by Sarah Hegger
“Dammit.” Chris barked down the phone. “Can’t you sort that out without me?”
Relieved laughter bubbled up Pippa’s throat. “I thought you were talking to me.”
“You haven’t said much yet.”
This was true. “I was wondering how set in stone your ideas for the show are.”
“In terms of what?” Chris’s tone sharpened.
“Me,” Pippa said. “I was thinking we could come up with something that suited both of us. A way in which I could be the best me along with the women we transform.”
“Do you know what the best you is?”
“I’m getting there,” Pippa said. “I know what it isn’t.”
Chris chuckled, her throaty laugh. “Just a minute.” The phone crackled as Chris moved it. “Shut the door,” Chris yelled. “Pippa and I are negotiating.”
Deep inside, a spark of excitement flickered into life. A tiny twinkle of pure magic.
* * *
Matt stopped so fast, Nate trod on the back of his heels. “You have got to be shitting me.”
“What the hell is she doing here?” Nate breathed deep.
They were on their way to Phi’s ward, to wait for Pippa to finish breaking the news about Laura. If there was a chance Pippa needed him, then by her side is where he wanted to be.
Matt’s mom sat in the large hospital reception area with a nurse handing her Kleenex.
“You must think I’m crazy.” Mom took the Kleenex and dabbed at her eyes.
The nurse heaved a big sigh. “Cressy, I’m a mother myself. I know exactly how you feel.”
Cressy, was it? Mom had been making time with the nurse, which didn’t answer the question as to what the hell she was doing here.
“My boys have always been so popular with the young ladies.” Mom’s top lip wobbled. She pressed the Kleenex to her eyes and dabbed at her tears.
“Fuck,” Nate breathed. Matt couldn’t have said it better.
“I just never thought my Matt would fall for a woman like this.” Matt’s blood pressure geysered up and a red haze covered his vision. His breathing sawed through his lips, hitting the air in a harsh grate.
Nate grabbed his elbow. “Take it easy. You know what she’s like.”
“It breaks your heart.” The nurse squeezed her arm and handed her another Kleenex.
“Mom.” Matt shook Nate off and entered the room. He was proud his voice still sounded vaguely normal. “What the fu . . . what are you doing here?”
Nurse Carver, by her nameplate, stood and buckled into her armor. You had to hand it to his mother, if she were a Christian in a Roman amphitheater, she’d find a lion to champion her cause. “Your mother came to check on the condition of Mrs. Philomene St. Amor.”
“I had to see for myself.” Mom shredded the Kleenex. “Ever since your father died, there’s nothing but drama with that woman. She’s always dragging you into it.”
“Nobody drags me into anything, Mom. I owe Phi everything, and I go because I want to.”
Mom gave a desperate wail and tears streamed down her cheeks. “You see how it is, Belinda?”
“Boys.” Nurse Carver, Belinda to his mother, apparently, threw him a look filthy enough to stain his shorts.
“Would you mind?” He didn’t exactly blame the woman but what he had to say to his mother wasn’t going to be pretty. “I need to talk to my mother alone.”
“Why don’t we wait out in the hall?” Nate threw down his pretty boy smile and Nurse Carver followed him out like she’d just sighted Nirvana.
“You’re angry with me.” Mom blinked up at him with damp eyes.
The old fix-it urge rose up in a chokehold. Matt breathed deep and channeled his inner Eric. “Yeah, Mom, I am mad at you. We might have lost Phi, and she and Pippa . . . they mean a lot to me.”
Mom’s breath hitched. “You see, that’s why I’m here. You’ve always put her above me. That ridiculous old woman.”
Inner Eric wasn’t helping right now, and Matt paced to the far end of the room. He had seen it with his dad, yelling didn’t work with her. Cressy would collapse into a mass of inconsolable jelly. “That ridiculous old woman is the kindest, most sincere and bighearted woman I know. She saved our asses giving me the job to build her house after Dad died.” See, he could do this. “There wasn’t any money, Mom. Dad died leaving us with a huge mortgage and the business about two steps away from the bank foreclosing on their loans. Nobody around Ghost Falls wanted to trust their construction project to a nineteen-year-old kid with no experience. Until Phi let me build that huge house. We all owe her, not only me.”
“Do you love her more than you love me?”
God, not even Jo with rampaging teen hormones had been this needy. “You’re my mom, and I love you. Nothing and nobody can change that.”
Cressy perked up a bit and a tremulous smile appeared on her face.
“But.” Matt needed her to hear him. “I can’t be your everything, all the time.”
Her face dropped so fast, it was nearly comical.
Matt crouched down in front of her and took her hands. “I’m always gonna take care of you, Mom, but that doesn’t mean there’s no place for other things in my life.” He squeezed her hands to get her to look at him. “You need to find a life outside of me, and the others as well. You make friends easily. Hell, you were only in here for five minutes and already you have Belinda ready to string me up.”
“She’s a very nice woman.” Mom sniffed.
“I’m gonna be building my own life, and some of that is not going to involve you.”
“Like the job with Eric?”
“Like the job with Eric.” He nodded. “I want this, Mom. I want my chance to do something outside of the legacy Dad left me. I’m excited about this, like I haven’t been excited about anything in a long time. And then there’s Pippa.”
Mom’s eyes flashed wrathful fire as she stuck her chin out. “I knew it had something to do with that girl. I suppose she’s been whispering in your ear, telling you to leave your mother and go off to LA with her. That spiteful woman—”
“Be very careful.” Matt rose and put some distance between them. “This is a nonnegotiable. Pippa is the woman I love, and I don’t care if you like her or not.”
“But, Matt—”
“She makes me happy. When I’m with Pippa I feel alive. I’m crazy about her and I’m gonna do whatever I can to make sure she stays in my life from here on out. If it means I have to travel to New York to be with her, or live in LA, that’s what I’m gonna do.” He met his mother’s startled stare. “I love her, and I need her around for as long as she’ll have me.”
“Are you going to marry her?” Mom’s eyes were like circular blades in her pale face.
“I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I will and I’ll do whatever I must to make sure she says yes.”
Mom got to her feet, her body vibrating with pent-up emotion. “No, Matt. I cannot accept that. You saw what she did on that television program. The whole world saw what I’ve always seen. She’s cunning and manipulative and controlling. That girl has hunted you for years. You didn’t see her when she was younger, always casting her lures your way. I won’t let you fall into her trap.”
“You don’t have a choice.” Matt hauled back hard on his fraying temper. “I won’t discuss that television program with you. If Pippa chooses to tell you, then you’ll hear the truth. But listen and listen well. Don’t make me choose, Mom, because you won’t like the choice I make.”
* * *
Nate appeared as Pippa said good-bye to Chris and hung up.
“Is the Diva okay?” He jerked his chin at Phi’s room.
“She’s amazing.” Pippa gathered her things and stood. “She’s a tough old broad.”
“It runs in the family.” Nate gave her a smile sweet enough to melt her bones.
“Did you just call me old?”
Nate blushed. “Never. Matt’s waiting for you downstairs.”
As they turned the corner into the reception waiting area, the tension between Matt and Cressy was thick enough to cut.
“Hey?” Matt strode toward her and took her hand. “How did Phi take it?”
Cressy glared at her, arms crossed over her chest and chin stuck out.
No change there then. Pippa let Matt pull her into a warm hug. “Well. Actually, both Phi and my mother feel badly for Laura and are deciding which one of them is most to blame.”
Matt gave a soft huff of laughter, his eyes gentle. “That’s the Diva for you. The biggest heart in the world.”
“Then they told me to get off my ass and go for what I want,” Pippa said.
His topaz eyes gleamed at her, full of something that gave her hope her next negotiation would go as successfully as the last one. “And what is it that you want?”
“I think we should talk about that.” Behind Matt’s shoulder, Cressy sneered. No way she was doing this with that kind of attitude beaming at her. “Walk me to your car.”
As she walked out of the ward, Matt dropped into place beside her. “You doing okay?” He cocked his head, studying her. “You look . . . different.”
Butterflies grew into bats in her gut, flinging themselves around. “I feel different. I’ve made some decisions.”
Matt followed her into the elevator and pressed the button for the parking garage. “Good ones?”
“Yup.”
The elevator stopped and an elderly couple climbed aboard. The man nodded at Matt and her before the couple turned to watch the numbers above the elevator door.
Pippa used the ride down to get her stomach bats to stop. The doors swished open and they all stepped out.
“I’m doing the show with Chris,” she said.
Their footsteps rang through the dim garage.
Matt grunted. “It’s a great opportunity and everything you ever wanted.”
“Everything I ever wanted for my career,” Pippa said.
They reached Matt’s truck, and he beeped the locks.
“So, you’re leaving?” Matt caught hold of her arm and turned her to face him.
Everything was right there for her to reach out and grab. Her happiness, her future, her everything. A future she wanted to build for herself, certainly, but with this man by her side.
“I don’t want to go back to LA,” she said. “I called Chris and talked to her about how we could do this. I need to stay closer to Phi, and to my mom. Laura might not admit it, but she’s going to need me in the coming months and I want to be here for her.”
Matt gave his head a small shake. “And Chris went for that?”
“We haggled some,” Pippa said. “But we both walked away happy.”
“And this is what you really want?” He cupped her face in his palms.
“It’s part of what I want.” Pippa leaned her cheek into the warmth of his hand. “And I know you’re going to make this thing with Eric a huge success.” Pippa couldn’t bear standing here much longer and not being closer to him. She put her hands on his chest and stepped into him. “I’m done being scared, Meat. I want more than my career. I want everything life is offering me right now.”
Matt’s chest rose and fell on a huge breath. “Have we got to the ‘us’ part?”
“I’ve got a plan for us too.”
Another smile ghosted over his features. “Am I part of that plan?”
“The biggest part.” Pippa slid her arms around his waist. “My plan is that we keep this casual thing between us going.”
He groaned. “Pippa—”
“For the next twenty years or so. Then we can reassess and see if we have another twenty years in us.”
“I see.” He smirked and tugged her flush with him. “Would this include making an honest man of me?”
“In a completely casual way.” Pippa grinned back at him.
“Of course.” He lowered his head to whisper in her ear. “Only, I get to do the asking, Agrippina.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Pippa shifted her face into his neck and drew in a deep breath of Matt. “I’ll probably say yes.”
“Okay.” His grim expression transformed into a breathtaking softness. “Marry me, Agrippina.”
“Yes, Meat.”
Epilogue
Matt rescued a plate of canapés before Pippa dumped them on the floor. She was nervous as hell. Jumping this way and that, making sure everyone had everything they needed before the program aired.
Laura smiled at him, the expression not quite reaching her eyes, and rearranged the items on Phi’s sixteen-seater mahogany dining room table. “You have enough food for twice the people here,” she said.
“I always expect a crowd.” Phi bustled in wearing some kind of silver thing that rustled like a paper bag. She caught sight of him and trilled, like they hadn’t seen each other in the kitchen two minutes ago. “Mathieu, is this not thrilling?”
She grabbed his face and kissed him. Matt dodged the silver feather sticking out of her hair. “It’s great, Phi. Pippa is going to knock this right out of the park.”
“I’m going to puke,” Pippa said, and slumped against the table.
“No, you’re not.” Emily grabbed her and pressed a martini into her hand. “You’re going to drink that and greet your guests like the star you are.”
“People are coming.” Sam roared through the room, almost slamming into Matt’s legs. “There are, like, a thousand cars out there.”
“That’s because we invited them.” Matt straightened the kid and sent him shooting off on his way again. It was a pity Patrick wasn’t going to be here. Pippa told him things between Laura and her husband were still very strained. Patrick had settled her debts, Pippa didn’t know how, but he’d done it. Laura had finished her community service about nine months back, and then elected to stay on working with at-risk teens. Right now, she was fighting with all she had to keep her family together.
“I hate these pants.” Daisy sloughed past him with a glare. “They make my thighs look fat.”
“No, they don’t,” Pippa said, drawing her niece into a hug. “Do we really have to have that talk about the way we speak about ourselves?”
“God, no.” Daisy rolled her eyes but returned the hug. “I told everyone at school about your new show.”
“You did?” Pippa’s eyes got a bit watery, and Matt slid into place beside her. This new show of hers meant the world to Pippa. It had taken two years to get to this point. Allie was selected as the first participant. Even with the Chris Germaine clout behind it, the network had come on board slowly.
“Don’t start bawling.” Laura handed Pippa a Kleenex. “Or I’ll have to disown you as my little sister.”
Pippa snatched the Kleenex and dabbed her eyes. Things with Laura went even slower than the network. Basically, she and Pippa were too different to ever be best friends, but they managed to be there for each other through the big shit.
“Hey there.” Eric waved to him from the doorway.
Damn, did his brother not own a pair of jeans that weren’t designer? Stupid question, because Matt knew for a fact Eric didn’t. Working closely with his brother over the last two years had brought all sorts of revelations. Not the least of which was that Eric wasn’t the only Evans brother with the Midas touch. Matt kept his smug grin off his face, but just barely. This was Pippa’s day. He’d had his moment eighteen months back when they broke ground on the first Evans Property development. Sales were driving him and Eric to work sixteen-hour days and weekends. It meant he didn’t spend as much time with Pippa as he would like, but she’d been as busy and they both made sacrifices for their future.
A future that was looking brighter and brighter. Along with a beautiful five thousand square foot home perched right on the edge of Lovers’ Leap. He, Eric, and Nate had worked side by side to build it.
&n
bsp; More people flooded in and pretty soon he and Pippa were caught up in a sea of excited faces and chatter. Most of Ghost Falls had shown up to watch the first episode of Your Best You.
Matt nodded to Nate as his brother slunk past a group of single women and disappeared into the salon, which Phi had kept them busy rearranging for the past week.
Jo led his mother into the room, and Matt sent her a heavy stare.
Jo rolled her eyes.
Yup, Cressy was doing her thing, but at least she was here. Isaac had started basic training two months ago and wouldn’t be able to make it. Still not sure what he wanted to do with his life, Isaac had joined the Army. The Cressy meltdown following that one had been epic. But her posse, led by Nurse Belinda—who still hated his guts—had clustered about her, and clucked, cooed, and soothed his mother back into a better mood.
Bella popped up right in front of them, her big blue eyes lit up and dancing. “I’m so excited for you, Pippa.”
Pippa and Bella seemed to spend a lot of time together. Fortunately, it kept Bella out of the kitchen a bit more. He tuned out of their conversation and took stock.
It had been a helluva two years. Pippa would be great. He had no doubt about it.
“It’s starting,” Sam bellowed from the other room.
With an excited ripple the crowd moved toward the salon.
Pippa tugged him back. “I love you,” she whispered. “In a totally casual way.”
“And I love you.” His own shit-eating grin took over his face.
How lucky could one guy get?
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BECOMING BELLA
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Bella cranked the volume on Bing Crosby crooning Christmas carols until it carried into her yard. Let Ghost Falls hear that Bella Erikson was busting her mold and coming out. Not out-out, but letting her freak flag fly. Besides which, Christmas wasn’t Christmas without the Binger.
She wanted—no, invited—her neighbors to peep out their windows and see Bella, the new and improved version, taking charge of her life. Timer and lighting cord—ready. She rechecked the length and made sure she’d bought the right one. Normally, Dad did this, but Bella had launched into taking control, starting with Christmas, and these suckers were going up because she put them there.