“Is she going to be okay?” her sister asked, wrapping her arms around herself.
Brynn frowned. Kelsey was a tough kid, but no one should have to see their own mother like this. “She’ll be okay, Kels. Thanks for calling. I’m sorry I got stuck late at work.”
“S’okay,” she said, shifting from one flip-flop to the other. “I was supposed to sleep at Becca’s tonight ’cause we have a school project to work on, but I didn’t want to leave until you got here. I can stay and help if you want.”
“Is her mom going to be home?”
“Yeah. And she said she’d drive us both to school in the morning.”
Brynn cocked her head toward the back door. “Go ahead. Just ring the phone when you get there so I know you arrived safe.”
She nodded, her shoulders noticeably relaxing. “Okay, are you sure?”
“You’ll only be three doors down. I’ll come get you if I need you, all right? Go get your stuff.”
Kelsey turned to head to her room, then yelped.
Reid put his hands up as he filled the doorway. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He looked at Brynn. “I was getting worried out there.”
Brynn glanced from Reid to her mother to the stack of empty liquor bottles on top of the counter.
Now he knew. She wanted to fold in on herself and disappear.
Reid tried to keep his expression flat as he took in the scene. He didn’t know what he had expected to find when he’d barged into Brynn’s place, but finding her with a bloodied and bruised woman had not been it.
Brynn turned her back to him but not quick enough for him to miss the horrified expression on her face. She grabbed a cloth off the table and patted beneath the woman’s nose. “I’m sorry, I forgot you were waiting. We’re fine. You can go now.”
Reid moved out of the way as the younger blonde, Brynn’s little sister he presumed, hurried past him. He shoved his hands in his pockets and took a breath. “What I can do to help?”
Her shoulders dipped as if she were carrying sandbags on them, but she didn’t turn to look at him. “Just leave. Please.”
Yeah, like that was going to happen. For the last few weeks, he had let Brynn get away with her casual rebuffs and subtle distancing. He had deserved it after the way he’d lost control on their first date. But he’d be damned if he was going to let her push him away from something like this. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She swung her head around, her eyes filling with tears and her face red with shame. “Can’t you take a hint? You’re making this worse. I don’t want you to be here to see this.”
He closed the distance between them and put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be embarrassed. I just want to help you.”
She winced. “I don’t need your help. I’ve been handling my mother for years, I’m a pro. So why don’t you leave, pretend you never saw this, and I’ll see you at work. Okay?”
Ignoring her request, Reid turned and walked to the refrigerator, then pulled open the freezer door. Except for the three cheap bottles of vodka, the contents were slim, but he found what he was looking for. He brought a bag of frozen corn back to Brynn. “Put this on her eye, it will help with the swelling. Does it seem like anything’s broken?”
Brynn took the bag and stared at him for a long moment before standing up and placing it on her mother’s black eye. “I don’t think so.”r: Roni Loren
“Dammit, Brynn. How could you leave the governor on hold that long?”
She stared down at her skirt, worrying the hem between her fingers and wishing—not for the first time—that she worked directly for Reid’s uncle and not for the power-happy campaign manager. “I’m so sorry. I… um… I had an emergency call on the other line. I got distracted.”
“What call could possibly be more important? He’s the goddamn governor!” Davis’s face turned the color of the cinnamon gum he incessantly chewed.
Tears brimmed her eyes, but she blinked them back. Explaining to him that her sister had called her in hysterics a minute after she thought she’d transferred the governor’s call would not win her any points. She cleared her throat. “I promise it’ll never happen again.”
“You got that right,” he said, rising from his chair, his hand still clasping a copy of the e-mail the governor had sent to him about sitting on hold so long he’d hung up. “I know Patrick has taken a liking to you, but this kind of thing will not be excused. No more mistakes, Ms. LeBreck.”
She breathed an inner sigh of relief. Thank God. No pink slip today. She nodded and stood. “Yes, sir, I understand. Thank you.”
She yanked open the office door and escaped in such a hurry she didn’t notice Reid until she barreled into him. A stack of papers dropped from his hands. “Whoa, there.”
“Shit,” she said, sinking to her knees to gather the mess. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”