Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
“School stuff. For my second masters.” He snapped his chopsticks into two. “Cyber security, remember?”
“One upside of the tech revolution, other than filters that make me look two, is the boat load of remote jobs.” I tried to play it casual, dunking my cucumber maki into the sauce, knowing I’d treaded into the off-limits subject of The Future.
“Yeah. I know.” He chewed the inside of his cheek, stirring truffle soy sauce into his toro donburi. “I’m running a few investment portfolios for old friends. They think I’m working from a rural village in Bali.”
Crisis averted.
I loosened up, sliding his mimosa across the table to him. “You and Ollie have always been analytical.”
Sebastian offered me a noncommittal shrug. “Me more than him, but yeah.”
After we finished eating, we moved to the couch, flipping through new releases on Netflix. My phone buzzed on the table. I peered on the screen and caught an unknown number with a Florida area code.
Shit.
Not them.
My pulse thrummed between my ears. They lived there these days. Fitting that they’d found themselves in Florida. Perhaps acclimatizing to the heat before they headed down to hell.
Of course, they’d never bothered to reach out. I hadn’t heard from them in fifteen years. Why would they call now?
They didn’t even have my number. Not the new one and not the one before it.
Sebastian and I exchanged glances. He knew about my situation.
“No one knows your number.” He nodded as the phone stopped buzzing, then immediately started up again with the second call. “If someone’s calling you, they really want to reach you.”
I fisted the device with my clammy palm, sliding my finger across the screen. “Hello?”
I hated that I sounded so breathless. Hated that a seed of hope sprouted inside me, convinced it might be her. The woman who turned her back on me.
“Briar Rose?”
I wanted to break down in tears.
It sounded like her but older. It struck me that I couldn’t confirm it for the simple reason that I hadn’t heard her voice in so long.
The phone fell from my grasp. Seb moved it to the table and pressed the speaker button, patting my shoulder in support.
“Oh, honey, is that you? Have I finally found you?”
Mother.
No, not mother. She didn’t deserve that title. Philomena Auer.
My blood ran cold inside my veins. It was her. How did she get my number? I knew Seb could read my panic all over my face. I practically vibrated with it.
I didn’t reply, but that didn’t stop her from rushing to explain, probably sensing that I wanted to hang up.
“I ran a search on one of those online website things. Just yesterday, I found this number attached to your name. I just wanted to tell you congratulations.”
I tried and failed to untangle the mess in my head. Congratulations? What for? Since she left me, I’d graduated, found a job, got promoted, achieved career milestone after career milestone. None of these feats had made me worthy of her attention. Why now?
It took me a full ten seconds to find my voice. “Can you be more specific? Life has been a theme park of successes and occasions worth celebrating since you kicked me out of your lives.”
Sebastian nodded, giving me the thumbs up. He liked my answer.
You can do it, Briar. This is nothing. They are nothing.
A small flutter batted around inside my chest. I was dealing with it. Facing the trauma head-on. It seemed to be the theme of my life the past two weeks. Colliding with people who have let me down.
“Briar Rose, please.” Philomena barked out a fake laugh, one I knew too well from the parties she dragged me to as her decoration. “Sarcasm is so unbecoming.”
The fucking nerve.
“It’s Briar now. And luckily, I didn’t grow up to be a well-behaved woman. I’m a strong one, though, and I don’t take motherly advice from women who have never been mothers.”
Sebastian’s hand shot to his mouth. He stifled his laughter, snatched up his phone, and shot me a text. It came through a second later.
Seb vB: Hello? 9-1-1? I would like to report a MURDER.
I smothered a giggle and mouthed, thank you.
A full minute passed.
I almost hung up when Philomena finally pierced the silence. “You are right. I have no right to criticize you. We shouldn’t have lost touch with you, honey. It was a very stressful time in our lives. We were overwhelmed about all of it. I wish you could let me explain.”
Oliver had said the same thing. Only Oliver tried to make it up to me by saving me in the pond, taking care of me bedside at the hospital, upending his life with me as his fiancée, and letting me crash here after I made it very, very clear that I hated his guts.
And he never asked for anything in return.