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Her brother’s face was so serious, she wanted to reach through the screen and soothe away the worry lines.
“Jesus, Bay.” The breath hissed from his throat. “You should have told me. Should have let me come to you, bring you home with me.”
“It’s okay, Beau.”
“It’s not!” The words exploded through the screen. “How long?”
“How long what?” Bailey said, knowing exactly what he meant.
“How long have you felt like this? That you wanted to give it up.”
Her silence was enough.
“So you’ve been miserable for years and couldn’t find a way out?”
“Don’t be dramatic, Beau. I loved what I did, I’ve just been feeling the restrictions he put on me lately. The accident allowed me to change things.”
“Dramatic! Jesus, my baby sister has an accident, and has been living in hell, and she couldn’t tell me. The one person who should always be there for her.”
Bailey struggled to fight back the tears.
“Don’t cry, sweetheart.”
“I-I’m okay. It’s the wine.”
“I’m glad you found your way to Maggie. I always liked her.”
“M-me too.”
He talked gently until she was in control again. Telling her he loved her, and always had, and it was a wonderful feeling, to know that she had a person in her life who cared solely about her.
“Where have you been since leaving Boston, Bailey?”
“I took to the road. Moving from town to town.”
“Alone?”
“Of course alone. I just told you I wanted to do that, find myself, and try and survive on my own.”
“I just went cold,” Beau muttered. “The thought of you taking care of yourself for the first time at your age is terrifying. I don’t think you even know how to boil water.”
“I do so... well I do now, anyway. It’s true that it’s been hard, but I’ve enjoyed learning things. I actually went into a bank and opened a separate account, and then transferred money into it.”
“What do you mean? Why haven’t you had a bank account before?”
“I had one, Beau, and thought I was in control of my money, but turns out he is.”
“Bastard! Controlling, manipulative—”
“He loved me the best he could, Beau,” Bailey interrupted her brother. “But his way of loving is controlling, and I just couldn’t handle it anymore. Especially when Clark joined in.”
“Clark?” Her brother frowned.
Bailey sighed. She needed to tell him everything; he was her brother, and deserved to know.
“My agent. The man Grandfather wanted me to marry. For a while I thought maybe... then I realized I didn’t want that.”
Beau swore long and loud, and Bailey found herself laughing.
