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“Valerie.” I didn’t want to apologize to her, because I wasn’t sorry. It had felt good to yell at her, in the meanest way possible. I’m sure she didn’t want to hear an insincere apology from me, anyway. She turned, Emma standing beside her, eyes wide, perfectly mirroring her father’s I’m-terrified-of-conflict face. Valerie waited for me to speak first.
“I didn’t ask him for this. And I’m going to do what I can to change his mind.” I waited a beat, then added, “But this isn’t any of your business. I’m not taking anything away from you. I don’t even know why you’re here.”
“No, you’re taking it away from my daughter.” Valerie smiled. It wasn’t a friendly smile. “And I’m here because I care about Neil and I don’t trust you. I don’t think he should trust you. You haven’t been with Neil a year, and you’re suddenly in his will.”
“As I said, I didn’t ask for it, and I don’t want it.” My back teeth ground together of their own volition. “If you have a problem with me over what happened at Porteras, that’s more than fair. But you don’t get to have a problem with my relationship with Neil. You aren’t a part of it.”
“Look, you have to have something.” Emma surprised both of us by speaking up. “You moved to a different country to be with him through this, and you’ve been out of a job.”
“She made a choice, Emma. She followed the money.”
And that was it. That was all it took. I was either going to rip Valerie to shreds right there in the hallway, or I was going to cry. I chose the latter, because it didn’t come with jail time.
“Goddamn it, mother!” I heard Emma curse as I stormed back toward the study.
When I got within earshot, I heard Alan saying, “—strongly urge you to reconsider. There are a number of other options we can explore to see Ms. Scaife provided for.”
“Fix this!” I demanded as I marched up to Neil. “You’ve got your ex and your daughter thinking I’m some kind of gold digging freak. I can’t deal with this right now!”
“Sophie,” Neil said, his eyes going wide with shock. He pushed up from the chair, wheezing as he did. I knew the pain managing drugs made him tired, and I felt instantly guilty. He was set, though, on putting his arms around me, and I let him.
Jesus, he was so much thinner than before. When did that happen? “I don’t want to think about any of this. I don’t want people to think I’m rooting for you to die.”
“No one thinks that,” he murmured against my hair.
“Mom thinks that,” I heard Emma say from the door. “Sophie, I’m sorry. She’s just drunk and she’s not handling this well.”
“Emma, could you—” Neil asked, and she cut him off before he could continue.
“Yeah. I’m going to take her home and try to calm her down.”
“I’ll call you in the morning, Neil,” Alan said, awkwardly collecting his things.
“I’m so sorry about all of this,” Neil said, and I know he was embarrassed. By my behavior, by Valerie’s behavior, by the entire situation. But I didn’t care. I felt attacked and wronged, and not just by Valerie.
“You can’t just spring something like this on me,” I said quietly once Emma and Alan had left the room. “You can’t do that to Emma, either.”
“I didn’t know any other way,” he admitted quietly. “I wanted to have everything settled before you got back.”
“I think you mean settled behind my back.” That was another part that bothered me. “You trusted Valerie to be a part of this decision and not me.”
“She’s my business partner,” he began patiently, making his way back to his chair. “And the mother of my child—”
“And you’re not with her. You’re with me.” This sucked. No matter how close I felt to him through all of this, we had only been together for five months. Did I have the right to demand to be included in these decisions?
If they had to do with me, then yes.
“If I’m your partner, if you really believe that this is a serious relationship and we’re on equal footing, you shouldn’t be going to Valerie for this stuff. You should be coming to me.” I knew I sounded jealous. I needed to own it. “I don’t like her, Neil. I think she is trying to insinuate herself into your life in ways that aren’t healthy. I know for a fact that she doesn’t want us to be together.”
“I know.” He said it like he’d had this conversation before. With Elizabeth? With someone else? “But you needn’t be threatened.”
“I am not threatened by her! I’m threatened by your behavior toward her!” How dare he put this down to unfounded jealousy on my part. “I was secure in our relationship, until I found out you were making enormous life decisions with your ex.”
