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After ending the call, Alanna leaned back in her chair as her thoughts swirled. It wasn’t just the wine… though definitely sorta the wine. So much had happened over the last hour. She grabbed her phone to flip through her emails. It was such an ingrained habit that she didn’t even realize what she was doing until she stared at the empty screen.
No emails.
They’d blocked her account.
Of course.
Because she didn’t have a job. Didn’t have a company.
Alanna dropped the phone back on the table like it was radioactive. Chip’s smarmy voice echoed in her head.
We’re the same, Alanna.
No! Never. Chip was a miserable troll nugget, filled with Vicodin, bile, and enough cholesterol to flood a pool. Yes, they were both intent on success, but she wasn’t ruthless. Not like him. He’d step on the world’s last unicorn if it meant getting ahead.Hell,the man probably stuffed his mother in some decrepit senior living home where rats outnumbered the staff members.
The thought brought Alanna back around to the other big problem in her life. Her very own mother was injured, alone, and living in a veritable death trap of a house. Alanna would have to get someone out to fix up the house, but what about her mother’s hands? Was it even safe for her mom to be living alone?
An idea popped into Alanna’s mind. She smiled, proud of herself as she picked up her phone and scrolled sloppily through her contacts.
Would Chip Rupert the Turd do this?
The phone rang.
“Hi, Hon,” her mom answered on the other end.
“Is Layla still there?”
“No. She just left to go volunteer.”
“Well, I just, I wanted to let you know that I spoke to work, I mean, Renee. You know, my assistant.”
“Are you okay? You sound a little unsteady.”
“Never been better.” Alanna forced herself to articulate her words. “Anyway, I took some time off…”
“Really?” Dede sounded shocked. “You never take time off work.”
“That’s not true. I came down for Christmas.”
“You took a call in the middle of opening presents.”
Oh yeah.“That was an emerge-enicy, though,” Alanna snapped. Her mother was really killing her grand show of benevolence. “Anywaaaay, I took time off work, and I’m going to take care of you.”
Her mother laughed. Then, silence on the other end of the line. “Wait, are you serious?” Dede asked.
“Of course I’m serious!” Alanna’s voice rose. Why wouldn’t she be serious? Her cheeks felt hot as she puffed out a breath. “I thought I’d stay a couple of days at the house and help out with… uh…”
Damn, what did her mother do all day?Alanna had no idea. Her mom worked at the plant nursery of course, but what else? Alanna searched her foggy brain and came up with a few scraps of knowledge. “I can help you with gardening and making tea. You love tea.” There! She knew tons of stuff about her mother.
Alanna smiled to herself. The plan was brilliant. She could work on her arbitration case here in Yucca Hills just as easily as she could in Los Angeles, and why not help out her mother? It was the right thing to do, after all.
“But you’re always so busy at work,” her mother said after a too-long pause. “I don’t want you to get behind just because of me. I’m okay, really. Layla already promised to drop in after work each day.”
“It’s not a problem at all,” Alanna assured her.
“Um.”
A new suspicion percolated in Alanna’s hazy mind. “Youdowant me to help, right?”
