“Thank you, and God bless!” the mayor concluded, waving at the array of cameras and the awaiting crowd below.
We cheered our heads off for her as waiters littered the room with champagne to celebrate. The energy in the room felt like New Year’s Eve. We grabbed two glasses and sipped on them as our friends swarmed us with congratulations.
“You did it! You’re amazing!” English said, pulling me into a hug.
She’d returned from LA, as planned. She hadn’t quite been herself, but how could I even blame her? But the weirdest thing was how she was treating Court. Before, she had always been matter-of-fact with him but somehow still easygoing. Like he was business but also a friend. And now, the two glared at each other like they were ready to attack at any minute.
Even as she pulled back, English carefully stepped away from Court and to the other side of me. Court rolled his eyes at the move and downed the rest of his champagne.
“As if I had any doubts,” Katherine said with her know-it-all smirk.
“God, I had enough for the rest of us,” I said.
Camden actually put his arm around Katherine’s waist before he said, “I wouldn’t have approved a party like this in my hotel if it wasn’t going to be a victory.”
He said it as if he’d had something to do with it other than his vote. And god, sometimes, I wondered if he did.
Plus, the way Katherine and Camden had been acting was weird too. They’d actually shown up to the event together. Something I’d never seen happen on purpose. And he was even touching her in public when there weren’t cameras. Perhaps, his knight-in-shining-armor routine had worked on Katherine the night of the raid. I’d thought about asking Katherine if she knew that Camden had been the one to call the cops in the first place, but they were happy enough, and I didn’t want to be the one to rock the boat.
“Congrats, boss,” Aspen said, appearing out of nowhere with her own hug for me.
“The real champion.” I gestured to Aspen.
She blushed. “Psh, I just answer calls and keep your schedule.”
“You’re the best. The very best.”
“And cute,” Whitley said with a wink.
“Dibs,” Gavin said next to her.
I rolled my eyes at the both of them. “Neither of you can corrupt my assistant.”
Aspen’s eyes were wide as she raised her hand. “I am completely corruptible.”
Sam pulled me backward before I could keep that from happening. “I think someone else wants your attention.”
I moved my eyes from Aspen talking to my friends and found, to my surprise, my parents standing nearby. They were dressed to the nines. All glitz and glamour.
I took a deep breath, knowing that I would have to talk to them. Even though I didn’t want to. But I didn’t want to be in this fight forever. I didn’t think I needed to apologize. I just wanted new ground rules, so we could be a family again.
I clutched Sam’s hand as we traversed the room to stand before them.
“Mother,” I said with a head nod and then leaned into a kiss from my father. “Daddy.”
“Hey, sweetheart,” he said.
“Larkin, darling,” my mother said. “It’s good to see you.”
“And who is this young man?”
I swallowed. “Daddy, this is my boyfriend, Sam Rutherford.”
Sam shook my father’s hand. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
“Nice to meet you too. I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”
I narrowed my eyes at my mother. “I’m sure Mother has been exaggerating.”
“I actually heard from Leslie Kensington that he’s a fine, upstanding young man. That he’s going to be working for Kensington Corporation as an attorney. Impressive.”
Sam’s eyes shifted to me in surprise before returning to my father. “Thank you, sir.”
“We don’t want to keep you long from your celebrations,” my mother said. “But we wanted to talk to you about Thomas.”
I froze at those words. At all the horrors that could come from that comment.
“We fired him,” my father said plainly.
“You did?” I gasped.
Thomas had somehow gotten out of the charges leveled against him for the underground gambling ring. Apparently, it hadn’t actually been his place. He had just been bragging about it. Though others had said that he’d had a bigger part in it than he’d claimed after he was arrested. I thought he’d gotten off with a slap on the wrist, like always. The snake always slithered away.
“We did,” my mother said. “You were right about him. We just…we so desperately wanted you to work for us, to be a part of what we have. We thought you would say anything to stay away. We didn’t realize the kind of person he really was. And I likely wouldn’t have believed it now if you hadn’t opened my eyes to our behavior when you confronted me at your apartment.”
“And because of that, he is no longer employed with St. Vincent’s Enterprise. And he’ll receive no letter of recommendation from anyone in the business.”
My mouth fell open in surprise. “Wow. I’m so…shocked.”
“You shouldn’t be,” my father said. He pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head. “We should have listened to you from the start.”
I nearly choked on that. “Wow.”
“You know you could be doing amazing things with the company still,” my mother said with a grin.
“Mother,” I said with a sigh.
“Hope, we talked about this.”
My mother chewed on her bottom lip and straightened. “Of course. We see that you’re…happy?”
It was more of a question than a statement, but I could see she was trying.
“I am.”
“It’s not what we would have wanted for you,” my father said.
“I know.”
“And the door is always open,” my mother added hopefully.
“That I am also aware of,” I said with a small laugh.
“We could start with brunch?” my mother suggested.
“Great idea. Lark, you should bring Sam over for brunch sometime,” my father said and then turned to address Sam. “We’d like to get to know you better.”
“Yes, sir,” Sam said.
I hugged them both one more time. It was a step in the right direction. Not perfect by any means. But they were my parents. They’d spent their life expecting me to fall into line, and it would take some time for us to patch this all up. If we ever were able to.
So, I waved good-bye and then they fell back into step with their friends and other big donors. But I just stood there for another moment.
“Did that just happen?” I asked Sam. “I didn’t just dream it?”
“Looks like your parents have finally come around.”
“Not completely. But maybe just maybe they will eventually.”
“You stood up to your mom. She wants to be a part of your life, and you told her there was only one way to do it. So, she did it.”
“And I didn’t think people could change.”
He took my hand and pulled me close. “You’ve changed me for the better.”
“Yes, that’s true. And you’ve changed me for the better.”