After All by Kristen Proby Page 0,7
of Gabby, but also because of our business and the fact that you’re my family. So I need you all to be cool with me dating someone new.”
“You’re not a monk,” Quinn replies easily. “You’ve grieved long enough. Find a girl who makes you happy. And if that’s Nora, I say go for it. We own the damn company. We can change the no-frat policy if we need to.”
“She might say no.”
“She might say yes. So just ask her.”
“Okay. You’re right.”
“Of course I am.”
“Thanks for coming over so I could talk it out.”
“No problem. Oh, don’t forget, that blizzard’s coming in later today. You’ll want to get out of here early.”
“What in the hell is up with the weather this year?” I grumble. “We never get this much snow.”
“Well, we do, just not often. It’s supposed to dump tonight. I’m leaving soon to go check on Mom.”
“Tell her I say hi.”
“Will do.”
Quinn shuts the door behind him and I turn to the windows, looking out on a white New York.
“Carter?”
I turn to find Nora in my doorway. Her hair is down today, golden around her shoulders. She’s in one of her power suits, red today. And as always, she’s in heels.
Let’s not even discuss how many times I’ve imagined those heels propped on my shoulders.
I’m losing my mind.
“Your nine o’clock is here.”
“Thanks.” I nod. “Send them in.”
She smiles and turns away, speaking to my client.
Flirting with Nora will have to wait for later.
“Hello.”
“Happy birthday, Mom.” I immediately begin rubbing my forehead. I hate this annual phone call and waited until the end of the day to make it.
“Thank you. How are things with you, Carter?”
“Things are going well. New York is under a bit of snow right now.”
“Well, if you were in Georgia where you belong, you wouldn’t have the snow problem, would you?”
And there it is. Not even five sentences into a call and she starts laying on the guilt trip.
“How are you and Dad?”
“As well as can be expected, of course,” she says with a dramatic sigh. “Your father is still working long days at the hospital. I stay busy with charity work and my volunteering opportunities.”
I wonder how many men she’s slept with this year that constitutes her volunteering opportunities.
“I’m glad to hear you’re both staying busy.”
“Your father should be retiring now.”
“He certainly can retire, Mom. He’s earned it.”
“You know that’s not possible. If you’d gone into medicine like you should have, and taken over his business, he would have been able to retire.”
“So he’s just going to work until the day he dies out of spite? Because I didn’t want to be a doctor and take over the family business?”
“It’s been in his family for five generations. I can’t believe I raised such a stubborn, selfish son.”
“Me neither,” I reply quietly. “Gabby’s doing well. Not that you asked.”
“Just move home,” she says with a sigh. “Pack you and Gabby up and move here, where you belong. You’ve grieved that woman long enough, Carter. You should be here with your family. I’m quite certain you can work as an attorney here. Someone’s always suing someone else.”
“We are with our family.” The headache is pulsing in my forehead now. “And that woman was my wife.”
“Oh, I’m well aware. I sat through that horrible wedding and held my tongue.”
“You did not hold your tongue.”
No, my mother stood up in front of two hundred people and announced that she didn’t support my marrying a poor woman from New York, and that I was making the biggest mistake of my life.
“Certain things were expected of you.”
“I’m sorry I was an only child,” I reply firmly. “I feel bad for you and Dad, that you didn’t have a child who wanted to live the life you wanted them to. But I’m forty years old, Mother, and I think it’s time for you to come to terms with the fact that I’m living the life I want to. The life I’ve worked hard for.
“I will not have you speak badly of my dead wife when she’s not here to defend herself against you.”
“Well, I always say, what goes around comes around, and she—”
“If you say Darcy died because of karma, I will never speak to you again and make sure you never see Gabby, either.”
“I don’t see her anyway.” Her voice begins to tremble now, marking the manipulation portion of our program. “I don’t ever see my only grandchild. You’ve stripped us of the opportunity to know her at all.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“I don’t