotic. You need psychological help.”
“Do not diagnosis me, Linden Evelyn Ward.”
“Do not ignore societal boundaries, Charlotte Rushford Ward Exeter.”
Rage stormed through my blood, and I gripped the counter as she verbally marched on, “You tell me nothing of your life. You gave up your position at Duke, dumped Jeff for no good reason, and then moved across the country. If I hadn’t called while you were packing up your things, would you have even bothered to tell me?”
“Yes,” I stated. “I would’ve told you.”
Probably.Maybe.
“You are my daughter, and yet we’re complete strangers.”
“You made it this way.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Itisfair,” I insisted. “When I told you I got accepted to med school and I was going to be a doctor, you didn’t talk to me for six months. That was all you, Mom. You’ve never understood me. You’ve never tried to understand me. After Dad left—”
“Donotbring him into this!”
“He called me today. He’s been calling me every day this week. I haven’t heard from him in years, and he’s trying to get in touch now? Why?”
“How should I know?” She suddenly sounded tired.
A part of me considered telling her the truth about why I’d left Duke. About why I’d left an entire life behind. But my mother was mercenary. She’d used my weaknesses and vulnerabilities against me throughout my entire life. I didn’t trust her not to hurt me.
“Who do you have feeding you information, Mom?” My voice was soft but threaded with steel.
