Page 4 of Worth the Fall
I leaned against the door frame, having forgotten for two glorious seconds about my impending doom. “Late tomorrow night.”
“That seems really fast.”
“The tour has already been going for a month or so.”
He pursed his lips in surprise. “Are you excited?”
That was a loaded question. “Yes. I think I can come up with a lot of stuff that Mr. Sterling will love.”
He checked his ridiculously huge watch. “I’d better be going. It’s Allegra’s wind-down time, am I right?”
Harrison rarely tried to joke or be funny; he knew he had so much more to offer. Soit took me a minute to realize he was kidding. I laughed too late. “Right.”
“Kiss me.”
I leaned across the doorway and gave him a lingering kiss, with just enough tongue to satisfy him.
“Love ya.”
“Sleep well.” I shut the door, sighing contentedly. Soon, we would be married, and we wouldn’t have to play the drop-off goodnight kiss game. That would be nice. Planning dinners and dates would be much easier then.
Harrison was right, though. It was nine already, past the “Allegra wind-down time”. I carefully took off the dress that cost a full paycheck and hung it beside the others.
The reality of knowing I would have to pack for this rodeo tour suddenly hit me in the face like a heavy slap. What was I going to bring? My idea of “dirty clothes” included workout clothes, a single pair of old jeans, and sneakers that I had been planning to donate a year ago.
The cardboard box collecting dust bunnies behind my laundry basket caught my eye, begging me to open it.
No. If I wanted to endure this tour without getting dragged through the mud, I would leave that old box where it was.
I drew a steaming hot bath and dropped a bath fizzer in the bottom. I didn’t have time for the full forty-five-minute soak, thanks to the restaurant taking over thirty minutes to bring out our food, so I did my routine in hyper speed.
As I was putting my robe over my pruneybody, my phone rang. My heart jumped. It was already ?:??. Who could be calling me so late? I wiped the sweat off my hand and flipped it over.
Crap.
I answered the call and put it on speaker. “Mom? Iseverything okay?”
“Your check bounced,” she answered loudly.
“That’s not possible, Mom. I just put money in the account yesterday.” I smeared creamy lotion on my skin. “When did you try to deposit it?”
“Yesterday.”
“What time yesterday?” I rubbed the skin oil on my hands and then gently applied it to my face.
“Early, like eight or something.”
I unclipped my dry hair from the top of my head and brushed it from the ends up. I would wash it in the morning after my run. “Well, that’s the problem, Mom. You know I always deposit it at noon on the 20th of each month. We’ve had this conversation too many times.”
There was a big sigh on the other end, as if she was preparing herself for the lecture she was going to give me. “Allegra, I swear if you were any more disrespectful, I would just hang up. Your daddy wouldn’t believe how you talk to me.” Her thick Texas accent coated each word. “I had a long day, and I don’t need a calendar lecture from my own flesh! My power bill was due, and I ain’tgot time to check the clock for yournoon deposit.”
I felt like I had been gut-punched at the mention of my father. The ringing in my ear was screaming. I sat on the edge of the bathtub and gripped my phone so tightly I thought it would crack in my hands.
I didn’t respond right away; otherwise, I would’ve said something I would’ve immediately regretted. So instead, I took a few deep breaths, set the phone down, and stood back up. “You’re right, Mom. I am sorry. I will start depositing it in themornings rather thanthe afternoons. Does that work?”
“Fine,” she said shortly. “Thank you for your time, your highness.”
Click
