Letting Go (Thatch #1)(76)
I WALKED AROUND the shop part of The Brew, talking with a few customers and seeing if anyone needed a refill, but the entire time, an annoying feeling kept nagging me. It had my neck tingling and a weird chill going through my spine. My eyes were everywhere as I walked, and only stayed on the customers for a few seconds before I was looking somewhere else. Just before I turned to go back behind the counter, I saw her standing at the end of a book aisle.
Mrs. Easton nodded at me once and waved me over, and I took careful steps toward her. I hadn’t seen her in the almost month and a half since I’d given her the check, and something about her being here didn’t feel right.
“Hey, Mrs. Easton,” I said cautiously when I got closer to her. “How are you?”
“I’m okay, but I needed to see you.”
I laughed once and gestured around the shop. “Well, you obviously know where to find me.” If we’d lived anywhere other than Thatch, it would bother me that she knew where I worked, or when I was working. But this was Thatch. Everyone knew pretty much everything about everyone all the time. It was hard to keep a secret here.
“Yeah, well . . .” She trailed off and gave me an odd smile. “Honey, I need more.”
“More what?” I knew what she was talking about; I just wanted to avoid the subject and wished I hadn’t walked over to her in the first place.
I’d been agonizing over our last encounter, even more now that Jagger and I were engaged. Talking with Graham about it had helped remind me why I’d kept it from Jagger in the first place, but it was hard to remember as days went by, and all I could think about was the fact that I’d kept something so important from the man I was going to marry.
“Money, Grey. Two . . . three thousand, at least.”
The air in my lungs rushed out quickly, and I gave her an incredulous look. “I don’t have that kind of money . . . I can’t afford to give you any money, Mrs. Easton. Didn’t you find a job yet? Maybe I can help you look for somewhere to work.”
“You’re marrying my son, I know you have money,” she hissed, and I took a step back, my eyes and mouth widening with shock. I’d never heard her speak in any way other than her signature everything-is-made-of-love tone.
“How did you know?” Mrs. Easton hadn’t been at our celebration breakfast last week, and unless Jagger had seen her while I was at work, he hadn’t gone to her house while she was there, or even said anything about her this whole time.
“Do you really think I wouldn’t find out if one of my children got engaged?” She clucked her tongue and gave me a patronizing look. “Oh, honey, that’s cute. Really. But there isn’t much about them that I don’t know.”
“Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you and I need to finish the rest of my shift.”
I’d barely turned when she grabbed my arm and brought me back so I was facing her. “I know you have—”
“Jagger and I don’t share accounts, Mrs. Easton! I’m sorry, but I can’t help you!”
Her grip tightened like she knew I was preparing to make another attempt to leave. “If you don’t want to ruin my son’s life, you will give me what I need.”
“Ruin his life? There’s no way I would ever do anything to ruin him. I think you need to leave.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. I know something that would ensure my son’s devastation. Now if you don’t want this little secret getting out, I suggest you give me the money.”
“I have no secrets from Jagger!” I whispered harshly, and turned my head to see if anyone was watching us. “Other than giving you that money, there is nothing about me that he doesn’t already know.”
“It has nothing to do with you. This is all on my son.”
My stomach churned and I stopped breathing for a few seconds. “W-what—” I cleared my throat and looked around again. “What ‘little secret’ about Jagger are you talking about?”
“That’s for me to know; but if he finds out about it, then—”
“Wait, what? What do you know that he doesn’t? How could you have something on him that he doesn’t even know?”
“Like I said, that’s for me to know.” Her anger was rapidly escalating, and I was still in shock seeing this spiteful and vicious side of her.
“You don’t have anything on him. Just like you don’t have anything on me. I don’t have money for you, and once again, you need to leave.”
I hadn’t gone more than two steps before she sneered, “It’s just great that you’re making sure his kid is going to starve.”
I came to a stop and stood there staring ahead of me before looking back at her. “What did you just say?”
“If you loved my son the way you say you do, you wouldn’t make his son go hungry because you refused to give him the money Jagger owes him as a father.”
My throat felt thick. I couldn’t swallow and I wasn’t bringing in air fast enough, or maybe it was too fast. Either way, my body swayed and I grabbed on to the end of another aisle. “What . . . son? What son?”
“Apparently my kid doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘protection.’ He knocked LeAnn up over two years ago. But by the time LeAnn came to talk to him, Ben was dead and Jagger was never around because he was too busy taking care of you.”