no wrong.
In my mother’s eyes, I was anything but perfect. I had inherited my father’s bone structure, his lanky frame, his green eyes, but I had my mother’s hair and her full lips. A combination not stellar enough to even be noticed.
“It was fine, Mother …”
Fine. Fine. Fine. A word I used often with my mother, even when things were not so fine.
We were all seated at the kitchen table. Granny—or I should say, Sandy’s Granny—wasn’t feeling too well, pushing around her food on her plate.
Sandy sipped her wine and leaned back against the chair. “It’s just getting so busy. I had to hire two more people to keep up with demand.”
I focused on my food, trying for the life of me to block her out. If I had to hear about Sandy’s job one more time, I would bang my head against the table until I knocked out and they had to call 911. This was the thing: it wasn’t jealousy that caused me to want to gouge my eyes out every time she talked about her recruiting firm that she owned; it was the fact that she would brag nonstop about it, as though using it to tell me, Look at what I can do.
“Soon, you won’t have anymore room in that office you rented out.” Richard Buckingham III sat right by my mother, feeding himself with one hand and holding her hand over the table with the other.
They were always touching affectionately, like the newlyweds they were. Each time I witnessed it, I’d think of my dad. It wasn’t like she was cheating—my father was dead—but I couldn’t help but picture how they had been together, how much love they’d shared, just with one look. As though they hadn’t had to even touch to witness their overflowing passion for each other. Just how they stared lovingly at each other proved it.
Sandy’s gaze made it my way. “The economy is high therefore, everyone needs a job nowadays, and people want to be placed, which puts my recruitment agency on the top of every company’s list when they’re trying to fill positions.”
She had gotten me the job’s at Colby’s, yes. Was I grateful? Yes. Did she have to remind me that she had gotten me the job every second? No. Come to think of it, if the request for her to find me a job hadn’t come from Richard, then I doubted she would have helped me. My gratitude should go to him.
My mother smiled at her stepdaughter. “We’re just so proud of you. You’ve taken your company that you just started a little over a year ago, and you’ve expanded it to where it’s overflowing with opportunities. It’s just … awe-inspiring.”
This was the part where I wanted to gag, possibly throw up all my mashed potatoes and meatballs onto the kitchen table, and feed it to Sandy.
I doubted that would do any good because my mother would just have me clean it up, and I didn’t want to do that. There was no reason to add another point on why she was so embarrassed of me.
“This family was meant to be. Look at that, Charlie. As soon as we moved in, you needed a new job, and lo and behold, your sister owns her own recruitment agency.” My mother clasped her hands together like this was a good thing.
If I only didn’t need this job, need it for my end game—my exhibit.
“I hear you can get and eat all the candy that you want. Must be one of the greatest perks at the job,” Mother added.
Richard lifted his head from his plate. “You’re working for Colby’s?” He eyed Sandy from his spot. “I thought you didn’t do business with that company anymore.”
My stepfather didn’t pay attention to little details that involved me because if he did, he’d have known I had been hired last week.
Sandy waved a hand and exaggeratedly rolled her eyes. “Dad, if they’re paying, I’m not about to deny their money. It’s a win for them and a win for me.”
“I don’t know. It’s not a company I want you dealing with. Especially since I heard it’s going under.”
I guessed what the company had been trying to keep a secret wasn’t so top secret anymore.
I decided to tune out the family for the rest of dinner. I tried to think of when I could get back to finishing my latest project—an abstract oil painting. I’d stored my painting supplies and set up my own little