Page 52 of Hell Bent (Portland Devils #5)

A BAD PENNY

Alix

I hopped out of the car and instantly stepped in a puddle.

This is why you don’t wear suede shoes in Portland.

The rain also started to work on my hair and makeup, which meant that the woman who opened the trailer door wasn’t nearly as polished as the one who’d been escorted into that whiskey library.

Sebastian wasn’t behind me. My mother was, because, yes, that was who’d been waiting for me.

I let her in, of course, but guess who was closing the big black umbrella, then stepping into the trailer after her?

You’ll never guess, so I’ll tell you. Ned.

Who wasn’t quite looking at me, which isn’t easy to manage in about a hundred square feet.

Sebastian was still out there, though, so I said, “Excuse me,” put a hand on Ned to guide him out of the two feet of space in front of the door, and told Sebastian, “Come in.”

He was more soaked than I was just from those few seconds, and I said to the three people now crowded into my one-person’s worth of space, “Mother and Ned, please sit on the couch, so we have some room. ”

My mother said, “Pardon?” So I repeated it.

She looked a little huffy, but they both perched there, Ned with the dripping umbrella still in his hand, and I opened the door to the bathroom, grabbed both towels, and came back the three steps to hand Sebastian the bath towel before using the hand towel to blot my hair and face.

I also took off the suede heels, blotted them dry, too, and set them into the little shoe niche carved out of the dinette space, thinking, I’ll put some more suede protector on them tomorrow and cross my fingers, before taking the umbrella from Ned and setting it by the door.

I told Sebastian, “You can sit at the dinette.” He looked at me, and I said, “What? Look. I know this is awkward, but what am I going to do?”

He kept looking at me, and the light finally dawned. I was still holding the hand towel, and I gestured with it. “Mother, Ned, this is Sebastian Robillard. Sebastian, my mother, Elise Glucksburg-Thompkins, and my ex, Ned Lightfoot. There you go. Introductions.”

My mother said, “how do you do,” in her most formal tones, then got up from the couch and said, “Happy Birthday, darling,” kissed my cheek, smoothed back my hair, which was much messier than her own, and added, “You look tired. How much are you working?”

“Sixty hours a week,” I said, “and I’m fine, thanks. How are you and Dad?”

She said, “Sixty hours? As an electrician? I hope you’re working inside, and not doing anything too heavy.”

“Well, no,” I said. “I’m outside. I’m not doing as much heavy work as you’d think, though, because I’m a foreman.”

“But, darling,” she said, looking alarmed, “that’s just asking for trouble.

Are you having pain? Have you found a doctor?

What are you doing all the way out here, especially in a campground?

What if you have a flare? There’s almost nobody else here!

It isn’t safe, Anastasia. You know it isn’t safe.

” Her hand was still on my shoulder, and here I was again, suffocating under the world’s most luxurious goose-down comforter.

I moved two steps away and filled the electric kettle. “I’m having a cup of tea,” I announced. “Who else would like one?”

My mother said, “I would, if you’re planning to answer my questions. I’m seriously alarmed. So is your father, and that was before we knew about the campground.”

I said, “I got that.”

She sighed, barely, then pressed her lips together and said, “Herbal, please, with lemon if you have it. We’ve been sitting out there for two hours. It’s after eight. And if you’ll excuse me …” She headed to the bathroom, and I said, “Wait. Hand towel. Here,” and snatched it up off the banquette.

She looked at it as if I’d handed her a snake. “I don’t think so. You dried your shoes with that.”

“Well, if you want to get all picky about it,” I said, and Sebastian covered his mouth with his hand. “Fine. I’ll get you another one.”

“I know where it is,” my mother said. “In the bottom drawer in the bathroom, if you can call it that. I’ll get it.”

“If you want to risk seeing something that could shock you, I guess that’s fine,” I said. “Otherwise, you’d better let me grab it. I have limited storage space.”

My mother closed her eyes, and Ned said, “You don’t have anything that could shock anyone in your bathroom drawers. Why are you being like this?”

“Maybe I do now,” I said. “Maybe I’m a brand-new woman. Hang on, Mother.”

After her visit, Ned got up and availed himself of the facilities.

I splashed boiling water over tea bags in two mugs and said, “If anybody else wants tea, you’ll have to share.

I only have two mugs. And I’ll just say—it’s mighty hard to have a dramatic showdown when everybody has to go to the bathroom first. We’re quickly veering into ‘ridiculous’ territory here. ”

My mother said, “Why?”

“Which thing?” I asked. “Because I have very limited storage space? Because it’s objectively hilarious that we’re all crammed into the front half of my twenty-three-foot trailer, and everybody keeps trooping off to the bathroom?

And I don’t have any lemon, sorry. Here. ” I handed her a mug. “Chai rooibos.”

She shuddered a little, but took the mug, saying, “You know what I meant. Why do you insist on living like this?”

I was going to answer, but Ned came out of the bathroom and said, “This is all some kind of rebellion, right? Why didn’t you just tell me you weren’t ready to get married yet?

Why did you have to get so dramatic about it?

” He glanced at Sebastian, then looked at him harder and said, “Hang on. Hang on.”

“That’s right,” I said. “The guy from the restaurant.”

“What?” my mother asked.

“And the reason,” Ned said, “that you left me at the altar. I wouldn’t have believed it. I didn’t believe it even when you got out of the car with him. You’re stubborn, yes, and insistent on having things your own way, but I always thought you were decent. I never thought you’d cheat.”

I said, “This is going in the ‘more in sorrow than in anger’ direction, I guess. No, I wasn’t having an affair. The first time I saw Sebastian after that night was the day I left you.”

“And you expect me to believe that?” he said.

“When you walked out on our marriage, and lo and behold, here’s this guy with you again?

” Ned was mild. Famously mild. Annoyingly mild.

But he had spots of color on his cheeks and was looking at Sebastian like he wanted to fight him.

There’d only be one winner in that situation, so much as I didn’t want to, I’d better smooth the waters here.

I was opening my mouth to do it when Sebastian said, “Alix doesn’t lie.”

“Oh, right,” Ned said. “Are you sure she’s only sleeping with you?

Because I’d be wondering right about now.

And what kind of prize is a woman who walks out on her fiancé, who walks out on her family, including the ancient grandmother she’s supposedly devoted to, who walks out on her education, because she can’t see anything through?

No prize, that’s what. I guess I know that now.

Better late than never. I came all the way up here, and now this? ”

“And I can’t figure out,” I said, before Sebastian could answer, because the muscles were bunching in his jaw and his hands were fisting, “why you did that. I know why my mother’s here. To convince me to come back. But seriously? My departure wasn’t enough of a statement for you?”

Ned didn’t answer, just stared at me, his mouth a hard line. I said, “Wait. Wait. You came to rescue me. To do some kind of intervention and take me home. I was frightened by commitment and lost my mind temporarily, but that’s because I’m confused. You’re willing to forgive me and try again.”

“Not anymore, I’m not,” Ned said. “Not now that I know you were cheating on me. I guess all those ethics and values of yours only count when you don’t want something, huh?

” He’d stood up, and now he was clenching his fists.

And, of course, Sebastian was standing up to meet him.

Facing off, practically nose to nose, because it was a very small trailer.

I said, “Come on. How would you even have a fight in this place? There’s nothing to fight about, and Sebastian would win anyway.

All you’re going to do, Ned, is fall against the table and bruise your ribs, and believe it or not, I never wanted to hurt you.

I know I did hurt you, and I’m sorry, but trust me, it would’ve been worse if I’d married you.

I was panicked. I was trapped. I’d have been one of those foxes that gnaws off its own foot to escape, and I doubt the process would have been any fun for you.

Plus, divorce is expensive. You got off easy. ”

“Excuse me?” Ned didn’t just look mad anymore.

He looked outraged. “Have you forgotten that I’ve been doing CrossFit three times a week for the past year?

Why wouldn’t I win? And what makes him special?

” He snapped his fingers. “Wait. Wait. He’s another electrician, or something like that.

Plumber. I bet that’s it. You a plumber, dude?

Some guy in a plaid flannel shirt and Levi’s and that ratty leather jacket, eating all alone at an expensive restaurant.

Probably because his blind date stood him up.

Or, wait. I’ve got it. She walked out on you, right?

A glass of wine is twenty bucks there, and you left in an Uber.

It was drinks and appetizers, I’ll bet, and she wasn’t having any.

Yeah, you clearly know how to show a woman a good time. ”