cracks in the blinds, realized it was morning and started fumbling through the blankets. Last night, after she’d returned from Santa Barbara and climbed into bed, she’d been shocked to receive a text from Ethan. That he’d have the nerve to contact her after what he’d done, that he’d feel safe enough to do so, boggled her mind.
But the temptation to rub her nose in the collapse of her career was probably too great for him. Also, he didn’t know that she was going to sue him as well as the station. Her attorney hadn’t even drawn up the paperwork yet, let alone filed it and had it served.
She threw off the covers, finally locating her phone when it hit the carpet with a dull thud. The ringing had stopped by the time she climbed out of bed to get it, but she could see who’d been trying to reach her. It was her mother.
After a yawn and a stretch to help gather her faculties, she climbed back into bed, burrowed deep into the covers and braced herself for this conversation.
“There you are!” her mother exclaimed as soon as she answered. “But...what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Why?”
“It sounds as though you’re losing your voice.”
Emery cleared her throat. “I just woke up.” She checked the clock on the nightstand. It was almost nine, which was late, but not that late, considering how hard it had been to fall asleep last night. Although she’d been exhausted, she couldn’t quit obsessing about the lawsuit—how long it might take to complete and what it might trigger. Neither could she quit thinking about the day she’d spent in Santa Barbara, the way Sidney had behaved in the chocolate shop, the implications of that encounter and the man she’d gone there with.
And then Ethan’s audacious text.
She hadn’t responded to her former coanchor. It was so hard not to tell him to get lost. But she figured she should try to lure him into revealing something that might help her case. She’d have only a short window before he became aware, a gap during which he might be confident enough to brazenly say something that would prove her allegations to be true.
“This late?” her mother said. “It’s almost noon!”
Emery tried to focus on the conversation. In her family, sleeping in was a mark of laziness. She couldn’t help but chafe at her mother’s overblown reaction. “You’re on Eastern time. How’s Grandma?”
Her mother sounded weary when she answered. “She’s not improving.”
Which meant she was getting worse. Emery could hear it as surely as though her mother was shouting it into the phone. “Does she still recognize you?”
“On a good day.”
Emery closed her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Her mother’s voice hardened. “Have you heard from your father?”
She hadn’t. She rarely heard from Marvin since her parents’ marriage fell apart. He was too caught up in his new life, and his new woman. She felt forgotten, left behind. He knew what Ethan had done to her, but he’d scarcely reacted to it, even though he used to be protective of her, of all of them—the defender of the family. Emery was so bewildered; she couldn’t figure out what’d gone wrong, but her father seemed to be walking away from her. “No.”
“He’s cut off my access to our bank accounts. I have no way of buying anything.”
A thread of panic ran through those words, causing Emery’s stomach to churn. Connie obviously hadn’t expected Marvin to act as he was, either.
Emery had no idea how long her own small savings would have to last. She wasn’t even sure she could get another job, not a decent one, what with all the slut-shaming that was going on as a result of that video. But how could she not help? “How much do you need?”
“A few hundred bucks, if you can spare it. I hate to ask, but Grandma doesn’t have anything besides her social security. It barely covers the utilities and her car insurance, and I’ve got to get groceries.”
“Of course. It’s no problem,” Emery lied. Connie hadn’t been able to pay her back the last loan. Her mother had no income, had always been a stay-at-home mom. But she couldn’t let her mother and grandmother go hungry. Fortunately, her grandmother, Adele, didn’t have a mortgage, so they didn’t have a house payment in addition to all the other bills. But she couldn’t continue to support them. Her father had to be fair with Connie and split the assets they’d accumulated in their marriage.
“Thank you, honey. I’m sorry