“That I want people to discover Lachlan’s work. I’m positive if we can just get some exposure, all the fancy shops will ask to stock his furniture. They just need to know it exists.”
“So, pitch it to him.”
“Yeah?” She got up on her toes and kissed his cheek.
“What was that for?”
Because I’m falling in love with you. But she’d never tell him. It wasn’t like that with them. Not when she was leaving in a week. So, she told him another, equally important truth.
“For believing in me.” And that gave her the confidence to believe in herself.
* * *
The very next morning, Declan drove her into town so she could meet with the Cooters. On her lap, she had a tin of cookies she and Tina had baked because Phinny hadn’t wanted to just show up and ask for something. She wanted to give, too.
Surely, one of the seniors would know a realtor or property owner who’d help secure an empty store willing to rent out its space for the holiday weekend.
But just as he found a parking spot not far from the diner, her mum called. “Do you mind if I take this? I’ll keep it short, but she’s been ringing for a few days, and I’ve been too angry to speak to her.”
“What’s different now?”
Good question. “I guess having this project has taken my mind off her betrayal.”
“Sure.” He cut the engine and pulled his phone out of the cup holder. “Go ahead.”
She accepted the video-call. “Hey, Mum.”
“Where on earth have you been? I’ve been trying to…” Her mum’s expression flattened. “Oh, dear.”
“What? What’s the matter?” Without even thinking, she quickly smoothed down her hair.
“Have you just woken up?” her mum asked. “Isn’t it eleven in the morning there?”
“It is, and no, I’ve been up for hours. I’ve actually been quite busy.”
“Doing what?”
Her mum’s challenging tone had Declan looking over.
“Every day, I’m getting more products to sell at the farm stand. People are actually approaching me. Plus, we’ve got the festival at the ranch tomorrow, and I’m helping a talented furniture maker get some traction in the area.”
“How are you helping him?” Her mum sounded skeptical.
While it was a fair question, it still hurt. “I’m organizing a pop-up store for him. In fact, I’m in town right now looking for a space. It’s got to be huge because the man’s got quite an inventory. He’s great at making furniture but not so good at selling it.” Anticipation rushed through her. She hoped she could pull this off. She would love to set Lachlan up for the rest of his life, so he no longer had to live hand-to-mouth.
Declan reached for her thigh and gave it a squeeze. The simple touch reminded her not to let her mum steal her confidence. “We’re just parking now, so I’ll speak to you later. I just didn’t want you to worry about me.”
“Darling…” Her mum let out an exasperated huff.
“What?”
“I’m worried about you.” Her mum waved her hand as if she had no words to describe the state of her daughter’s appearance.
In the box at the top of the screen, Phinny took in her wild hair. It wasn’t even the wind so much as the fact that she hadn’t blown it out in…well, she couldn’t remember when.
“I suppose it’s too late to ship you hair products.”
Was it really that bad?
“How about I send you to Los Angeles for a spa weekend? You can get a facial and a manicure. We can get some moisture into that hair.”
“I don’t have time to go to a spa, and my hair’s not dry. I just haven’t straightened it.”
“Well, at least put on some mascara. Do you want me to put some money in your account so you can buy lipstick?”
“I asked you for a loan to get me through this month so I could eat, and you refused. But now, when you see I’m not wearing make-up, you want to send me to a spa? Do you hear the absurdity of that?”
“Even at the diner, you had enough pride to put your best foot forward. Now, in that godforsaken Cowtown, you’ve let yourself go. You’ve completely given up. I blame Kurt. What he’s put you through is humiliating. And if the land weren’t worth so much, I’d tell you to walk away. Your pride, your self-esteem, is worth more than that.”
“You’re worried about my self-esteem?” Uh oh. For days now, Phinny had suppressed her anger not only because she’d been busy, but because she’d been happy. She had the rest of her life to be in London and angry with her parents. She’d wanted to preserve her time in this lovely bubble. But her mum had uncorked her, and it was on. “Did my confidence concern you when you let me believe my entire life that my own father didn’t want me? Was my confidence your priority when you trained me to be a good girl so Andrew would love me? Because if you really give it some thought, those are serious self-esteem killers right there.”
“I don’t know what you’re going on about. We lived five thousand miles away, and Kurt’s priority was hockey. As for Andrew, of course I wanted you to be a good girl. That’s what parents do. We raise our children to be well-behaved.”
“Bullshit.” The word shot out of her mouth, and her mum recoiled as if she’d been slapped. Phinny didn’t care. “Stop it. Stop lying to me. You told me my father couldn’t be bothered with his family, that he was so caught up in his fame and glory as a hockey player that he had no time for us. But it’s not true.”
“Oh, really? And you know this because you’ve been there for three weeks and talked to people who see him as some sort of local hero because of his celebrity? Well, let me tell you something. I was his wife. The mother of his child.”
She shouldn’t have this conversation parked at the curb in front of a yoga studio and a museum, but she couldn’t stop. “Guess what, Mum? I saw the last email you sent him. He kept it.” If she’d had one shred of faith left in her mum, one ounce of hope that the letter had been taken out of context, her mum’s stricken expression scorched it to ashes.
They’d been so close all her life—well, until her parents had cut her off—that she didn’t want to see her mum in this new light. Her chest tightened, and she blinked back tears. “My dad loved me. He wanted me. You should see his office. It’s practically a shrine to his only child. And I can’t forgive you for convincing him to let me go and me that he wasn’t a good man. I love Andrew, and I appreciate the way he made me feel like a daughter, but can you imagine how it made me feel to think my own father didn’t want me?” No amount of blinking could hold back the tears that spilled onto her cheeks. “But he did. He wanted me. He kept my slap bracelet.” She went hot and itchy. “He kept my drawings and my river stones.” The rumbling beneath her skin gave way to a total collapse of her heart. Sorrow gushed out, spreading everywhere, making her body heavy with it. “Mummy, how could you do such a cruel thing?”
“I was trying to give you a family. A real father. And I did exactly that.” Her mum’s voice was shaky. “You don’t know what it was like. He was gone from September through April. That’s eight months out of the year. And in the four months he wasn’t playing, he was off at meetings and watching tape and working out. He was always the priority. Always. You and I never were. And after I moved to England, he had even less time with us.”