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“It’s getting late.” I shut off my computer and stand, making it clear I’m not up for any of her games. “If you want to chat, maybe it can wait until daylight.”
Her eyes narrow but her voice is still sweet as honey when she asks, “Can’t you spare five minutes to update me on your life?”
“You already know what’s going on, Mama. There’s nothing more to tell.”
“That’s not what I’ve heard.” Her phony smile grows wider. “According to Sonny Cohen’s office, you’re looking to buy yourself a house. Or should I say, youtriedto buy a house for your mistress? Too bad that didn’t work out.”
Mistress? The way she says it makes Lacy sound like something to be hidden. A dirty little secret I should be ashamed of.
Dark spots start to form at the edges of my vision, but as furious as she makes me, nothing can dispel the giddy high I’m riding. Mama thinks she’s played me—thinks she already won—and I can’t wait to burst that bubble.
“Her name is Lacy, and either you call her by it, or you don’t mention her at all. I won’t tolerate you trying to demean her. As for the house…I figured you might try something.”
She opens her mouth to interject, but I barrel on. “Don’t bother trying to deny it. I know you too well. But you forget, I’ve got all the same connections and clout as you. Hell, maybe more, since I’m the one you chose to represent you so often.”
Some of the color drains from her face, her bravado slipping with it.
“Despite your best attempts to interfere, the house is mine. Mine and Lacy’s. You’ve lost, Mama. In so many ways.”
“Well…” She clears her throat but doesn’t seem to back down. “Congratulations, I guess.”
“Now you want to say those words?” I ask through a bitter laugh. “Not when it matters, but when you’re forced to accept defeat… I don’t get it. Why can’t you mind your own damn business and just be happy for me?”
“Mind my own business?” Oh, now I’ve poked the bear. “Don’t be ridiculous, it’s all my business. You of all people should understand.”
She makes a tsking sound, as though I’m a testy child. “When your father died, it becamemyresponsibility to carry this family. And after all the years I stood by him, cleaning up his messes and pushing him to greatness, do you honestly think I’d allow his legacy to be tarnished?”
“Tarnished? How? By me buying a house, starting a family, and doing what he, and most others, would consider the right goddamn thing?”
More like because I’m choosing happiness over obligation.
“Don’t take that tone with me.” She huffs, turning her nose in the air like she’s the authority on all that is right in the world.
Or at least, everything in my world. With her head held high and voice full of superior conviction, she says, “You’d have nothing if it weren’t for me.”
A heavy ball of burning tension forms in my gut. “You make it sound like I’ve had everything handed to me. Like I haven’t studied, planned, and worked…fucking sacrificed.” The breath sawing in and out of my lungs is like sandpaper.
Still, I go on, “If I left it up to you, Iwouldhave nothing. No lightness. No happiness. No love. And I’m sure if you didn’t need me to run this place, you’d strip me of Canyon Spring Ranch too. Hell, I’m surprised you haven’t tried to oust me from this family the way you did Brooks.”
Her smile falters, her mouth falling slack, and she seems at a loss for words.
Well, there’s a first.
“Look,” I say, my jaw aching from how hard I’ve been clenching it. “I know you only want what’s best for me—for all of us—but you need to loosen the reins. I’m not giving up my birthright and will always do what’s best for this business, but that does not include giving up Lacy.”
“But those people—her awful family. They can’t be trusted.”
“Her parents have nothing to do with this,” I boom. Why is this still a topic of conversation? And how the hell do Arlene and Otis Hallman keep getting in my damn way?
“She’s done everything in her power to get away from them.” My voice is still too loud, too harsh, but she needs to get this message.
It’s now or never. “She wants to do better. To be better. And she is. She’s the hardest working, most honest damn person I know. But fuck, the way you and everyone else in this town automatically lump them together is why she’s been so hesitant to let me in her life—inmy child’slife.”
Mama’s eyes are wide, and she clutches the strand of pearls around her neck. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she looks guilty. But Sage Kincaide has never felt a shred of remorse in her life.
“Lacy is going to be a great mom, and if I’m lucky, she’ll let me try to be a decent dad. I want her in my life, so she’s staying, and that’s nonnegotiable.”
“I had no idea you felt this way.” Her voice is a near whisper, and the pool of liquid at the corner of her eyes looks an awful lot like tears. “You feel strongly for this girl.”
