“Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Phantom.”
“I beg to differ. If I put my hands down your pants right now, I’d find you wet.”
She glared at me. “Overconfidence doesn’t suit you either.”
I chuckled. “Answer the question. He call you for more than business?”
She sighed. “It’s all business. He’s just—”
She got cut off by her phone ringing. She silenced the unique ringtone. It was the ringtone she always silenced.
I eyed her with a question on my face.
“I haven’t told my mother that I’m not coming to Thanksgiving yet.”
“That’s not going to be a fun conversation, I’m guessing.”
“No. It won’t be. We don’t really see eye to eye on a lot, so …”
Her phone rang again. This time, I snatched it from her and pressed the green button. She lunged for me, but I swung out of her way and walked to her bedroom. “Hi, Ms. Blakely. How can I help you today?”
Her mother sniffed. “Well, I called to talk with my daughter who owns this phone. Who is this?”
I smiled. She sounded older but just like Vick. “Jett Stonewood. Her boss.”
Her voice was high when she replied. “It’s past seven. She’s still at work? You keep her that late?”
Interesting. The woman didn’t even pause for a second to consider that she was talking with a Stonewood. She rolled on like the name meant nothing to her at all.
“We’re not working.” I got straight to the point. “Also, I invited her to my family’s Thanksgiving.”
Silence stretched over the line. I waited her out as I’m sure she was waiting me out. Finally, she replied, “I’d like to speak with Victory now.” Her tone was clipped.
“Mrs. Blakely …”
“Give my daughter her phone.” The woman’s voice had taken on the same tone as my mother’s when she’d reached the end of her rope.
“If it’s any consolation, I hope to meet you at some point. You’ve raised a hell of a woman and you managed a great company.”
The woman didn’t have the same need to ease someone’s discomfort as Vick did. She harrumphed, and I handed the phone over to Vick who had been hiding her face in her hands for the past minute.
“Hi, Mom,” she said, shooting daggers at me. “No, Mom. I’m not ...Yes. No, Steve and I weren’t ... right. I understand he’s part of the family … I agree that dating my boss isn’t the smartest.”
She sighed and went to sit on the couch where she rubbed her head, and with every passing minute, I realized the mistake I had made.
Victory Blakely was being managed by a brilliant and ruthless businesswoman. Her mother obviously tried to run her daughter’s life the way she had run her company.
“Mom, I just can’t talk about that right now … Because … no, it isn’t anyone’s business but mine. And I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing just fine here.”
She paused and then shot up from the couch. “No. I don’t want you to come visit. I’ll come home in a few weeks. I promise … Of course Dad needs to see me.”
Her body relaxed and her eyes started to glisten a bit. “Mom, he has to deal with you daily, I know he needs me there now more than ever. You’ll run him into the ground otherwise. I won’t make plans for Christmas.”
She glanced at me. “I don’t know Mom. We aren’t … it isn’t really like that. He just wants me there for Thanksgiving.”
I walked up close to her and the phone. “I’ll come for Christmas. Happy to.”
Vick shoved me away and put her finger up to shush me. “Yeah, okay. Well, we can talk about it later, Mom. I’m not committing to bringing him. I love you,” she singsonged. “Goodbye.”