by Harper West
She sighed. “You’re impossible sometimes, you know that?”
Maggie barked with laughter as she came into the kitchen. “Dad wants a beer.”
Mom groaned. “Well, he’s not getting one.”
“Get me a damn beer!” Dad exclaimed.
Mom drew in a deep breath. “Shut up or I’ll pour it over your head!”
Maggie held out her arms. “Still happy you came home?”
I grinned as I sat down. “At least I branched off and went somewhere.”
Mom gasped. “Becca!”
But my sister took it all in stride. “I know, I know, I’ll never live up to the younger, smarter, more easy-going sister. It’s the burden of being the eldest child.”
And the most dramatic. “So, how have things been since I moved?”
Mom sat a glass of sweet tea in front of me anyway before she eased herself into the chair at the table where she had sat the for the majority of my childhood.
“Well, things are okay, I guess. Your father’s still working on that damned restoration in the garage, which just about pisses him off every other day. Maggie here is interviewing for some secretarial positions around town to try and pull in some of her own money, and I’m still working away at the library like always!”
I reached for a slice of brie. “My job is going great, too. It’s a lot of overtime, but--.”
Then, Maggie interrupted me as always. “You know, Mom, we shouldn’t make Becca travel to us all of the time. Maybe we should take a family trip to see her.”
My stomach hit the floor. “I’m just in a little old studio apartment. There’d be no place for you guys--.”
Mom patted my arm. “That’s a great idea, Maggie. We could get a nice hotel, maybe with a swimming pool.”
Dad yelled from the living room. “Quit spending all the money on stupid trips!”
Mom shouted back. “Then, get up off your ass and start enjoying some things!”
“I am! I’m working on my damn truck!”
Maggie joined in. “Then shut up about where we want to go! At least we’d be out of your hair!”
I felt my hands curling tightly around my glass. “We can see about arranging something, but I’ve got to get to a point where this overtime settles down. I’m essentially pulling twelve-hour days, so there wouldn’t be--.”
Dad stormed into the kitchen. “If you’d stand up for yourself instead of rolling over all the time like I always told you, you wouldn’t be working so damn much.”
I tried to brush off his comment. “At least overtime is double the pay.”
Maggie giggled. “Sounds like you can afford our hotel stay, then.”
My voice fell flat. “Not a chance in this world. I’m still paying off school loans and stuff.”
“Oh,” Mom said softly, “but can’t you treat your family to just a small weekend out there in the big city?”
Dad harrumphed. “Don’t waste your breath. One minute, she’s talking about staying around town, and the next second she’s booked a one-way trip to California. Keep at it and she’ll hop countries, too.”
I closed my eyes. “Dad, I’m sorry that I didn’t--.”
He waved his hand in the air. “Bah, it doesn’t matter now. You’re grown. Or at least you think you are.”
I’d had enough. “All right, already! I get that you guys don’t like it!”
My yelling caused everyone to turn and face me as I stood to my feet.
“I’ve been working my ass off at this new company trying to get in good with my bosses because I’m one singular promotion away from my dream job. A job that’ll pay me what I’m worth and push me without requiring all of these unnecessary hours to prove my worth. And while I don’t expect any of you to understand that since the only one working is Mom and her job essentially allows her to nap throughout the day--.”
“Hey, that’s not fair,” Mom said.
I tossed her a look before I clicked my tongue. “Nevertheless, I came here to get away from things and to decompress, and the last thing I need is my family criticizing my life, how I choose to live it, and poking at the weight I still haven’t lost because I don’t care about the weight and neither should you!”
I shrieked so loudly that my voice echoed off the corners of my kitchen, and as the anger in my father’s face mounted I snatched my sweet tea from the table. I shook my head as I made my way outside, standing on the front porch and admiring the neighborhood where I had spent my entire life. I flopped into one of the rockers and closed my eyes. I listened to the bees buzzing and drew in deep the scent of flowers blooming in Mom’s garden that she painstakingly kept up.
And as I finished my sweet tea, I heard the front door open.
“Want company?” Maggie asked.
Since when do you care? “Sure.”
She closed the door and came to sit beside me. “Your pride is going to be your undoing, you know.”
I rolled my eyes. “Says the woman who’s still living with Mom and Dad because they continue to foot her lifestyle with their own wallets.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault that being around people makes me anxious.”
I scoffed. “You weren’t anxious in high school when you were breaking hearts left and right. You’re anxious about adulthood because you don’t have the grades to go to college. Not my problem.”
“What the hell did I do to you recently?”
I peeked over at her. “Nothing. I just came home to get away from the stress, and all I get the second I walk through the door is more stress. I would’ve been better off on a beach somewhere.”
She blinked. “In a bathing suit?”
My face reddened with anger. “You got something you want to say?”
She shrugged as if none of this mattered to her. “If someone hasn’t already told you, pride and determination aren’t always good attributes.”
I furrowed my brow. “What did you say?”
She faced the road and crossed her leg over her knee. “I said, your pride and determination aren’t always a good thing, especially when you’re sitting on the wrong side of the fence.”
My sister had never been one to give advice, and it shocked me that she was so willing to do it now. Even with her cold demeanor and her empty eyes, I heard the sincerity of her words.
Maybe people do grow up. “Thanks for that.”
Maggie peeked over at me. “Whatever. Just the truth.”
I sighed and closed my eyes. “Since we’re exchanging advice, then, allow me to bestow some wisdom of my own.”
She stood. “And that’s my cue to go inside.”
But, I grabbed her wrist and held her steady. “Do you remember Joseph Ryker? From high school?”
She scoffed. “How can I forget him? He was a terror.”
“Well, I don’t know what the hell you did to him, but just so you know? My life in California—my job? It would be a lot different had you not tortured the poor boy.”
She wrinkled her nose. “What the fuck are you talking about? Let me go.”
I released her wrist. “What did you do to him, Maggie?”
She charged for the front door. “None of your damn business.”
“What did you do to JoJo!?”
She paused and slowly looked over at me as her hand held the doorknob. “That particular situation isn’t as clear cut as JoJo would have everyone believe. And now, I’m a little curious as to why you fucking care so much. Does he live in L.A. or something?”
I sat back down in my chair. “Or something.”
I felt her eyes burrowing holes into the profile of my face. “Whatever. Quit being an asshole. You’re the one that came home. No one asked you to be here.”
And with her stinging words, she walked back inside, slamming the door behind her in the process.
“Nice to see you, too,” I whispered.
But now, I was more confused than ever before. Was there something JoJo wasn’t telling me? Did he do something to my sis
ter? Because if he did, I’d kill them both. The fact that no one around me seemed capable of growing up made me sick, and for a split second I wondered what it might be like to hightail it to another country like my family had mockingly suggested. However, I wasn’t one to walk away from my problems. Unless I was absolutely certain that I couldn’t fix anything.
Like my family, for instance.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I don’t love them. They’re my family. They raised me to be the hardworking woman that I had become. But, no one was without their faults, and my family had glaring faults. Maggie was cold and hard-hearted. Dad had a temper no one wanted to fuck around with. And Mom? Well, she sort of had her head stuck in the clouds while her eyes kept tabs on my weight, of all things.
Why did I come home again?
I took a sip of the melted ice cubes in my glass and tried to prepare myself to go back inside. Dad would be in a shitty mood for the rest of the day, and I’d put money on the fact that Mom had already locked herself away in her room. And after my spat with Maggie, I knew she’d do her best to be in my face the rest of the time I was here just to see how many buttons she could press before I broke down and left.
However, I was determined to get the real story out of my sister before I left.
If anything, so that I knew how to patch things up with JoJo in order to get my life back on track.
15
Rebecca
The weekend with my family passed in a blur.
I hardly saw Dad since the garage practically owned him, and every time Mom smiled at me, I swear a little more light drained from her tired eyes. Maggie kept shooting me looks and avoided me like the plague, which was a stark contrast to her personality.
Which only made me more curious as to what happened between her and JoJo.
Nevertheless, my family didn’t argue, and I took that as my little sliver of peace. The time came for me to get back on a flight to go back to California and Mom drove me to the airport, but little did I know that she had packed me a “surprise” in my carry-on.
A surprise in the form of healthy snacks.
“Now, you don’t have to spend your hard-earned money on all of that airport junk food,” she said as she patted my thigh.
I tried to find the good in it. “Thanks for thinking of me, Mom.”
She squeezed my knee. “I’m always thinking of you, even if you don’t believe it.”
My gaze found hers. “You can always come visit, Mom. You don’t have to bring Dad and Maggie. You can sleep in my bed and I can sleep on the couch; it’ll be like a girl’s weekend.”
She giggled. “Ah, I miss our girl’s nights.”
I took her hand within mine. “Me, too.”
She swallowed hard before she cleared her throat. “Anyway, stop eating all of that junk food. I’m not around to let out your skirts and dresses anymore.”
And there it is. “I’ll do my best.”
I leaned over and kissed her cheek, then I walked around the back of the car and pulled out my carry-on. I didn’t need much whenever I took a weekend trip somewhere: a couple changes of clothes and my miniature toiletries were all I really needed. I waved Mom off before I went into the airport, and seven hours later I found myself exhausted as I stumbled into my apartment back in L.A.
Only to hear my work phone ringing off the fucking hook.
“Come on,” I groaned.
I dropped my bag and walked over to my bed. I snatched the phone off my bedside table and saw that I had eleven missed calls from JoJo. My eyes widened as I picked up the phone call. Holy hell, why in the world hadn’t he called me on my personal call if it had been emergent?
“Where the fuck have you been?” he glowered as he picked up the phone.
I blinked. “Home, Mr. Ryker. This was my vacation weekend.”
“And you didn’t think to take your damn work stuff?”
I shook my head. “No, because I was on vacation, and it stipulates in your company’s bylaws that anyone on vacation isn’t allowed to work because of the new business audit laws in place.”
I had practically memorized that damned thing in case I had to throw it back in his face. But apparently, he didn’t like that.
“I know what the damn book says,” he growled, “what I want to know is why you didn’t take them just in case.”
I shrugged. “You have my personal number. Why didn’t you call that?”
The silence was deafening before he cool, calm, and collected voice stood the hairs up on the back of my neck. “You have work to be doing, Miss Becca, and if you fall behind there will be a serious punishment waiting for you. You left loose ends before you headed out on your sorry excuse for a vacation, and I had to field your damn director the entire time you were gone because she still doesn’t have everything she needed to get her own fucking job done.”
“Sounds like an issue with her and not with me.”
“Are you trying to lose your job right now?”
I perched on the edge of my mattress. “Mr. Ryker, I get that you and my sister--.”
But he cut me off with a hiss. “You listen here, and you listen good: get your ass into work and finish what you started or so help me God, I will fire you and blacklist you across every industry and every company that might even someday need your services. You got that?”
I was much too tired to keep arguing. “Tell my Director to come in as well. I want her walking me through everything that has to be done so that I can get it done tonight, because if I hear about this again in the tone of voice you’re using I will most certainly be reporting you to the B.B.B. Do you hear that?”
I heard him typing on a keyboard in the background. “Done. Get in here and wrap up the mess you left.”
And once he hung up the phone, all of my frustration and anger and anxiety came rushing forth.
“God fucking damn it!” I roared.
I stood up and threw my phone at the wall, only to watch it shatter into a million pieces. I sank to the floor in tears, placing my head in my hands as I sobbed. With my work phone in tatters and my body literally dragging against the floor because of my exhaustion, all I wanted was to quit, run away, and live as a bartender in Italy or some shit like that.
But, after a good cry, I picked myself up off the floor, gathered my things, and headed into work.
I figured Becca would’ve come up here and poked her head in before getting to work, but after over an hour of no one coming to visit my office, I decided to make my way downstairs. And with God as my witness, if she wasn’t in her fucking office she’d be done for.
However, when I peered through the small window of her office door, I saw much more than I bargained for.
“Jesus, she looks like shit,” I whispered.
Bonnie sat at her side while the two of them poured over the last of the file folders she had left stacked on her desk. My personal accountant kept looking over at Becca with this sorrowful look on her face and I wondered where the hell she had gone on her vacation. I mean, sure, I signed off on the paperwork, but I didn’t exactly look it over.
Shit, maybe she went to see her family.
The second Becca lifted her head to look at Bonnie, however, my gut leapt into my throat. Her eyes were red and puffy, and I’d laid enough women in my lifetime to know exactly what that meant. I mean, not that they cried after fucking around with me. But it wasn’t like I hadn’t tried dating them at one point in time or another. I knew what it looked like when a woman kept trying to hold back tears long enough to get something done.
And that’s exactly what Becca looked like.
“Shit,” I murmured.
I slid my hands into my pockets and made my way back to my office. The last thing she needed was more pushing from me, and with Bonnie at her side I knew they’d get through the work before they left. So, I took the stairs back up to my floor and kept my nose to myself.
And a couple of hours later, a knock came at my door.
“Mr. Ryker?”
I whipped my head up at the sound of Becca’s voice. “Come in.”
She eased the door open with a stack of files tucked beneath her arm. “I have everything you need.”
I grinned. “You do, now? Come in. Close the door behind you.”
She did as I asked before she came to drop the folders onto my desk. Then, she flopped back into the chair in front of me and let her head lean back. And for a split second, she was no longer my co-worker, or some stain on my memory.
She was just a person in need of some comfort.
“Sorry, I just need to rest my eyes for a second,” she said softly.
I leaned back. “No worries. I appreciate you coming in to get this done.”
She slowly lifted her head and furrowed her brow. “What?”
I shrugged. “What?”
She sighed. “Nevermind. I don’t have the time to pick through it right now.”
“Pick through what?”
She groaned as she stood to her feet. “If there’s nothing else?”
I stood with her. “Actually, there is.”
Her shoulders tensed. “Did I miss something?”
I came out from around my desk. “You look exhausted.”
She scoffed. “Thanks. Mom said the same thing.”
So, she did go see family. “I’m about to order some dinner before I tank through some more work. You need to eat. I can’t have my workers collapsing on their jobs or falling asleep behind the wheels of cars when they try to go home.”
She shook her head. “It’s really okay. I took a cab, so I’ll be fine.”
“Sit and tell me what you want to eat, Becca.”
She quickly sat back down. “I’ll eat pretty much anything other than--.”
I picked up the phone from my desk. “Indian food, I know.”
Her eyes widened a bit. “You do?”
Play it off. “Maggie didn’t like it, either.”
Her eye twitched. “Ah. Good guess, then.”
I placed an order for Chinese to be delivered along with three sodas for each of us. We both needed the caffeine, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to contribute to any other kind of stress Becca was experiencing. Yes, I rode my co-workers hard when I knew they were capable of better, but I didn’t want to make her personal life miserable.