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"Ricardo?" My er--ho with all thesomewhere in the shadows of our backyard "Oh, he’s back in Buenos Aires, I suppose He and I had a bit of a falling-out"
Things are suddenly beco clearer
"You mean he dumped you," I say "And took as left of ain, this ti back toward me "Why do you always assume the worst in people?"
"Gee, Mom, I don’t know Look at the role models I had in my life"
Myunder the party globes "You know better than to talk that way, especially at the dining table I didn’t raise you to be such a poor hostess The least you could do is offer ht, and I’ot off the plane?" I cry in astonishs are in the foyer," Cooper points out "All ten of them Louis Vuitton"
Now I knohy he let her in My ht Even Cooper--who knows better than anyone how ed wo on his stoop with ten Louis Vuitton bags, especially at night, a block fro trade is brisk (if for the most part nonviolent)
"I didn’t realize New York City had gotten so popular as a fall tourist destination," lass full of wine--Patty’s own, but fronant She says she only "likes looking at it"
"But there are literally no hotel rooton Square Hotel, which I don’t re particularly luxurious from the days when you and I used to stay there, Heather, is booked solid And it’s three hundred dollars a night!"
"Those hotels aren’t filled with tourists," I say to her acidly "They’re filled with concerned parents here to drop their kids off at New York College, the place where I work and go to school now on tuition res--"
"Oh, honey," uely alass to lay a hand on mine "You aren’t still mad about that, are you? Because you have to know it isn’t healthy to hold on to old grudges Those kinds of feelings will eat away at you over time and cause you to have a stroke or heart attack if you don’t let theht have done sos I’m not proud of But I was under a heck of a lot of pressure, raising you all bytrack of our taxes I did the best I could under pretty lousy conditions, let me tell you And keep in e You took to perforlare at her "And you and Ricardo took all the money I earned for it like a couple of sharks"
"But you’re doing all right now, aren’t you?" she asks "You have a beautiful home, and lovely friends, and this marvelous man here who loves you and wants to marry you That’s so much more than many people have You should really learn to count your blessings, Heather"
She flips my hand over and holds it toward the fla the sapphire at the center of the cluster of dialoith the same blue intensity as his eyes
"Ho-ho!"very well indeed So what are you co your new et the past and let bygones be bygones? Don’t you think that’s healthier than holding on to old grudges?"
I’m so stunned, I can’t suh my head Only money? You think this is only about theelse she took from me? Because when she took that e, or help pay for e, if I ever have any--she also took my future, and my career, and my pride, and in very short order after that, my boyfriend, Jordan, my home, my life, and, yes, my hope My hope that there was justice and fairness in the world My own ’s turned out fine--better than fine--but not thanks to her Because there’s one thing she took froet back, and that’s a mother I could trust, one who loved me Janet Wells certainly didn’t Because she didn’t merely steal from me: she abandoned me Dad left because he had to She left because she wanted to
How can she not see the difference?
But I can’t say any of those things to her I can’t even see as poor Jasht, whose body I sat with all afternoon
Cooper, on the other hand,as if he’s about to lunge at her Frank steps into his path, still holding his son, saying urgently, "Don’t,bewilderedly at all of us
"What?" she asks "What did I say? Oh, good heavens You can’t still be upset about the o! And it wasn’t only Heather’s er We earned thatmy voice "That was your cut Ten percent, not all of it"
"Oh, honestly, Heather," Mo what I did was right, because of course it wasn’t I made poor choices But you were still a child Ricardo and I were adults, with adult issues You know Ricardo had a gauns, wearing very thick gold chains--after him What was I supposed to do, let hio with him"