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“Kelly, I really don’t know what to tell you. I can’t go to the celebration—I have to work.” My youngest sister groaned loudly into the car speakers, and I glanced at the clock on the dash with a heavy sigh. “I am happy for you—”
“—but you and Mom can’t be in the same room together for two friggin seconds to congratulate me on being pregnant—I understand. I understand, H.” Resignation weighed down Kelly’s tone even along the telephone line, and my lips screwed into a grimace. “I just wish you two could be civil for once. This is exactly what happened last time with Tracy and Marissa. I get that it’s a two-person problem, but if you could just ignore her… just for an hour…”
“The last time I tried to ignore Mom she slapped me in the face and doused me with beer from the open bar at M’s wedding.” Silence reigned as both my sister and I cringed at memories of my bland words, and I reached to pinch the bridge of my nose.
Rubbing my tongue against the roof of my mouth, I inhaled deeply through flared nostrils before parting my lips again. “I’m sorry. I know it sucks, but it won’t change. I’m not going to agitate the situation when we both know it’ll end with Mom flipping the fuck out because I’d rather make something of myself professionally than pop out kids—no offence.”
“None taken.” Answering swiftly, Kelly groaned softly as I continued sipping my soda in the comfort of my air-conditioned rental vehicle. “I don’t understand why she can’t just be happy with the four grandkids she’s got—almost five. I mean, she won’t even be that grandma, so what’s the point of badgering you to the point of insanity?”
“I ask myself that all the time. Listen, I’ll make the trip on Sunday, okay? I’m really sorry about all of this, K.” My only answer was a soft hum, and Kelly hung up easily to leave me in heavy, dark silence.
Closing my eyes, I leaned my head back against the rest to rub my chest as memories twisted and constricted my heart. It was really a shame that my sister told me before everyone else because she knew I’d need to make different arrangements to go see her.
My mom had gotten so angry at me for trying to avoid making a scene at Marissa’s wedding four years ago that she’d physically assaulted me. My sisters had been mortified—the wedding reception had been ruined—all of the other guests were uncomfortable. Tom’s family refused to speak to me for months afterwards, and they tried to encourage Marissa and Tom to do the same.
I couldn’t even attend Kelly or Tracy’s weddings because my mother was there.
All of this because I wouldn’t be a broodmare.
Bitterness infected my inner voice, and I scoffed lightly. Tracy had gotten pregnant with her longtime boyfriend right after they graduated just a year behind me, and they married within three months. Marissa met Tom at a retreat she worked at briefly when she was 19 nearly four years ago. Kelly and her boyfriend, Sam, had been friends since kindergarten and were expecting their first child in just eight short months.
But here I was, the ‘troublemaker’ of the family simply because I was single.
“Ugh—” … and this only scratches the surface.
Reaching for my phone propped up on the dashboard, I checked the time before turning off the car my company had loaned me for this week. “Screw it, I’ve done all I can to try to fix this crap. I can’t fix Mom, and it’d be stupid to try.”
Only briefly checking my makeup and hair in the rearview mirror, I adjusted my stereotypical chauffeur cap and threw back my shoulders. Smiling at myself, I forcefully pushed away all thoughts about my family—my mom, in particular—to focus on the job at hand.
George Carlton had called me personally, after all; I couldn’t just disappoint my potentially immediate supervisor.
“Okay!” Climbing out of my car, I secured the locks before making my way closer towards the entrance of the airport. Even the sidewalks were packed with people, and my heels clicking on the cement was lost under the sound of conversation and rolling su
itcases. The smell of people just getting on or just leaving a plane mingled in the air to withstand the slight breeze of late September, and thick tendrils slithered up my nostrils to curl my nose hairs.
Weaving effortlessly through the sea of people, I made my way to the gate board to search for the incoming flight from California. Plucking at my service vest, my fingertips tingled as they grazed shiny, brass buttons that lined my belly. I hadn’t worn my uniform for years, but my self-esteem couldn’t be higher that it still fit. Ignoring the noise and smells of the airport as I made my way towards my gate, I actively avoided licking my lips and smearing the light coat of lipstick I wore.
All I had to identify my ‘important client’ was a name and a face, and I waited patiently beyond the cordoned-off terminal. It took mere moments for the speakers to blare with a feminine voice declaring the plane was being unloaded, and I tapped my foot absently as I glanced around. A woman waited with her five children, one only a few weeks old, and the anxiety surrounding her was palpable.
It took only a fraction of a second to realize why she looked so tense when a big, muscly man in full Marine uniform came rushing out of the terminal. He dropped his heavy knapsack to make a break for his family, and his childrens’ shouting and screaming filled the terminal. Every pair of eyes were on them, and I almost felt bad for watching as he slid to his knees to bear hug all of his kids together.
The oldest couldn’t have gone through puberty yet, but he clearly didn’t care too much about his appearance as he burst into tears.
My heart squeezed painfully, and I tore my eyes off them to focus on the gate as my lungs stuttered. I didn’t even know anyone in the military, but no one could deny the emotion of the moment. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, I squared my shoulders and pursed my lips into a thin line before regular fliers began to disembark the gate.
“Mr. Richards—” Putting on my best smile, my cheeks heated at the immediate, intense gaze that raked down my front. A shock of ear-length, jet black hair curled slightly on either side of intimidatingly bright, blue eyes, but Anthony Richards didn’t so much as twitch in greeting. “I’m Hailey Montgomery—I’ll be your driver for the week. May I take your bag?”
Smooth-shaven cheeks did nothing to hide Anthony’s thinning lips, and he held out his carry-on in silence to nod curtly.
“Let’s get this over with, then.” Gruff and hard, his deep voice hit me like a brick to the face, and my smile strained slightly as I took the leather handles of his small duffel bag.
“Right this way, please.” The quiet bubble around us only grew denser on the way out of the airport and back to my car, and tension thrummed through my veins. I didn’t know anything about Anthony Richards aside from his name, but his picture didn’t do him justice.
He was large and in charge—and he was not in a good mood.
Great, just great.
“Take me to the Rochester.” Speaking up from the back seat, Anthony’s demand coiled underneath my shoulder blades as I pulled off the curb and into the ever-flowing ocean of traffic leaving the airport. Rolling my inner cheek between my teeth, I glanced in the rearview mirror to find him scowling at his reflection in the tinted window of the back passenger side seat.
