AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I kissed the top of her head. “Is that a new dress?”
She took a quick peek at the emerald-green fabric that hung from her slender frame and then blushed when she looked up at me. “It is. I ordered it on clearance from Neiman Marcus.”
There was a time when she wouldn’t have shopped online, never missing an opportunity for a trip to her favorite store. Her illness had taken enough from her, and even if she had to adapt to a new way of doing things, I was pleased to see she had enough energy to do shopping of any kind. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you.” She fidgeted with the high collar around her neck.
“Where’s Drew?” Dad wandered into the kitchen, their suitcase in hand.
“In New York.” I white-knuckled the edge of the counter. How was it Drew was able to get a flight out so quicklyandavoid all the fallout his immediate desertion caused?
“New York?” Dad halted, the suitcase handle slipping from his hands.
“He said you sent him to oversee things with the sale. I don’t disagree he should be there, though it could’ve waited a few days.” To hell with the company if it meant having another holiday with Mama.
“Mulaney’s going first thing next week,” he said. It shouldn’t bother me she was so eager to leave and not happy we’d be in New York together. But it did. “The three of you will be fine there once the dust settles, but that boy needs to get his ass back here. It’s Christmas.”
“Harris.” Mama placed a hand on his arm.
“This isn’t right. He can’t just go disappearing on his family. Especially not this time of year.” Dad didn’t quite yell, but whatever hold he had on his temper seemed fragile at best.
“He had his mind made up. We all know how that goes,” I muttered.
“This is beyond a wild hair, even for him.” He slipped his fingers through Mama’s like he needed her support. For a moment I was derailed as I took the two of them in. That was what I wanted. The kind of everlasting love my parents had.
Drew could be impulsive, constantly chasing after shiny things. Between Dad, Mulaney, and me, we managed to keep a bridle on him when it came to Carter Energy. He often didn’t take it well when he didn’t get his way.
“He seemed bound and determined to get a jump on things. I still can’t find why we needed to sell in the first place.” I leveled Dad with a stare he returned.
“You’ve seen the numbers,” he said, as if that explained how we’d ended up in a place where CE was no more. Even worse, our family business now included another company whose name we’d taken.
“Yeah, and I can’t find a damn thing to justify why you sold.”
He snorted. “There’s a billion reasons why.”
“I haven’t seen one,” I argued.
“We lost a lot of money in a few months,” he said in defeat.
I looked back and forth between him and my mother, who wrung her hands. “The hell we did.” Those figures were my life. If one penny had disappeared, I’d know about it.
“We couldn’t sustain the business. I had to do something. I know you don’t like it, but it’s done.”
“I don’t like that you decided without consulting anyone,” I corrected. “I’m telling you, there’s no way our deficit was so large we had to sell. No. Way.”
Dad put an arm around my mother, neither of them saying a word. Yet judging by the dire expressions on both their faces, we had to sell. Or something else was going on. Everybody in my family was acting weird, or maybe I was out of touch, because I’d been distracted for months.
“I’ll head up on Sunday.” There wasn’t anything but Mama holding me here, and I was determined to see what I missed in the spreadsheets.
Dad gave a satisfied nod.
“And Mulaney will be there too,” Mama said.
“That girl has sacrificed everything for this company,” Dad said. “She stepped right up to the plate again and didn’t even complain.”
Pride filled me. She’d treated our business as if it were her own family’s, and I guessed when it came down to it, it was. I loved watching her work with my father, how close she was with Mama. Dad was wrong about one thing, though. Mulaney was no girl. She was all woman. One that frustrated the bejesus out of me. Had for years.One I want desperately as mine.
“You’ll look out for her.” My mother reached for my hand.
