Mom. Whatever it is, I can take it.”
“It’s about Clay,” her mother said in a rush.
Brooke sucked in a breath, even though she’d known that that’s what any bad news must be about. It was just that she wasn’t used to hearing his name. Her friends and family went out of their way to avoid mentioning him, so if her mom was bringing it up now, it must be important.
“You know his trial’s coming up,” Heidi continued quietly.
Brooke said nothing. She’d known, of course, in the back of her mind, and had even started to prepare herself for hearing his name in the news again, maybe even hearing her own name. But she resented his intrusion on her life just as she was starting to get her feet back under her.
“Well, I guess we knew it was coming,” Brooke said, keeping her voice calm. She started to take a sip of her latte, but the sugary, foamy taste suddenly turned her stomach, and she set it aside.
“That’s not all, honey,” her mom said. “The thing is . . . well, we had a meeting with the prosecutor last week.”
Brooke tensed. “Why did the lawyer want to talk to you guys?”
Her mother fell silent again, and Brooke groaned. “Mom. Please. Rip off the Band-Aid.”
“Your father lost most of our retirement fund in one of Clay’s scams,” her mother blurted.
No.
Must breathe. Must get air.
There was no air in this office.
Brooke put a hand to her chest and forced herself to draw in a ragged breath.
“Sweetie, say something,” her mother begged.
“Tell me you’re joking,” she said when she was convinced she was no longer going to pass out.
“I wish. We didn’t want you to know. You’d already been through so much, and we both felt so foolish, but they want us—your father—to testify.”
Brooke let out a little manic laugh. Her dad was going to be testifying against her fiancé. Ex-fiancé.
Brooke’s father was the senior vice president of marketing for a major Hollywood studio. His income wasn’t insignificant, which meant that his retirement account likely hadn’t been, either. And Brooke’s mother had sold her organic bakery for some hefty sum a couple of years earlier, most of which they’d set aside . . .
For retirement. Which they’d now lost, thanks to Brooke’s stupidity.
“Oh my God,” Brooke breathed.
“In Clay’s defense, he did seem reluctant about taking your father’s money,” her mother said.
“Wait, I’m confused,” Brooke said sourly. “Are we defending Clay or testifying against him?”
There was a moment of silence, and Brooke knew why. It was the first time she’d expressed any kind of bitter emotion about what had gone down with her and Clay. She took a deep breath, pushing the anger back. Knowing that if she let it in, even a little, it would consume her.
“I just mean that I think he really did care about you,” Heidi said gently. “And by extension, I don’t think he wanted to hurt us.”
“And yet he took all your money.”
Okay, so maybe the anger was a little bit there. Lurking.
“I know. It’s just, we practically threw it at him,” Heidi grumbled. “We were so determined to support our new son-in-law, and . . .”
Heidi broke off, seeming to realize she was only making Brooke feel worse.
“Is Dad—is he going to testify?”
“Well, that’s what we wanted to talk to you about,” her mom said.
“You mean to gauge my level of bitterness?” Brooke said. “Like on a scale of one to ten, how badly do I want him to rot in jail?”
Her mom laughed, but it was one of those sad, “this sucks” kind of laughs. “Pretty much.”
Brooke blew out a breath. “I don’t know. I mean, I want him to pay for what he did, obviously. But I’m trying to put it behind me.”
“I know you are, honey. I just sometimes wonder . . . have you thought about talking to someone?”
Brooke frowned. “I talk to people all the time.”
“About Clay?”
“Well . . . no. Not if I can help it. There’s no point in dwelling on the negative, Mom. You taught me that.”
“Sure, sweetie, but I never meant that you weren’t allowed to mourn. I worry that you—”
“I’m fine,” Brooke interrupted. “Really.”
There was a long moment of silence.
“So Ms. Farley hasn’t contacted you, then?” her mom asked.
“Who?”
“Irene Farley. The lead prosecutor.”
“No. Why would she?”
“We’ve just been worried that they might try to bring you on the stand.”
Brooke froze. “They wouldn’t. Would they? I mean, I didn’t know . . . I didn’t have anything to tell