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“The phone was ringing,” Mav replied, looking from his mother to Cash and then back again. “I answered it, but it was for Pappy. I can hear grandpa yelling at him.”
Reese groaned, glancing at her watch. “Ten our time is eleven their time. This can’t be good.” Choosing to ignore what her son saw, Reese wrenched open the screen door, leaving them to have a stare down on the porch.
In the kitchen, she could clearly hear her father yelling through her landline. Rage burned through her when she caught a tear make its way down her grandfather’s cheek before he could hide it. She didn’t know what he wanted this time, but it wasn’t going to happen like this, not in her house.
“Give me that,” she demanded, ripping the cordless phone out of Pappy’s hand. “I have no idea why you are calling this late, but this is shitty. Even for you, it is an entirely new low. Unless you can call here at a decent hour and use a respectable tone, don’t fucking call back,” Reese raged before disconnecting the call and slamming the phone down on the counter.
Panting, she tried to make the red recede from the edges of her vision before turning her attention to Pappy. When her breathing slowed and her blood pressure lowered, she plopped into the chair across the scarred kitchen table. “What did he want this time?”
“Money,” Pappy sighed. “Girlie, I don’t know what we did wrong with that one, but, boy, your grandma and I sure messed that kid up.”
“No, Pappy, you and grandma didn’t mess him up. My father is only capable of loving himself and his money. He wasn’t always like this, but his greed knows no bounds. What does he think he is owed this time?”
“He thinks I owe him for the condo, apartment, or whatever fancy thing he wants to call it. He bought it without my permission and now he wants me to live there. He sold my house. I didn’t want to move. I didn’t ask for any of this. I sure didn’t want that damn thing in the middle of the city with all those rich, snooty retired senators and lawyers for neighbors. What made him think I would ever fit in there?”
“If it is such a great place, I guess he could always move in there,” Reese joked. “If it is for retired people or people of that age, he fits the bill. He is old enough and pretentious enough to fit right in.”
“Oh, Reese, girlie, you know this isn’t the end of it.”
“I know, but it is for tonight,” Reese looked over her shoulder at Mav standing in the kitchen doorway. Once again, adults behaving badly was front and center.
“I will call him in the morning and get this ironed out as much as we can. Let’s all go to bed.”
“Sorry to interrupt your evening,” Pappy winked at her, and she could hear Mav’s snicker behind her.
“You had the window open, didn’t you?” Reese let her head fall to the table, knowing they both heard everything that was said on the porch. How she could have forgotten Mav’s bedroom was directly above the front porch, she didn’t know. Damn Cash. It was all his fault.
“Mom, just so you know, I wouldn’t care if you went out to dinner with him,” Mav voiced his opinion.
“It might do you good to get out of the house for a little bit,” Pappy chimed in.
“Go to bed, the both of you. I don’t have time to go out for dinner. I have to find a job. Besides, there is already too much testosterone in this house. There is no need to add more.”
“Must be something new,” Pappy called, shuffling out the door. “I had no idea you couldn’t work and date at the same time. I guess these days dinner takes a lot longer than it used to.”
“Good night,” Reese yelled over the combined laughter of the two men currently in her life.
It warmed her heart to hear the two of them together, even if they were teasing her. Switching off the lights, Reese made her way around the house to do her nightly routine of closing up. Stopping at the front door, she was relieved to find Cash, and the beer bottles were gone.
“Tomorrow,” she muttered to herself. “I can figure it all out tomorrow.”
Chapter 5
“Six hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” Reese screeched. “Are you out of your mind? Why in god’s name did you buy a condo for six hundred fifty thousand?”
Reese was cut off by her father spouting something else.
“Pardon me,” she scoffed. “Plus, the HOA fees because I am sure Pappy is going to decide to try polo on their brand-new field. The man doesn’t golf either. Why are you doing this?”
The voice on the other end grew louder and more demanding, but she didn’t back down. Reese had faced off against his bluster before.
“What happened to the money you got from selling his house?” Pausing, she waited for the answer. “Invested it for him in a long-term commitment. What does that even mean? The man is eighty years old. How could you have possibly thought that was a good idea?”
Reese tucked the phone in the crook of her neck as she started cleaning. The only way to work off a good mad was with the smell of Mr. Clean and follow it up with a lemony Pledge chaser. “No, don’t you tell me I don’t understand the world of big business. I understand very well what you have done. You took an old man’s money, hoping he would finally bend to your will. Let me tell you something, bucko, that isn’t going to happen. Pappy is going to be living with me.”
She pulled the phone away from her ear and let him rant.
“Yes, I know you are not going to pay for it. Don’t worry. It won’t cost you a cent. I will take care of everything.” Her arm moved furiously as the oven began to sparkle. “I don’t give a damn if you are his executor. I don’t want Pappy’s money. Thanks to you, he doesn’t have anything left for himself.”
