The Rule Book (Rule Breakers #1)(75)

“There’s nobody hiring here. It’s no problem—I’ll take on a couple minimum wage ones and—”

She grabbed my hand, silencing me. I looked up at her, feeling the most helpless I’d felt in years. This woman who raised me, was my everything, I’d failed her by getting fired. She needed me and, dammit, I was going to do anything in my power to help her.

“Sweetie. You need to stop. You’ve done more than your fair share. More than I ever should have let you contribute.”

I wanted to scream but I could have had it all paid off by now if I’d just done the horrible thing I’d been accused of. But instead I shut my mouth and frowned.

“I want to help you.” My voice sounded so small, so foreign. I hated the way this situation made me second-guess everything I’d done in the past six months. Why did doing the right thing have to suck so damn much?

“I know. And I love that I’ve raised someone with such a kind heart, but you need to live your life.”

I shook my head at her, not understanding. “I can do that from home.”

She took a deep breath and a mixture of peppermint and chocolate wafted under my nose. “No, you can’t.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?” Was I being kicked out? Man, I wasn’t even cool enough to be a basement kid.

Her gaze raked over my face, a resolute expression in her eyes. “You’re meant to be in Seattle. Zoey is there. You’re building a life, on your own.” She nodded as if assuring herself.

“But what about…” I trailed off. By asking what about her I made her sound weak, which wasn’t the case. But if I moved back to Seattle, she’d be here by herself.

She blinked hard. “Me?”

I picked at a snag on my comforter, too embarrassed to look her in the eye.

She cleared her throat and waited to speak until I met her gaze. “How do you think you learned to be so independent?”

Good point. Even if we were both independent, wasn’t it okay to lean on someone in a time of need? But it hit me. Maybe she didn’t need my support as much as I thought she did. Maybe I hadn’t given her enough credit. Hell, she was kicking cancer’s butt—of course she didn’t need me hovering over her.

I smirked. “I thought I learned my co-dependence skills from you.”

“Is it still socially acceptable to smack children?” She playfully swatted my thigh. “I need my space, too,” she continued. “What if I wanted to bring some guy home and you were here. That would be a total buzz kill.”

Even if she was my best friend, I really didn’t want to know about that side of my mom’s life. “You’re worried about me cock blocking your hookups? Are you even dating?”

“No, but when I feel better, I’d like to start.” She smiled.

I was still processing the fact that my mom said she was bringing home men to our house to hook up. “I don’t even know how to respond to that.”

She laughed and patted my leg. “I’m divorced, not a nun.”

Okay, I so wanted to be my mom when I grew up. “Noted.”

She grabbed my phone from the nightstand and switched it from hand to hand before placing it next to me. “Why don’t you consider moving back up with Zoey. You know she misses you,” she said, hesitantly.

I sighed and flopped back on my pillow. Right, because a more expensive city with zero income was clearly a good choice. “There’s no point. I don’t have a job. So even if I wanted to move back, I can’t. It’s just not fair, Mom.” Oh God, I had reached an ultimate low if I was whining like a three-year-old about fairness. But the feeling of complete helplessness, and the utter desperation for this to all be a horrible dream pummeled me into the ground.

She frowned and looked at me for a long time, with eyes that penetrated straight through my soul. After a moment, she said, “It’s not fair that you were fired, but it happened. Life happens, sweetie, and you just have to roll with the waves and eventually your feet will hit shore again.” She ruffled my hair. “In the meantime, there’s ice cream and a healthy dose of sulking.”

“What if I never get another marketing job?”

She scoffed, like I’d just said something so incredibly insane it wasn’t even worth acknowledging. “You’re a Taylor. You’ll make it happen. You’re one of the hardest working people I know.” She grabbed a picture of my senior year prom, with me and Zoey posing on the staircase. “But you’ll have a better shot if you go to a bigger city. Life’s a bitch sometimes, but you’ll get back up on that horse, sweetie.”

That immediately made me think of the employee manual at Starr Media. Was it possible to have homesickness for a company? I missed everything about it—well, maybe not Jackson or that traitor Zelda—but everything else.

And Bruce. I missed his cute pudgy nose.

Mom was completely right. I wouldn’t be happy living at home. I’d outgrown my old life, and I needed more. Unfortunately, more was two hundred miles away and thought I’d actually try to sabotage his company.

I nodded, resigned to the fact that I had to stay true to myself and give myself the best chance to get ahead in my career after such a disastrous setback. She was right. I was a Taylor, and I was going to land on both feet like a frickin’ Olympic gymnast and find another job. “Thanks, Mom.”