Pressing her lips tightly together, Bridget looked up at Eli. “I don’t want them down here.”
“Me either. Are you sure you want to talk to them in the public area of the den, though? The guests—”
“I’ll restrain myself.”
“I believe that.” Eli stayed still, as if she wanted to say more. “But will they?”
“No idea, especially with what I want to tell them.”
“Oh?” Eli raised an eyebrow as Bridget shuffled around to stand, grabbing her knee scooter.
“Yeah.” Gritting her teeth, Bridget moved toward the stairs. Eli stayed behind her as she hopped her way up each one until she got to the top. Eli set up the scooter in front of her, and Bridget moved herself through the kitchen to the living area and the den, taking the two steps like a pro this time.
At least if she was going to fall in front of anyone it wouldn’t bethem.Eli gave her a look, obviously wondering if Bridget wanted her to stay or not. Bridget shook her head at Eli and sat down in a chair, eyeing her parents down.
“Hey,” she mumbled, trying not to lose her gumption.
“Bridget,” Edward said.
“How are you doing?” Sharon asked, looking Bridget over head to toe.
Bridget had to remind herself, multiple times, that somewhere deep inside her mother’s frozen and dried up soul, she did care, at least about some things, even if it wasn’t Bridget as a whole. Rolling her shoulders, Bridget looked her mother in the eye. It was time she started taking her life back. “I’m good, thank you for asking.”
Sharon seemed surprised by her tone, but she didn’t comment on it. She did, however, glance at Edward as if he was going to put a stop to Bridget’s attitude. That was always how it was. Sharon would get upset and tell Edward to take care of it, and he was the one who came down with the iron cane.
“How are you two?” Bridget asked, deciding this line of awkwardly fake-pleasant conversation could be carried on in two ways.
“We’re good,” Sharon answered, clearly confused.
It sent a shiver of satisfaction through Bridget that she was catching her parents so off guard.
“I’m surprised to see you still using that thing.” Sharon eyed the knee scooter.
Confused, Bridget cocked her head at it and then Sharon. “I’m not weight-bearing yet, so I have to.”
“It’ll only ruin your career faster if you don’t get back to work.”
“I’m on a leave of absence, mandated by KBI since I had a work-related injury. I can’t go back—even to desk duty—until I’m cleared.”
“And when will that be?” The venom in her mother’s tone was not mistaken.
“When I’m cleared. I can’t control when that happens.”
“Of course you can,” Sharon muttered. “You have to think about your career, Bridget. You can’t be lazy about getting your job back.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Her eyes widened in shock. “I have my job. There is no getting it back.”
“Rumor has it that Wilkerson is doing fantastic, and they won’t give it back to you when you come back.”
Bridget scoffed. Her mother had absolutely no idea how these things worked, nor would she ever actually look into it either. She risked a glance at Edward, who seemed to agree with Sharon. Cursing under her breath, Bridget curled her fingers round the edge of the chair and prepared to try to explain to them how her job worked, even though she knew they wouldn’t listen.
“They can’t give my job away. I’m an elected official—”
“They can if they think you can’t do it.” Sharon’s tone rose, her voice inching into the screeching levels.
“That’s not how it works!” Bridget tried to bite back her anger, but it was so damn hard with them sometimes. She couldn’t control herself when she was in the room with them. She wanted to remain calm during the entire conversation, but that was too much of an ask, obviously. Sighing, Bridget rubbed her temple. “I’m sorry. I will talk to them about when I can go back to light desk duty.”
“Good idea,” Edward added. “It’ll get you out of this place.”