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“Well, either way, as long as he does the job well, you can get the house on the market in a timely manner, push for a short close and pay me out my half, I’m happy.”
“I’m sorry?” I was utterly gob smacked. “Pay you out ‘your half’? Your half of what?”
“My half of this house, of course. You can keep the cash settlement that Ruby left to you; I’m sure most of it will go into cleaning up this mess.”
“That’s very kind of you, I’m sure.”
Jane sipped her tea quietly, not picking up the note of sarcasm in my voice.
I watched her for a moment, memories of our visits here flitting across my mind. “You always thought of this as your house, didn’t you, Mother?”
“Of course. As Ruby’s only living relative, who else would you expect her to leave it to? Certainly not some ramshackle nephew of Walter’s.”
“But you weren’t Ruby’s only living relative.”
Jane looked at me inquiringly. “Oh, you mean yourself, I take it?”
I nodded.
“An oversight, nothing more.”
“Excuse me? I’m an oversight?”
Jane waved an impatient hand. “Don’t get upset, I obviously didn’t meanyouwere an oversight. Just thatleavingeverything to you was. It was always expected that she would leave it to me.”
“I’m afraid that the only person who expected that was you.”
Jane’s cold, blue eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”
“Just that you thought things were going to go a certain way, and they haven’t, so now you need to adjust.”
“Are you suggesting you aren’t going to give me my share?”
“There is no ‘share’ for me to give you. If Ruby had wanted you to have part of her estate, she would have left it to you in her will. It’s not for me to dishonor her memory by changing the arrangements she made.”
“How dare you!”
“How dare I? How dare you! There is no wrongdoing here, Mother, nothing has been stolen from you.” I paused to take a breath, staring at her. “You know, I remember Ruby saying you had a stick up your ass. I’m starting to see how truly correct and insightful she was.”
Bright spots of color flamed on Jane’s cheeks, and her thin lips puckered as if she had just sucked on a lemon. She rose to her feet, pulling her suit jacket down with a huff, thrusting her chin out angrily. “You haven’t heard the last of this.”
“I would expect nothing less.” I pushed my chair back and rose to my feet, shaking. I watched my mother stride across the kitchen, heard her collect her bag from the hall table, then slam the door. Pressing my hands to my face, I forced myself to take some deep, steadying breaths. Hearing the sliding door open, I jerked up my head, then relaxed when I saw Matt stepping inside, a look of concern on his face.
“She’s gone. Are you okay?”
I went to him, grateful when he pulled me in for a hug. “I’m okay. Mostly I’m mad. Apparently, she expects me to give her half the money from the sale of the house.”
“What? I thought you said your aunt left the house entirely to you. That’s ridiculous.”
I sighed. “I know, but still. She gets to me, Matthew. She makes me feel like a little girl, like I have to do what she says. I won’t, but it makes me feel like shit.” He rubbed his hand up and down my back, soothing me. Recalling the other outrageous thing my mother had said, I tilted my head back to look at him, a mischievous glint in my eyes. “Oh yeah, and she suggested that I was paying you with sexual favors.”
He raised his brows, his eyes dancing. “Did she, now? Fuck, I’m a little sorry I didn’t think of that myself. I could have saved you a lot of money.” Pressing a kiss to my lips, he asked, “What gave her that idea, anyway?”
I giggled. “She saw us ‘canoodling’.”
He laughed out loud. “Canoodling? She actually said that?” When I nodded, he kissed me again, this time with more heat. I returned the kiss with fervor, curling my fingers in his hair. He broke the kiss to murmur, “So, dinner tonight?”
“And canoodling?”
