“Phinny?” In the background she could hear laughter and silverware clinking against China. “Are you all right, darling? Where are you?”
“You’re at dinner?” She settled back on the couch.
“Yes, the Gardeners are having a do tonight. Let me excuse myself and find some privacy.”
She could picture her mum in a black taffeta Herrera dress, her Burberry wrap around her shoulders, and glittering with rubies and diamonds. If she closed her eyes, she could even get a whiff of her mum’s Caron Poivre perfume.
As she waited, the little girl in her wanted to cry it out with her mummy. I’ve been shoveling horse shit, and I’ve only eaten two tomatoes in eighteen hours. I haven’t bathed, and my teeth feel like they’re wearing socks.
But the woman who’d been cut off because she wouldn’t marry the son of Andrew’s business partner hardened right up.
“All right, dear, I’m on the terrace. Tell me, what have you inherited?”
“His ranch.”
Her mother let loose an unseemly laugh. “Well, if that’s not a message, I don’t know what is. He left you the one place you couldn’t stand. What about money? After all those years of playing hockey, he had to be worth something.”
“I don’t know. But in order to get the ranch, I have to stay here for a month.”
“A month?” Her mum spat out the word as if it were a grain of sand in her oyster. “Isn’t that just like him, making you jump through hoops to get what’s rightfully yours?”
Her senses sharpened. “I don’t know. Is it? Was my father a game player?” She also couldn’t help wondering if the ranch was rightfully hers. He must have cousins, siblings…
Aren’t there any Grevers left?
“Your father’s the finest man I’ve ever known. He’s a good, decent, honorable man, and I can assure you the entire Crutchley estate will fall into your hands once we’ve passed. Your sperm donor, on the other hand, was a stubborn, hardheaded ass.”
Phinny couldn’t bear to listen to the familiar character-stripping right then. “Yes, but was Kurt a game player?”
Her mum went quiet. And with every moment that ticked past, Phinny’s anxiety sharpened. Because she’d always taken her mum’s word for it, hadn’t she? She didn’t have enough memories with Kurt to form an opinion of her own.
And in this moment, her mum’s answer mattered very much.
“No, I can’t say I recall that. In fact, he was rather too forthright. But it was so long ago, and I was just a child when we met. What did I really know of him? I was a college girl, away from home for the first time, and he was the star athlete on campus.”
Laughter outside the window drew her attention to find Hank and some others unloading the bed of a huge pick-up truck. “Well, I’m staying here, so I’m sure I’ll learn all about him.”
“That’s simply not possible. The planning meeting for the ball is coming up. You must be here, or they might hand the auction duties off to someone else.”
“Why would they do that? They love the work I’ve done.”
“Oh, you know everything’s political, darling. Who knows what favors might be owed or granted? In any event, if you’re not there, they might give the job to someone else.”
She hadn’t realized she was so easily replaceable. “Well, I can’t leave the property, so I’ll need your help.” Considering it was a volunteer job, she hoped her mum didn’t flip out. Well, it had to be done. “I’m going to ask them to hire me.”
“That’s a wonderful idea.”
“Oh, thank God. I thought you’d think I was a cow for asking a philanthropy for money.”
“Why would I think that? It’s a tremendous amount of work, and they hire publicists and marketers. Why not make you permanent staff?”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.” Relief blew out the exhaustion, strengthening her. “Since I won’t be at the planning meeting, do you think you could ask them for me? Or the next time you have dinner with the Lumleys, could you bring it up?”
“Absolutely not. My relationship with Margaret still hasn’t recovered since you rejected her son’s marriage proposal.”
“Mum, you can’t still be going on about that.”
“Can’t I? We haven’t had a dinner invitation since.”
“What? You talk about her all the time.”
“I see them at parties and events, and we work together with various charities, but we’ve not gone out to lunch as friends or dinner as couples.”
“That’s ridiculous. How is it your fault?”
“You’re my child, and they believe you misled him. He could have been pursuing other women instead of wasting his time with you.”
“I never…you can’t believe that. I dated him. That’s what people do.”
“Phinny, you must know you embarrassed their family publicly. In any event, this is something you’ll have to do on your own. If I get you a job, how will you ever feel proud of yourself?”
“Right. Of course.” More life lessons for Seraphina. If only her parents understood they did more harm than good, hacking away at her self-esteem and making her feel inept. “I’ll call Mrs. Lumley and explain the situation. But that’s not why I called. Do you think you could loan me some money? The ranch is worth seven-hundred-million dollars, so I’m good for it. I just need to get through the next month.”
“Good Lord. You’ve got to be joking. That pile of dirt?”
Out the window, she had a view of rugged mountain peaks glistening with snow, a freshly painted barn, and a corral recently raked. “It’s actually breathtaking here. The way you described it I’d imagined a dust bowl with tumble weeds summersaulting across empty highways.”
“That’s not far off what it looked like twenty-some years ago. Yes, certainly. I’ll transfer money into your account the moment we get off the phone.”
Oh, thank God. She could buy clothing, shoes, and food. Her spirits soared when she thought of all the skin and hair care products she hadn’t been able to use in nearly a year. Her hair had turned to straw from using cheap shampoos.
“Thank you, Mum. I need new bras like you wouldn’t believe. And I only brought my flats and my old Christian LaCroix heels.”
“It’s rather petty of him to make you stay a month to get your inheritance. You wouldn’t visit while he was alive, so by God, he’ll force you there in his death.”
“It’s possible. I’ll never really know for sure why he’s done this. But it’s more than that.”
“More?”
She’s not going to like this. “Well, he didn’t actually give me the land. I have to win it.”
Chapter Four
“Win what?” her mum practically screeched. “Your inheritance?”
“Yes.” Phinny got up and paced toward the kitchen. “It’s between me and one of Kurt’s hockey boys. At the end of the month, we face off in a trivia contest. Whoever gets the most correct answers wins the land.”