When we are all sitting, I wait for my mom to say why she is here. I don’t have to wait long, because she leans forward. “What do you think you are doing?”
I raise a brow. What is she talking about?
She motions with her hand to the bar and Dane. “You are better than this,” she whispers.
“Are you telling me that you came all this way to tell me that I have a bad taste in men?”
“Are you on drugs?”
“What?” How can she ask me that? She hasn’t been in my life for years, and now out of the blue she’s acting concerned?
“Well, everything else doesn’t make sense, so you must be on drugs,” she snaps.
“Actually no, I’m not on drugs and have never done drugs in my life,” I mutter angrily. “Not that you would know anything about that.”
“This doesn’t make sense.” She motions again to the bar. “You come to live here when you can live anywhere you want in the world, and you turn down an opportunity of a lifetime. Are you crazy?”
“This is really underhanded, even for you, Tom,” I argue, knowing what his angle is now by bringing my mom here. He must have thought that me seeing her would change my mind about signing the contract. Well, he was very wrong. If anything, it has shown me the difference between the life I had and the life I have now.
“I’m your agent; it is my responsibility to make sure that you make the right decisions.” I would fire him, but I know that he would sue me for breach of contract, and I would have to pay him a fortune, so I don’t.
“I’m the one that decides on my life, and this is what I want.”
“What is that?” my mom asks as she looks around. “What can you possibly want here, when you can have anything you want?”
“Mom, you don’t know this, but I wasn’t happy. This, the people that live here, all of it makes me happy.” I shake my head, sad that I need to have this conversation with my own mother. “They understand me, and they care about me, something that I didn’t find with anyone else.”
“Don’t be blind. All they want is your money.”
“The only person I give money to is you, Mom, no one else. So, it seems like the only person that is interested in my money is you.”
I can see her face flush in anger, I don’t remember her being so hungry for money when I was younger or so self-conscious of her appearance. Her manicured nails and dyed hair, professes that she is careful in caring for herself. Is that what she is worried about, that the money will stop going to her?
“Nonsense, I’m your mother. I have a right to your money, these people don’t!”
Is she serious? Does she really think that just because she birthed me that she has a right to my assets?
“Look, I’m sorry you had to come all this way, but I’m not changing my mind. This is now my home and what I do with my life has nothing to do with either of you.”
“Stop being stubborn Freya, you are ruining your career by not accepting this contract,” she fires angrily.
“No, Mom, I fixed my life by not accepting the contract. Now, if you two will excuse me, we were just on our way out. I’m sorry, Mom, that you had to come all this way, but you should have phoned.” Standing, I turn to make my way towards Dane, but stop when my mother takes my hand.
“Don’t do this, Freya. I will contest this and tell the judge that you’re not in your right mind.”
Can she do that? I turn to face her, my anger now as palpable as hers.
“You do that. Good luck in trying to prove it.” I pull my hand away and make my way towards Dane. An overwhelming feeling of sorrow fills me that my mother wants to take me to court, all because she doesn’t agree with my decisions.
“You know I can tell them you are unstable. You know I can,” she threatens.
Looking up at Dane, I see his furious expression. I know that he didn’t interrupt our conversation because I want to resolve my own problems, but by his white knuckles, I can tell he would have loved nothing more than to have thrown both of them out of here.
“Can we please go,” I whisper.
He nods, slipping his arm around my shoulders as he guides us out. I hear my mother say something else and then Tom answer, but the minute Dane places his arm around me it feels like everything around me stilled.
“When we get outside, Ulrich and Anastasia are already sitting on his bike. Dag is leaning against his, which gives me the impression that he’s also accompanying us. Eirik walks towards us from the workshop with his helmet in hand.