Page 18 of Middle Ground

It’s weird to think of your parent as someone who is capable of making a mistake. Adults always seemed like they had their shit together when I was a kid. Now, though, I realize we’re all just a little too human for that.

Still, I have been known to hold a mean grudge from time to time. But I’ve never quite been able to manage that with her. My anger has already fizzled into a steady stream of frustration.

I nod. “I get it. It just…really sucked being blindsided.”

Not to mention, it was humiliating. And that doesn’t even touch on my behaviour from last night. Suffice to say, if I never see Jackson Vaughan again, it’ll be too soon.

The smile she offers me is sad. “I promise there are no more secrets. That was my one and only.”

“One too many to keep from the likes of me,” I declare. “How did Cherie get mixed up in this anyway?”

“She found Dog Days by accident one summer, and she fell in love. You know that part already. What you don’t know is a few decades later, when the recession hit, she offered to buy part of the business so I could stay afloat.”

I sigh. “And now Jackson Vaughan, the bane of my existence, has stakes inmyinn.”

“Come now, he can’t be that bad. He was perfectly nice when I met him yesterday!”

“He assumed I was a man before he met me, he wears pretentious suits, and he wants tosell.” Sure, he didn’t actuallysaythat, but I just know it. I cross my arms defensively. “He’s the devil come to be a pain in my ass.”

I spent a great deal of time scrolling through his LinkedIn profile—because he’stotallythe type of guy who uses LinkedIn—last night, confirming most of my suspicions about him. He lives in Toronto, works at some fancy office there, and he’s the son of some music producer guy.

Mom frowns. “Cherie wouldn’t like the sound of that.”

“Iknow, right? Like, tone down the Tom Ford. Even if it does look really goo?—”

“I meant the fact that he wants to sell,” she interrupts. “Did he say why? He didn’t mention that during our meeting with Louis.”

I grimace. “Well, he didn’texactlysay, in so many words, that he wants to sell…”

She sends me a look that she has perfected over the years. It’s the look she has given me every time she wants me to fess up about something.

“You just made an assumption,” she supplies when I don’t say anything.

Touché, Mama.

“Why did Cherie have to leave it to Jackson?” I lament. “Doesn’t she have a more pleasant grandchild?”

A sparkle of amusement enters my mother’s eyes. “Cherie had her reasons. She always thought you two would make good partners. Business and otherwise.”

I cough as the notion of me and Jackson becoming acouplechokes me.

“As if. And you were in on it!” I scoff, and Mom simply shrugs. “What happened to setting your daughter up on a blind date like a normal mother?”

She laughs. “I know you better than that.”

I glower. “Apparently not. Because your guy ishorrible. I’m officially sinking your ship.”

She pats my hand. “Cut him some slack. He just might surprise you.”

“Highly doubt it.”

Now, she raises a brow. “You’re being awfully judgmental for a woman who was raised better than that.” Then she smiles that patented soft smile. “I know you don’t like change, my prickly pear, but it’s not always a bad thing.”

“It’s not always a good thing either,” I counter.

No one seems to recognize the real possibility that Jackson isbadat business. Having a fancy degree does not preclude you from sucking. But, like always, my concerns aren’t being taken seriously.

Mom just shakes her head. “Serve me up some of that food. I’m starving.”