“Hillya does,” I replied.
“Hillya bakes regular things most people eat and she makes coffee drinks. That is not the same thing,” my mother shot back, looking pleased with herself.
“This past month I began making gluten, dairy, and nut-free things for Hillya’s shop. Every morning, they sell out. Every day, someone new comes in because they heard we have the things I bake. Hillya said that fifty percent of last month’s revenue was from the things I baked and the coffee drinks I created for allergy-sensitive people.”
My mother sniffed and shook her head as if she didn’t believe me. She was running out of argument and I could see it on her face. She was difficult and headstrong. She was also vain and selfish, but she was mine. She was the only mother I would ever have and I loved her despite her flaws. I loved her despite the fact she lied to me.
However, I could love her and choose my own path. I was done letting her decide for me because I didn’t want to upset her. The fact was my mother was always upset about something. It was just how she was. I had just given her something new to be upset about.
“Your plan is to live in this house, work for Hillya and then what? Take over her place one day? That’s what you want?” she asked, some of her steam was gone.
I shrugged. “Right now I don’t have a plan. I don’t know that I am staying here. All I know is that I don’t have to make a decision overnight. I have time.”
Mother reached up and tucked a dark strand of her hair behind her ear. She fidgeted when she was upset or anxious. My changing things on her had done both. She liked knowing what the future held. It was the reason for her constant state of aggravation. Since she wasn’t a fortune teller.
“I have a boutique to run. I can’t stay here and talk sense into you. Since Will died, you’ve been changing. This shouldn’t surprise me. But I will give you time. You’ll come to your senses. I think your gran passing has put more of a strain on you than I realized. I’ll just go back home and when you are ready to join me, I’m there.”
I would never be ready to join her back there again. That much I did know.
“Drive safe,” I told her. “And Mom, I love you.”
She took a deep breath and stepped forward to give me a brief hug before moving back. “I love you too, of course,” she replied. My mother was so different than her parents, I often wondered how she came from them.
She glanced at Rio again who was now eating his muffin. “I hope your grandparents are well,” she said. “I am sorry about your mother.” Her words were stiff, but she was trying. This was the best one could expect from Lyra Warren.
Rio nodded. “They’re just fine,” he replied. “Thank you.”
Mom started for the door and I wondered if I should ask her to stay the night but decided against it. The longer she stayed, the more she would want to try and convince me to come back to Chattanooga. I didn’t need to deal with that right now. I didn’t have the strength.
She paused at the door and looked back, but she didn’t look at me. She looked at Rio. “You look like him and your voice. It sounds just like him,” she said.
Rio turned to look at her.
“Rebel that is. Your uh, father,” she added. Then she turned around and opened the door.
“Bye, Mom,” I called out.
She lifted her perfectly manicured hand and waved at me. “Bye, Henley.”
When the door closed behind her, Rio let out a low whistle. “Jesus Christ, lord and savior, that woman is scary as hell.”
I leaned against the counter and picked my coffee back up. “You have no idea,” I replied then took a drink and watched from the window as she drove away.
Forty-One
When the door to Signed Sips opened and Drake walked in, my stomach immediately knotted up. Seeing someone connected to Saul, other than Rio, was not easy. I had managed to get through the week after my face-off with my mother. I was still crying nightly in the shower mostly so that Rio wouldn’t hear me. I missed Saul and I hated that I did.
“Hey,” I said to him, wishing someone other than me was out front to wait on him.
“Henley,” he said with a crooked grin. “Just the girl I wanted to see.”
That did not make me feel better. “Oh, okay,” I replied, trying to smile but failing miserably at it.
“Don’t look so damn thrilled,” he teased.
“I’ll try not to,” I replied, wishing he’d say what he had to say and leave.
“Look, this isn’t my place and Rio told me to stay out of it but hell, I’m the one living with this shit. Rio put his fist in Saul’s face then packed up and left. Now it’s me and Saul and I’m telling you, I don’t think I can take much more.”
Rio had hit Saul? I assumed they had words, but I didn’t think he had hit him.
“Henley, he is a fucking psycho right now. Whatever you did, you wrecked the guy. I can’t even breathe hard in the house. He loses his shit over everything. Do you know how many things he’s broken? If I have to sweep up anymore glass, I am going to fucking scream. Unless you want another roommate, I need you to talk to Saul. Work this out, whatever it is.”
I shook my head. “I can’t,” I whispered.
Drake sighed. “Why? You love him, don’t you? Y’all were all over each other then BAM it’s done. I mean what the hell could have happened that was so bad?”
He didn’t know and I couldn’t tell him. It was all back. The deep ache that made daily living hard. All the progress I had made was gone. Hearing Saul’s name and knowing he’s not okay either should have felt better but it didn’t.
“Please, Drake. Just go,” I pleaded. “I can’t talk about this.”
He studied me with a confused frown, but he finally nodded his head. “Fine. I’ll go. But whatever happened know he’s falling apart. Day by day.”
I turned and ran to the back then. I couldn’t hear anymore. Pushing the kitchen door opened, I rushed inside just in time for the first sob to break free from my chest. Grabbing the side of the sink, I held on as it all exploded again. The top that I had managed to loosely hold it down with was gone.
“Henley,” Hillya called out and then she was there beside me. I turned toward her and she held me as I clung to her and cried. She didn’t ask me why. She just held me.
I heard Emily return from the store and ask what was wrong. “Go work the front,” Hillya told her. “She’ll be okay.”
I used all my strength to pull myself together and wiped my face with the back of my hand. Hillya handed me a clean paper towel and I took it and dried up then blew my nose.