Nancy grimaced at her use of the swear word. She and Andy were devout Christians and they never swore. At least they didn’t around Riley. They knew better than to think they could change her, so while they disapproved of the language, they hadn’t said a word about it to her in the past twenty years. They’d had plenty of conversations with her about it before she graduated high school though.
“You should at least call her back.” Nancy walked away to go to the box office since they were about to start selling tickets to the next show. “She doesn’t know you’re the manager here. I never gave her your name. But you should be the one to tell her no.”
Riley fumed for a moment, but knew Nancy was right. If she was going to refuse to let them have their party here, she needed to be the bearer of the news. She had no right to delegate it to someone else. She picked up the piece of paper containing Vic’s number that Nancy had set on the counter on her way past.
“I’ll call her tomorrow,” she muttered to herself as she shoved the number into her pocket. She really didn’t want to deal with her today. She needed time to mentally prepare for talking to Vic again after so many years. She knew it was nothing more than an excuse, and Megan would no doubt give her hell for it, but she didn’t care.
As if she’d conjured her up, Riley’s phone rang and she saw by the display it was Megan. She chuckled as she answered the call.
“Hi,” she said. “Hold on a second.” Riley turned to Nancy, who was returning to the concession stand after making sure Tommy was set up with everything he needed in the box office. “Nancy, I have a call. Let me know if it gets too busy and you need me.”
“Will do.” Nancy waved her off and Riley retreated to the office.
“What’s up, Megan?” she asked as she sat at her desk.
“Just wanted to let you know I’m going out with some people for a drink after work. You’re welcome to come with us.”
“No, thanks,” Riley said with a shake of her head even though she knew Megan couldn’t see her. “I need some sleep after being at the hospital last night. I’d think you would too since we stayed up all night talking about how awful my mother is.”
“What’s that saying? We can sleep when we’re dead?” Megan laughed. “I won’t be out late. I’ll try not to wake you up when I come in.”
“I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t.” Riley laughed with her before they said they’re good-byes and hung up.
It was busy as usual for a Friday night, but Riley was aware of the phone number burning a hole in her pocket through it all. She was entering all the numbers for the inventory after the last show started when Nancy came into the office and took a seat.
“Everything’s all cleaned up and ready for tomorrow?” she asked without looking away from what she was doing.
“Yes, it is. Tommy’s out there in case anyone comes out to buy anything,” Nancy said, referring to the kid who worked in the box office on weekends. “How’s your mother doing?”
Riley sighed but didn’t say anything until she was done with her work. Nancy waited patiently for her to respond. After she shut the computer down, she swiveled her chair to face her.
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “She didn’t want me at the hospital. Something she made clear to the staff all the other times she’d been in the ER there and no one ever told me.”
“I don’t know what that woman is thinking sometimes.” Nancy didn’t even try to hide her anger. “It was obvious she didn’t know what the hell she was doing while you were younger, but I’d hoped she would have gotten better now that you’re an adult.”
“Yeah, the problem there is she can’t get me to do things for her anymore, so she has no use for me.” Riley shook her head with a wry smile. “And believe me, the feeling is mutual.”
“It just isn’t right,” Nancy said. “A mother should love her children unconditionally. From what I’ve seen and heard, she doesn’t even know how to love.”
“You’re right, Nancy, she doesn’t. She never has. But you know what? I’m used to it, and it doesn’t much bother me anymore.”
“I don’t believe that. You’re saying it didn’t bother you when she basically kicked you out of her room last night? No matter how you feel about her, I can’t imagine it didn’t hurt your feelings at least a little bit.”
“It did a little, I won’t lie, but it’s her. It’s just the way she is. The way she’s always been,” Riley said with a shrug. She hated trying to defend her mother, especially to people who knew her. She decided then and there she wasn’t going to do it any longer. Her mother obviously didn’t need her any longer, so why should she keep holding out for acceptance? “But you’re right. I deserve better. That’s why I’m so happy you and Andy are in my life. You’ve been more like parents to me than she ever was. I really do love you guys, you know that, right?”
“We love you too, Riley,” Nancy said. They both stood and hugged tightly. “You’re coming for game night on Sunday, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Riley smiled as Nancy left the office. She didn’t know when her mother was being released from the hospital, and she didn’t care. She’d obviously found her own way home from there before, so she wasn’t going to put her life on hold wondering if she needed to give her a ride.
Helen Warren was on her own. Much like Riley had been for most of her childhood.
Chapter Six
“We should go to the reunion next weekend,” Vanessa said as she and Vic were walking through the gardens at their parents’ estate. “It might be fun.”
“Fun? Are you nuts?” Vic asked incredulously. She stopped walking and grabbed Vanessa by the wrist to get her to stop as well. “I have absolutely no desire to see any of those idiots we called friends back then. I can just imagine they haven’t changed a bit. Have you even talked to any of them since graduation?”
“Just Harper,” Vanessa admitted with a shrug. Vic fought the urge to roll her eyes. Harper had been the biggest bitch of the entire group.
Vic led her to the bench a couple of feet away. Vanessa was doing so much better after her accident, but she still had some pain if she tried to overdo things. The burns on her legs had been bad, and she still had trouble walking too far without the use of a cane or walker, which she hated with a passion. The scars were bad enough for Vanessa to never want to be seen in anything other than pants anymore, and Vic knew how hard that was for her fashion plate sister.
At least the accident facilitated her stopping smoking. She’d had a lit cigarette in her hand when it happened, which was the reason for the fire. If not for that, she would have walked away from it with little more than a few broken bones and the eight-inch cut on her forehead from where she’d slammed into the steering wheel.
“Then why would you want to go?”
“Riley,” Vanessa said quietly, and sounding more humbled than Vic had ever heard her before.
“Riley?” Vic wasn’t able to hide the surprise in her voice. “What about her?”