Page 30 of Sunny Skies Ahead (Watford Sweethearts #2)

Chapter twenty

Imogen

T his was my worst nightmare come to life.

Kevin snapped at our mother, immediately jumping to my defense, but Carmen held up a hand with a firm shake of her hand.

“And you are?” she sneered at Kameron. My chest caved in even further.

“I’m Kameron. Imogen and I work together at Winding Road.”

Carmen’s eyes darkened, and I wanted to shake Kameron for revealing that piece of information that my mother would almost certainly latch onto.

This was what she did; she twisted people’s words and extrapolated them into something they weren’t.

She would weave all manner of stories in her head about Kameron and I.

I desperately cycled through scenarios in my mind, trying to find one solution where I could pull Kameron to the side and tell him to keep his damn mouth shut .

There was no winning an argument with my mother. Based on the hatred simmering in her eyes as she looked at me, I knew it wouldn’t matter what I said or did tonight. She’d already made up her mind.

“I seem to recall an earlier conversation with Kevin this summer. You wouldn’t be Kameron Miller, the executive director of the Winding Road nonprofit? Surely someone in a management position such as yourself wouldn’t willingly enter into a relationship with someone who reports to you.”

Kameron stiffened by my side, and that was the moment I knew our perfect bubble we’d been gliding in the last few weeks was well and truly popped.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, ma’am.”

“It always is.”

There was no mistaking my mother’s distaste, and I had never wanted to escape a situation more in my life. I dared a glance at Kevin, who was looking at his shoes, shaking his head, as if trying to comprehend the gravity of this situation.

My mother had barely addressed me during the entire conversation, and yet she still made me feel like I was the smallest person alive.

“We were just about to have dinner,” Kameron said, giving my mom a polite smile. “You could join us?”

Oh, hell no.

“Actually,” Kevin stepped in, finally finding his courage, “I know it’s terribly rude to ask you to adjust your plans, but we were hoping to have dinner as a family.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Mom, I’m sorry, but we already have plans. You should have called. I would have been more than happy to make time for us to do the whole happy family thing.”

I was wrong to make a sarcastic remark based on the way my mother scoffed.

“You can see this man anytime you very well please, given the fact that you work together.” She pressed her lips together in a thin line.

“I’m only here for a few days. I would hope you’d prioritize family time over your current fling.

What with everything that happened the last time you isolated yourself from your family and focused solely on your partner. ”

Kameron’s body stilled completely, and red clouded my vision.

It had been well over a year since I’d had to see my mother in person.

One blissful year of being able to ignore her texts and calls, all of the attempts she made to get me to see her side or believe that she truly was just looking out for me.

A year of crying to my therapist and trying to forget about the way she cast me aside when she learned of my return to Watford and subsequent divorce.

My mother was not a religious woman. She didn’t shame me because she thought some religious text somewhere frowned upon divorce. It was more cut and dry than that.

She looked down on me because she’d always wanted to wield her power over me.

I was the outcast middle child, always caught in the tension.

Cassie was the perfect oldest daughter, always overachieving at everything she did, and Kevin was their only boy, so he was instantly viewed as the golden child and didn’t have to lift so much as a finger.

“I can’t do this,” I muttered. I could feel my brain shutting down the longer Carmen stared at me. I turned to Kameron as tears welled in my eyes. “Can I walk you out?”

Kameron didn’t need to see this. I didn’t want him to see this part of my life.

My mother being in town had the potential to ruin everything.

This thing with Kameron was new and delicate, and I didn’t want my mother’s darkness anywhere near it.

She had a way of poisoning beautiful things; especially things that outshined her.

Kameron, thankfully, didn’t push me on this. He put his hand in the small of my back, and I wanted to cry. How like Kameron to want to comfort me when it was my fault that our evening was ruined.

I opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch, eager for Kameron to get in his truck and leave.

“Im, talk to me. I’m here for you,” Kameron said when we paused at his truck.

“Please go,” I said, my eyes welling with tears, unable to meet his gaze.

“No,” Kameron said, shaking his head. He opened the door and threw his laptop bag into his passenger seat. He reached for my hands, giving me a reassuring squeeze. “There’s no way in hell I’m leaving you here with her, not after everything she said.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that my mother’s display in the kitchen barely scratched the surface of what she was capable of.

The front door banged open, and Kevin appeared .

“I’m so sorry Imogen. She showed up at the store, and I didn’t know what to do.”

“So you brought her here for me to deal with?” I said, unable to stop the bite in my tone. “Nice one, Kevin.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“We’ll talk about this later,” I said, shaking my head.

I didn’t have the energy to debate with Kevin about why bringing our mother here was the worst possible solution to the problem.

There was no circumstance where I was the solution to my mother’s emotional problems. If anything, I was the one person in the world that would make things far worse.

“I’m not leaving,” Kam said, doubling down. “I’m happy to sit on the porch and let the three of you have a conversation, but I’m not leaving you alone here.”

“I’ll stay with her tonight,” Kevin said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

“But—”

“Go,” I shouted, cutting off Kameron’s protest as I pressed the heels of my palms to my eyes.

I couldn’t do this with him right now. This was the problem with letting myself get tangled up in Kameron—he was light.

He was good. He didn’t need this crap right now, not when he was so close to securing a life-changing grant for Winding Road, something that would allow him to continue to spread that light into the world.

“I have a lot of respect for you, Kam, and I know you mean well, but this is a family thing. Your presence here will not be helpful. I can’t manage my mom, Imogen, and your emotions about how Mom treats her. Let me handle this tonight. Okay? ”

I finally mustered enough courage to meet Kameron’s eyes. Never had I seen such sorrow, such pain on his face than in this moment.

As if my asking him to leave had cut deeper than I realized.

The minute dinner was over, I practically sprinted for the master bedroom and shut the door.

I washed my face, scrubbing until my cheeks were raw, as if it would help ease the sting of my mother’s words.

Kevin had tried his best to keep the conversation light and unrelated to anything important, but my mother, true to her nature, somehow swung the conversation back in her favor anytime we strayed too far.

I threw my phone on the bed in frustration, sitting down on the edge of the mattress and grabbing two fistfuls of my hair.

I let out a silent scream of rage. I was furious.

I was beyond pissed that I was having what had promised to be a beautiful night with someone I cared for ripped away and replaced with dealing with my narcissistic mother instead.

I sat there for a long time, alternating between biting my fingernails and rubbing my temples to ease some of the ache throbbing there.

With shaking hands, I eventually reached for my phone, unsurprised to see two text messages from Kameron there.

God, I felt terrible that our night had ended this way. Nothing about this situation was fair. I knew Carmen had a narcissistic streak, but showing up unannounced and demanding that everyone change their plans to accommodate her was a new low, even by her standards.

Kam

I’m so sorry this is happening. Call me tonight?

I’m here for you.

I typed out a quick reply.

Me

I’m sorry our evening got highjacked because of family drama. I’ll call you soon.

I navigated to my contacts, my finger hovering over my sister’s number.

Throughout the dinner conversation, I couldn’t shake the suspicion that Cassie might have had an inkling about my mother’s visit. The way my mother talked about Cassie suggested she had seen her more recently than I previously believed.

I hit the call button and prepared myself for the worst.

“Hello, Cassie Phillips speaking.”

“Did you know she was coming back here?”

There was a long pause. The damning silence told me everything I needed to know.

“Why,” I whispered. “You know how awful she is to me and you couldn’t find two minutes in your day to pick up the phone and give me a head’s up that she would be here?”

“I didn’t know for sure,” Cassie exclaimed. “I didn’t want you to panic over something that might not happen. She was in Seattle a few weeks ago. Said that she’d had an awakening or whatever about her relationship with her kids. She wanted to talk, make amends.”

“And you believed her?”

Cassie sighed heavily, and I tightened my grip on the phone.

“She’s our mom, Imogen. We went to dinner together and talked things over. Our relationship isn’t magically perfect again.”

“She is horrible, Cassie,” I said. “You know this. You were there. Not that you ever did anything about it, because you were always the golden child, but you know firsthand what she’s capable of when she’s angry.”

“Like I said,” Cassie said, voice clipped, “I’m not discounting the mistakes she’s made. I know your relationship has never been the best, but she’s our mom. I know it might not be complicated for you, Imogen, but it is for me.”

I wanted to curl up into a ball and never leave my room again. It was so like Cassie to do this—to defend Carmen, to try and insulate herself against the way our mother lashed out emotionally.

Cassie was always the favorite, with her honor roll grades and high-powered career aspirations.

Kevin was my parents’ only son. Everyone had their place in my mother’s grand plan for her picture perfect family.

If there’s one thing I knew my mother loved without a doubt, it was the perfectly curated corporate image of her family.

People loved supporting a family-owned business, even if she never deigned to visit us more than once or twice a year.

There were no birthday or holiday cards .

There was only crap like this, where Carmen showed up with no regard for what other people might have going on.

Hell, she didn’t even have the decency to respect the fact that this was my house now, and had been for years.

She walked in here like she owned the place, and expected me to change my evening plans to accommodate her.

I was exhausted. I’d worked so hard to put distance between myself and my parents these last few years. But somehow, they managed to keep a grip on my life. It was foolish to forget that.

“I don’t want to hear from you again,” I murmured.

Cassie inhaled sharply and said my name, but I quickly cut her off.

“I really thought our relationship would improve once you were out of Watford. You always hated it here, and I foolishly thought that maybe you’d wake up when you made it big, that you’d be able to see that I never needed you to be perfect in the way mom and dad did.

I never wanted anything from you but your presence in my life.

I wanted a sister. I wanted a friend. And you fought it every step of the damn way. ”

Cassie said nothing, and for once, I was glad for the silence. It felt like there was ice forming on my heart, in my veins. I felt numb in a way I hadn’t in a very long time.

“Bye, Cassie. I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for.”

I hung up and blocked her number. It wasn’t the most mature thing I’d ever done in my life, but in this moment, I didn’t care.

I had something good. I was falling in love with a kind man, a good man.

A man who cooked me dinner and flirted with me and made me smile and laugh like it was his paid job.

A man who texted me to make sure I was okay .

It was like my family could sense when things were going well for me. It’s like they knew I finally had something for myself, that I was finally enjoying the success I’d worked so damn hard for, and it didn’t matter.

How much more of this could I take?

Hadn’t I suffered enough?

Those thoughts did nothing to ease the ache in my chest.