Chapter 14 Bitter Company
698words
A black pencil skirt and a tailored blouse, her lips painted in a notable cherry red.
Unlike Kayn's disgusted expression, she was smiling.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead, hoping I didn't leave any dirt smears behind and straightened my shirt.
I realized there was no way I would get clean before they got here, resulting in me dropping my hands to my sides and accepting defeat.
"You must be Carly?" The woman smiled, sticking out a hand. "I'm Adriane. This brat's mother."
I stifled a laugh, holding both my hands up in the air, and wiggled them. "My hands are dirty."
Kayn snorted, and his mom pinned him with a glare before she looked back at me.
"I understand," she lowered her hand. "Ember told me a great deal about you."
"All good, I hope."
"Most definitely," Adriane acknowledged. "She also told me how rude this one—" She slapped down a hand on Kayn's shoulder and squeezed it. Kayn pulled a face, and I had to bite down on my bottom lip to stop myself from laughing. "How rude this one had been to you."
I shrugged, not sure what to say.
"Look, I understand my son has been...problematic. So has my father-in-law. I know apologizing for them won't do much, but I am sorry for their behavior."
She sucked in a breath. "Our family has been dealing with a lot the past year, including grieving the death of my eldest daughter."
Adriane closed her eyes for a few seconds before she reopened them. "They're afraid there would be a repeat of what had happened to Aria."
Kayn glanced in the direction of the field, an intent look on his face. Out of nowhere, I felt bad for the prick.
"I'm sorry for your loss," I said. "If there's ever anything…"
"Thank you," Adriane offered a faint smile. "I can see why Ember took a shine to you. Your mother, is she here by any chance?"
I pointed toward the cottage. "She's in there. I can go get—"
"It's alright, I can go to her myself. I can see you've already got your hands full over here." She threw a glance toward Kayn. "If only my son was half as motivated as you. Your mother wouldn't mind swapping kids with me?"
Kayn snorted, and his mom elbowed him in the side.
I glanced away to hide my smile.
"You know what? I know Kayn would love to help you with all this work."
"Mom—" Kayn started to protest.
"Come to think of it, he's good with nature. Aren't you, son?" She pinned him with the kind of look Mom gave me when she was daring me to overstep my place. "I knew you wouldn't mind. Why don't you start with the weeds?"
I would have insisted against the idea of having him around because I did not doubt for one second that he would use any opportunity to make life difficult for me.
But, seeing him in such a vulnerable state was too precious to go to waste.
He wasn't so tough with mommy around now, was he?
When Adriane turned, I made sure Kayn could see the pleased expression on my face.
He scowled at me before turning to snatch up the half-filled bag of weeds and carried it over to a massive bush sprouting out against the porch.
He dropped the bag beside his feet, muttering under his breath, and began plucking weeds.
It took twenty minutes of unnerving silence before Kayn spoke. "How is this your idea of fun?"
"Never said it was," I gruffed, tugging on a large weed that refused to budge. I glanced into the front door, curious about what Mom and Adriane were talking about.
They've been in there for a long time.
"Then why are you doing this? Pocket money?"
"No," I gritted as I attempted to pull on the weed again. "I'm doing this because your grandpa felt the need to belittle my mom." The damn thing wasn't budging. "Over the state of our garden."
