I smiled at the gesture and leaned across the table kissing his cheek before standing. I had to get ready for the dinner of my nightmares.
Somehow, I had to face Cooper and Jan alone, with only my mom and Shawn for support. I needed a miracle. If I could have called out sick, I would have, but my mom would never forgive me if I did, and she must have known I was considering it because as I made my way to my office, my mom rushed in leaving a whiff of Chanel in her wake.
“Bailey,” she muttered as she grabbed hold of my arm, “we need to talk.”
She steered me towards my office and when we arrived, she pushed me towards my chair as she sat in the one facing my desk. Her eyes darted around the room taking in the messy walls lined with files and my calendar where all my trips were planned.
I moved some papers around on my desk to save from looking at her, but there was only so much to move around. Just as she opened her mouth my desktop phone rang, and I answered it. It was Pierre, one of our contacts in France, telling me about a delightful gallery that was on the market. I made an appointment to fly over in the next week to see it, and he offered to organize the hotel, which just left me flights.
“So, I’ll fly out Tuesday and fly back Thursday? Does that work?” I asked in my business voice and Pierre answered,
“Parfait. A bientot.”
I heard the dial tone and I booked the flights I was looking at before turning back to my mom. She watched me open-mouthed as I stood and marked my flights into my calendar.
“Bailey,” she murmured after a beat and I sat back down, not sure I wanted to have another conversation with her about anything.
“Mom, what is it?” I asked with a touch of impatience in my tone, and she blanched a little before she stiffened her shoulders and sat up a little straighter.
“Jan came to see me today. She’s worried about Cooper’s behavior since they’ve been back here, and she thinks you have something to do with it.”
Her words stung and as usual, she believed everyone else over me.
“No, Mom, I don’t have anything to do with it. Cooper’s an adult and is capable of making his own life decisions. Now if that’s all you came to discuss with me, I’m rather busy and I need to leave early so…”
“Bailey, don’t take that tone with me. I know you were in love with Cooper. I could see it every day and I know it isn’t easy, but you need to accept he’s moved on, and he’s in a better place now.”
I glared at my mom as she spoke.
“Gee, thanks for the update, Mom, now can I get back to work?”
She nodded as she stood and walked towards the door. I watched her go not sure which emotion I was feeling because they were all inside me, like a melting pot about to explode.
She paused at the door and turned back towards me; her face indifferent as she spoke.
“Now maybe you can get over him and find someone who isn’t related to you.”
My hands clenched into fists as I fought the urge to knock her on her ass. I wanted to so much, but I fought hard to control my temper. I closed my eyes and put my head on my desk as she closed the door, completely overwhelmed with emotion. As I sat trying to gather my thoughts, my cell rang, and I searched through my bag to get it.
It was an out-of-state number I didn’t recognize, but I answered it in case it was a client or another gallery.
“Bailey, hi, it’s um… It’s your dad.”
I sucked in a breath and my mind raced over the reasons my dad would be calling. “I’m sorry to tell you that your grandma passed away last week. We buried her this morning.”
I sucked in a breath and dropped my cell onto the desk. My grandma was dead and buried, but I’d spoken to her last week. I was telling her my ideas about the gallery in France, and she was encouraging me.
“Bailey, are you there?” my dad’s voice called out and I picked my cell up, asking brokenly…
“Why didn’t you call me? I would have come down for her funeral.”
I choked on the word and tears rolled down my cheeks. I put my head down on my desk as my dad sucked in a breath.
“We just thought you’re too young and you don’t need to be going to funerals.”
My thoughts raced in circles and I wondered why he’d even bothered to call.
“Why are you calling me? I mean, my grandma is already dead and apparently I don’t get to decide, even though I’m twenty-five, if I go to her funeral, so what could you possibly be calling to tell me?” My dad’s voice sounded hoarse as he spoke.
“She’s left almost everything to you. She asked the lawyer to make sure that you get almost everything because you need it for your dreams to be fulfilled. She left your stepbrother and sister a substantial amount, but the majority of her money is yours and the farmhouse is too. She also left you the house in Fort Lauderdale, but she asked that you let your stepsiblings use it as they wish.”
He rattled it all off and gave me the name of his lawyer before clicking off the line as I wrote it down.
“Thanks, Daddy,” I murmured to myself and I pinned the number to my board before closing my laptop down and leaving for the night. I needed to go home and change before dinner. I decided not to tell my mom and Shawn anything about my inheritance. It was none of their business and I had never forgiven Shawn for threatening to stop me going to college when Cooper and I were together. He’d ruined us, and for that, I’d always resent him.
We might not have worked, but it was for us to decide and since he’d take that decision out of our hands, I’d always kept my distance from him. Even when Cooper had left and it was just me in the house, I kept my distance, only seeing my mom and Shawn when I absolutely couldn’t avoid it.
As I stood in the shower, my tears fell, tears over my grandma who loved me and who’d given me everything she had so I could make my dreams come true, tears over what had happened with Coop, and tears of happiness over Zane and Coop reconnecting.
While I buffed and scrubbed, I thought about my life and although I loved my gallery, something was missing. Perhaps while I was in Paris, I could look for an apartment and make the move permanent. Maybe over there I could meet a nice French man and settle down in the city of love.
As I emerged from the shower I decided to keep an open mind and as I dried my hair I talked firmly to myself and told myself that I could leave if I needed to, there was no need for me to be trapped here pining over a love that was more heartache than happiness.
Jay would support me; Zane would support me, and my mom and Shawn would be delighted that I was leaving. I’d never intended on coming back to Minnesota and staying here. I’d always wanted to go abroad or travel the States and find artists for my collection. That was my dream and perhaps Cooper getting engaged had just made me realize it.
As I left home in a red sweetheart knee-length dress made of chiffon with black jewelry and my hair straight down my back, my confidence returned, and as I reached Shawn’s home and slipped my feet from my driving shoes into my heels, I knew I could face and overcome whatever was thrown at me. I would walk tall and socialize and have fun and I would not get sucked into their little dramas. I was leaving, my life in Paris was almost within my grasp.
I grabbed Shawn’s gift, a sixty-year-old bottle of scotch that had belonged to my grandfather and a watch with jewels around the edges and went into the house. I also had Zane’s card and photo envelope tucked under my arm, and I was more nervous about that than about my own gifts.