William
To help put my plan in motion, I needed to find out more about Heather. The best thing to do was strike up a conversation with Andrew. I knew those two had problems, so he should have good information on her.
“So, Andrew, how are the hotels doing?” I asked casually, swirling the Coke around my glass.
He took a sip from his own glass. “It’s all right, Will, I’m thinking about opening a new branch soon.”
I nodded, not really knowing what to say.
“How about your company?” he inquired, staring at me expectantly.
“It’s great. I just closed a deal with Mr. Smith.”
A grin formed on his face. “Isn’t he great?”
“I didn’t really get to hang out with him properly. But I did notice he seemed to be very close to Heather.”
The grin immediately disappeared, and he suddenly seemed interested in his glass.
“Yeah, he’s like a second father to all of us,” he said, taking another sip.
“I noticed.” I snorted. “Heather practically squeezed the life out of him when she saw him in our house.”
“Did she? That sounds like her, always being chirpy and sucking up to people,” he muttered angrily. There was a bitter tone in his voice that caught my attention.
“Do you not like that about Heather?” I asked, genuinely curious with his sullen behavior.
He chugged his soda down in seconds.
“She’s such an embarrassment! I don’t understand how my parents are ‘proud’ of her.” He made quotations with his fingers when he said proud.
He looked at me sympathetically and patted my shoulder. “I like to think they just go along with her because she’s hopeless. I’m sorry you had to marry her. And just so you know, I tried to stop the wedding. I really did.”
I was slightly stunned by what he said. Sure, I knew they had problems, but their issues were a lot deeper than I thought.
This was good, though…he could unknowingly help me with my plan.
Our conversation was interrupted when Heather entered the living room and announced dinner was served. Andrew immediately started glaring at Heather, causing her to gulp nervously.
My gut was telling me this dinner was not going to be pretty.
When we arrived in the dining room, Mrs. Montgomery put down the bowl of alfredo pasta and garlic bread. The table was set for eight, with one person on each end and three people on each of the sides. Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery took the ends, Alex, Andrew, and I sat on one side, while Heather, Stephanie, and Landon took the other side.
As soon as a small prayer was said, everyone served themselves, except Heather. She was tearing the bread up on Landon’s plate so he could eat it easily.
“How’s the shelter going, Heather?” Mr. Montgomery asked, taking a bite of his pasta.
Heather’s face brightened almost immediately as she beamed at him. Obviously, this shelter meant a lot to her. This was my chance to see if there was any good information to pick up.
“It’s amazing, Dad. Lily took her first steps, Matt got a scholarship from NYU, and Jeremy got first place in the art competition!” she exclaimed excitedly.
Mrs. Montgomery smiled. “That’s wonderful, honey. How are the other kids?”
“They’re doing well too, Mom. I can’t wait to see the twins start walking, and the rest of them start school next week. They’re really excited about it. I’m going to be heading over there to take them school supply shopping tomorrow.”
“What shelter is this?” I asked as curiosity suddenly took over.
Heather brushed her bangs to the side and looked back down at the bread uncomfortably. She opened her mouth to reply when Alex beat her to it.
“Heather owns an orphanage that’s pretty well known. The Windy Summits Shelter,” he said, giving her a proud smile.
The look of awe on my face made Heather blush.
She owned an orphanage? Windy Summits was one of the nicest orphanages around. I had heard the children there were really happy and well cared for.
However, before I could say another word, Andrew decided to speak up.
“You really need to fix that place up. It’s so ratty and unsafe for the children. You could be endangering them, hasn’t anyone told you that yet?” he snapped. As soon as those words left his mouth, everyone turned to glare at him, even Landon.
Heather frowned faintly. “I know it’s not the best, but I’m saving up for some repairs and hopefully a couple of upgrades.”
“If you got a real job, maybe you could actually make some money, rather than feeding off others like a leech,” he growled, clenching his teeth tightly.
Heather stiffened, anger flashing in her eyes.
“Andrew!” Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery exclaimed angrily in unison, giving him death glares.
“It’s fine, he can say whatever he wants. Sorry, Andrew, but I don’t give a cookie about what you think. I love my job, even if it doesn’t pay as much as yours, and that’s all that matters to me. Now if you’ll excuse me,” Heather said, getting up from her chair and disappearing from sight.
Mr. Montgomery stood up next. “Andrew Montgomery. You will go apologize to your sister. You know she worked hard to get where she is now.”
“No, Dad! I’m not going to apologize. She’s such an embarrassment to the family, and you guys support her?” Andrew gave each of them a look of disbelief.
“What are you talking about?” Stephanie asked angrily.
Honestly, she looked like she wanted to strangle him. My guess was that Andrew never expressed his thoughts on Heather to his wife before this.
“What has she done to help this family’s reputation? Don’t you all see?” he asked, standing up and waving his arms around.
At this point, everyone was standing except for Landon. The poor little guy looked so confused as he chewed on his bread.
Suddenly, it was eerily quiet, and all eyes were at the entrance to the dining room. Heather stood there, staring at Andrew calmly. There was no expression on her face, but I could tell she was hurt.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Andrew. I had no idea you were so embarrassed by me. If this is the case, I think I’m no longer welcome in this household,” she said lowly, her eyes darkening with rage.
“No, Heather, don’t…” Mrs. Montgomery started, but Heather shook her head at her and silently exchanged looks with her father, who nodded in understanding.
She turned to me, and I immediately understood she wanted to leave. I grabbed my jacket and we walked outside into the freezing night air.
I opened my mouth to say something to Heather but decided it was a bad idea.
For some reason, I didn’t feel as happy as I was supposed to. She was miserable. Wasn’t that what I wanted?
So why did I feel sympathetic? Did I actually feel bad for her?
I immediately shook my head to get rid of thoughts of pity.
She deserved this; there was no reason for me to feel sorry for her.
Once I reached the car, I turned around, which caused Heather to walk right into me. I caught her quickly and went into a sort of shocked trance as I stared at her face. Her eyes were glistening with tears she was struggling to hold in and there was a pained look on her face.
It didn’t take genius to figure out she was absolutely devastated.
I pulled her back up and let go of her gently, staring at her curiously. The sweet smell of vanilla and butterscotch filled my nostrils and my chest tightened a little.
I could not understand why I felt so bad.
What was happening to me? I shouldn’t be willing to comfort her.
I pulled my keys out and bit the inside of my lip. This feeling would blow over in a few minutes. I just needed to remind myself of what she did to my sister.
As long as I remembered that, she would never see my nice side.