AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, probably not.”
She started to cry. “I’m sorry I’m such a fuck up.”
“You’re having a rough patch. You’ll get through it.”
“I don’t want to turn out like my mother.”
“So let’s nip this in the bud. Quit the drinking.”
“I drink before noon.”
I’d suspected that to be the case on more than one occasion. But when I asked, she’d said she was hung over. Not that that was much better.
“You want me to take you somewhere? To a detox or rehab?”
“Do you think I need to?”
“I think I want you to get better. So if you’re up for it, let’s give it a shot. It can’t hurt, right?”
“I guess not.”
“I’ll make some calls.”
“Can it wait until tomorrow?”
“Sure.”
“I’m going to get better for you.”
I shook my head. “No, Evie. You need to get better foryou.”
CHAPTER 23
Pack the Epsom
Fox
“What are you up to this weekend, boss?”
I didn’t need Porter knowing I’d taken his suggestion to take Josie to the winery, so I stared straight at the road as we drove back from the jobsite in my truck on Friday afternoon. “Not much.”
I caught him smirking in my peripheral vision. “Uh-huh.”
I wasn’t sure if that meant he knew something or suspected, but I left it at that. Porter went back to playing some game with annoying cartoon sounds on his phone.
But a few miles later, he couldn’t help himself. “I’m not usually a wine drinker, especially reds. I went for the ambiance and because it made the girl I was seeing happy. But they make this wine that tastes almost like black cherries. I think it was called petit verdot.”
My eyes flashed to him and back to the road. “Who told you?”
Porter snickered. “Miss Hope called the office. She told Opal you were going out of town for the weekend.”
I shook my head. “My own mother.”
“Now don’t get upset with her. She didn’t spill the beans intentionally. The other day, you sent me over to the home-improvement store to pick up a spool of electrical wire. While I was there, Sam happened to be working up an estimate for some flooring. I saw Josie’s name on top, so when he asked if I needed any help, I told him to finish up what he was working on. Figured I was on the clock and you wouldn’t mind. Anyway, Sam said it wasn’t a rush because the customer had come in yesterday to get an estimate, but she was going away for the weekend. I put two and two together after Opal hung up with Miss Hope and asked if I knew you were going out of town this weekend. Don’t worry, I didn’t mention the connection I made to Opal.”
“Good. Let’s keep it that way.”
Porter smiled. “Glad you took my recommendation, though.”
