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She groans. “I had to take a minimum-wage job to pay the bills.”
I look at the camera and say, “Okay, viewers out there. We have a talented product manager here if someone knows of a job. Let’s help her get back on her feet.”
“Thank you, Riley.” Her eyes gloss.
“Thank you so much, Casey, for sharing your story. And your support. Truly.” With that, I wrap up the program and sign off with a smile. But when I hit the stop recording button, tears mist my eyes.
Comments fill up the section of my feed so fast I can barely keep up with them, but most of them are viewers talking about their own stories of cyberbullying, wrongful terminations, or unfair slanders toward them as women in situations where there were several parties at blame. There are several job options for Casey to explore. But mostly, everyone is outraged about me getting fired as the scapegoat. Maybe because what happened to me happens to so many others. They are angry, and for them, this is personal.
Then I get a DM from Maddox.Meet with me. Please?
29
The Tea Break
Iknock on my parents’ door. I used to walk into their old house, but since they moved, it feels wrong to do that now. When my mother answers, surprise etches itself across her face. “Riley.”
“Can I come in?”
“Of course.” Once I step inside, she immediately goes to straighten my collar.
I move away. “Please don’t fuss over me.”
“Oh. Okay. Have a seat in the kitchen.” She rushes off to warm the kettle for tea. She may not like Grams, but she certainly got that from her. I guess I did too.
Once we’re sitting at the kitchen table with cups from Mom’s best china, the the kettle sounds like a freight train’s whistle in the awkward silence.
Of course it is. We haven’t had a real conversation in six months.
After she pours us both cups and I thank her, the room falls silent again. Fiddling with my tea string, I say, “I was in Scotland. Spreading Grams’s ashes.”
She sits slowly. “Riley—look. If you came to lecture me on not coming along, please don’t.”
“I wasn’t. At all. I just wanted to let you know that it’s done. And I loved Whistleburg.”
“Oh.” She sips her tea. “Then thank you.”
I tense. “I do have something I came here to ask you. I need to know why you’re so mad at Grams.”
“This again?” She groans.
“Yes. I don’t understand why you won’t tell me.”
“Because, Riley.” Her voice turns sharp. “What would that accomplish? For me to turn you against her when you two were far closer to each other than me? To possibly destroy your image of the one woman in the family who you looked up to?”
My chest squeezes. “I look up to you, too.”
“Please don’t.” She sighs, her face paling. “I guess now that Mom’s gone, there’s no harm to be had.” She stares into space, swallowing hard. “That woman always resented me. She made itveryclear she wanted a son, so when Patrick came along, he was the golden child who could do no wrong. She spoiled him rotten.”
That’s so difficult for me to take in. I cannot imagine Grams behaving like that. She never did anything like that to me. I just had no idea—I guess by design. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
Her hand trembles, and her lips purse tight. “I could never win. I graduated summa cum laude, but Patrick was a National Merit Scholar. I went to New York to live and work, but Patrick got his law degree, just like Dad, and took over the family business. Mom was a renowned historian, and I was merely average, at best. So of course I never quite lived up to her standards, and I felt her disappointment every day in little ways.”
Right. Just like Mom always makes me feel. But I just say, “I’m sorry. You realize that it was on Grams for treating you that way? That it wasn’t your fault?”
She sits, her eyes misting, something I’ve only seen in my mom a handful of times. Her lip quivers when she says, “But itwasmy fault. I ended up a failure. Hell, I lost my entire business to Covid. Patrick is just fine. So, in the end, he won. And Mom was right about me. But it’s too late now—both of my parents are dead.”
“What Patrick did was unconscionable. Grams wasnotproud of him for that, I promise you. I’m pretty sure that’s why she left no one anything in her will. But regardless, it’s not too late for you. You have a wonderful family who loves you. You had a hugely profitable commercial real estate business. It’s not your fault a pandemic wiped it out.”
