Chapter 46

Rainey

I flinched as the door slammed against the frame. I blinked a few times in utter shock. I couldn’t believe Michael accused me of those horrible things. For him to come to my house and speak to me like that was unprofessional and downright rude.

I whipped around and checked Tanner’s room. The door remained closed. I’d promised him ice cream for dessert for him to stay in there. Good thing he had a sweet tooth.

I sprinted across the living room and stood next to the window. Michael’s car was in the street, the warm exhaust creating a plume of smoke to come out of the back end of the black sedan. Michael appeared from the side of my house, and I leaned away from the window, just keeping him in view. But he’d never be able to see me if he looked back.

My resignation letter was in his fist, half of it under his crushing fingers.

If I didn’t know he was pissed when he left, I did now. His shoulders were almost at his ears, and I could feel the anger rolling off of him in waves, even from that distance.

I turned away from the window and plopped down into the recliner. My entire body was like mush. I couldn’t help but feel wounded by his words and accusations.

Sure, I had covered up the fact that I had a child, but I did everything that he asked of me, and this was how he treated me? Good riddance to him. He didn’t even allow me to explain myself. Once he got his arguments out of the way, he fled.

I supposed I should have known better. Tessa and her friends warned me about him. His shady dealings with the mob were bad news, and I didn’t want my family involved. He wasn’t the kind of man for Tanner or me.

As good as it felt to be rid of him for that moment, I couldn’t help the nasty taste in my mouth after our conversation. How could he think I was trying to trap him? He was the one who kept trying to seduce me. He took me away to a romantic cabin and kissed me. At every step of the way, he was throwing himself at me. And even though I liked it and eventually gave in, how did that constitute me trying to trap him? Neither of us brought up marriage. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to get married again.

All I wanted from him was a job, and I was an amazing assistant for him. I put up with his long hours and his ever changing attitude running from hot to cold within a matter of minutes. I gave everything to him, and that was the thanks he gave me? Now I was back to being an unemployed single mother living above her parents’ house. How pathetic.

I had to come up with another plan, but it was hard enough to find that job. What was I going to do? It wasn’t as if I could ask Michael for a professional recommendation for my next job. He’d probably give me a horrible one, saying that I was a liar or something else damaging to my career.

Though deep down, I didn’t believe that. Michael would probably give me a sparkling recommendation as he was mostly a professional. But I wouldn’t ask him for one. Not after our most recent conversation. I didn’t need him to help me out anymore. I was okay on my own before, and I would be again. Cutting ties with Michael was best for the both of us. There wasn’t anything else tying us together.

Or was there? I clamped my hand over my mouth, stifling the gasp that threatened to escape. The whole mob situation was the one thing that linked us. Those two guys who followed Michael home the night of the charity event must have seen me with him. If they were interested in Michael, did that make my family a target? Did I know too much about Michael’s business for me to be a person of interest for them? What had I done? I should have left him the moment I had the sneaking suspicion that he was conducting shady activities outside of work.

“Mommy?” Tanner asked from the doorway.

I removed my hand from my mouth. “Hi, honey.”

“Can I go to the bathroom?” he asked.

I wiped at my eyes. The corners of them were wet with unshed tears of fear. “Sure, you can.”

“Can I come out of my room too?” he asked. “Master Kitchen is on soon.”

I ruffled his hair and hugged him against me. After a moment too long in my arms, he wriggled out of my grasp. “Yes.”

That would give me some alone time to talk to the one person who knew just as much about Michael as I did.

Once I settled Tanner on the couch, I grabbed my cell and went into my bedroom. I left the door open a crack in case Tanner needed me and at the same time, dialed Tessa.

She picked up on the second ring. “Are you alright? What happened before?”

“He came to my house,” I said, sitting down on the edge of my bed.

“Wait, who?”

“Michael.”

“He what?” Tessa practically shouted over the phone.

I winced. “And Tanner answered the door.”

“Holy shit, Rainey! I need all the details,” she said.

I explained every single embarrassing moment between Michael and me in my home. Reliving it didn’t make it any easier, and it didn’t give me any clear insight on what I was going to do next.

When I finished speaking, there was a long pause on the other end.

“Tessa?”

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Do you have anything to say?”

“I’m still in shock.”

“Clearly,” I said. “Putting all the Michael stuff aside, I want to make sure Tanner is safe. I mean, if these guys come after us, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

She sighed. “Rainey, you don’t have to worry. Michael and his brother have been dealing with this mob shit for a while, at least that’s coming from my friends at the club. Whoever is after him is after him. Not you, not your son. This isn’t like the movies. All of these guys tend to go face to face with a lot of these things. Try not to make things worse by upheaving yours and Tanner’s life. All you have to do now is find a new job and move on.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“I love you and Tanner. You’re family; I wouldn’t steer you wrong.”

I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Okay. Thanks. I needed to talk it out with someone.”

“No problem.”

“Alright,” I said, standing up, feeling a new resolve within me. I wasn’t going to let Michael get me down. “I need to make some phone calls tomorrow morning. Maybe I’ll be able to find something temporary to tide us over until I get something better.”

“My offer still stands at the salon. The other hairdressers would love to have a competent front desk woman. And we can hang out all day!”

I grinned. “Let me see if there is anything in my field first. If not, you’re the first person I’ll call.”

“You better!”

“I will.”

“Call me tomorrow,” Tessa said. “I want to hear all about your job search.”

“Love you,” I said.

“Love you, too.”

I hung up the phone and tossed it onto my bed. I laid face down on the bed, burying my face into the duvet. What the hell was I going to do? Tessa was off my back for a little while, but I knew Mom would be on me about losing this job with Michael. Our conversation from earlier was far from over. And even though I didn’t give her all the sordid details about him, she knew we’d had more than a professional relationship. She wanted me to be honest with him about Tanner, but I refused. Maybe I should have listened to her. Each day that I kept the secret from him, it tore at my insides. I thought I had to protect Tanner, but I was protecting myself too. I wasn’t letting Michael into my life even though he did as much as he could.

He was similar and yet totally different than Killian. And Tanner’s father wouldn’t be any help to us, he never was. Once he saw that I wanted something out of life than being barefoot and pregnant, he wrote the both of us off. I would never ask him for help. That would be giving into him.

I would do this on my own. I had a little money saved to get us by, but it would be tight. It was hard to believe that I’ve only worked with Michael for about a month. Everything that happened between us seemed to stretch on for a lifetime.

I jumped off my bed and brushed out the wrinkles in my shirt. There was no reason for me to sulk about this. I had come upstairs earlier to start dinner, and that’s what I intended to do. I also intended to extend an olive branch to Mom. As much as I wanted to be on my own, I knew I couldn’t do this without her. The stress of quitting and dealing with all the feelings with Michael got the worst of me. I needed to apologize and get a plan into place for our family. A temporary one.

I texted Mom and told her to have her and dad come up for dinner in about an hour. I quickly put together a salad while I grilled some chicken on the panini press. It wasn’t the fanciest of meals, but it was healthy, and it was homemade.

Tanner and I were going to be living on boxed and microwave meals for a little while until I got back on my feet.

We shared a nice dinner with my parents and Tanner. Tanner chattered the whole time about his day, so I didn’t have to fill any gaps in the conversation. Though from Mom’s glances in my direction, I was going to have to talk to her before she left.

“Who was that man who came to your apartment earlier?” Mom asked as Tanner polished off his plate. He knew he wasn’t supposed to talk with his mouth full so Mom took full advantage of his appetite.

I glanced at Tanner whose attention was on me. I debated on lying. I could have said he was a solicitor or someone trying to sell phone books. But lying had put me in this place, to begin with.

“That was Michael,” I said, stabbing a piece of lettuce with my fork.

“What did he have to say?” Mom asked.

I looked over at Dad who couldn’t be less interested in the conversation. He grimaced at his meal as if it were covered with worms.

I smirked. He loved his carbs and Mom was keeping him on a strict diet lately.

“He wanted to close out some work stuff,” I said.

“He couldn’t have called you?” Mom asked.

“He sounded mad!” Tanner said. “Why was he mad, Mommy?”

“Yes, Rainey,” Mom said. “Why was he mad?”

I sighed. “He wasn’t mad. He’s a loud person. We were going over the logistics of my job for the next assistant, that’s all.”

“He fired you?” Dad asked, finally joining the conversation.

“No, Dad,” I said. “I quit.”

“Why?” Tanner asked.

“Because it wasn’t working out,” I said. How had I lost the reins of this conversation?

“Do you need more money?” Dad asked, giving a significant look to Mom.

“No,” I said. “I already have a few jobs lined up.” Okay, one little lie wouldn’t hurt anyone. I would work hard tomorrow while Tanner was at school calling every contact I had from school. Someone had to be hiring.

“That’s great,” Mom said. “Though he sure was a handsome fellow.”

“Mom!” I cried out. “You were spying?”

She gave me a devilish grin. “This is my house too, you know.”

I laughed for the first time in a while. Even though life had given me a huge lemon, I had a little hope that I could make some semblance of lemonade. And hope was all I needed.