Bad Cruz(97)

“I think the state provides you with a lawyer if you can’t afford one,” she said kindly. “Anyway, I promise you want to hear what I have to say.”

She fell into step with me.

I pushed the door open and walked in, and she invited herself inside. I clutched my phone close to my chest like a lifeline. I didn’t trust this woman, who’d always been vile to me, but especially so since Cruz had entered the picture.

“Can I offer you anything? Water, coffee, tranquilizer, peanuts?” I made my way to the kitchen, and she followed suit.

Maybe it was too soon to make that joke, but I had zero guilt in me. I knew what I did and didn’t do.

And I hadn’t put peanuts in her sundae.

Gabriella giggled behind me. “Water’s fine. I’ll pass on the peanuts.”

“Shocker.” I opened my fridge, pulling out two bottles of water, still securely capped. If this was a ploy to throw me in the can again, she had another thing coming. I handed her one of the bottles. “How’re you feeling, anyway?”

“That’s nice of you to ask.”

She unscrewed the cap and took a sip. We were both still standing up. It was surreal, to have her in my house. A few months ago, I would have felt self-conscious about how small and cozy this place was.

Now, however, I couldn’t find it in me to care.

If there was something I’d found out recently, it was that a person’s wealth was not measured in money or belongings. Rather, it was nestled at the bottom of their soul. It was their wishes, their hopes, their character, and their ability to lift others instead of dragging them down.

“I’m feeling much better. I guess the amount of peanuts I consumed was very small, which helped. And the EpiPen definitely made a difference. By the time I got to the hospital, all they had to do was give me a shot of cortisone straight to my butt cheek and put me on some oxygen for a few hours while they monitored my condition. It was pretty straightforward.”

“I’m glad.”

“Nessy, there is something I want to tell you. To be frank, I’m not even sure why I’m telling you this. I just think you should know.”

“Okay.”

I leaned against the counter. The exact same spot where Cruz cornered me not too long ago and gave me a scorching kiss seconds before Bear walked in.

Lord, I was a world-class clown for managing to lose this man.

“I went to see Cruz yesterday—”

Here we go, I thought.

They were getting married. She was probably already pregnant. She won the battle, the fight, the war, and was now rubbing it in my face.

“Good for you,” I said, way too cheerfully.

“I’m not done. I went to him to see if he wanted to get back together.” She paused. “He didn’t.”

“Oh.”

It was crazy, the things my heart did in my chest in that moment. It was some next-level, Cirque-du-Soleil stuff. Apparently, the Elation was more than just a cruise ship.

“He brought something to my attention before I went home. The fact that I never take my EpiPen anywhere with me, even when I go to restaurants.”

I watched her carefully, unsure where this was going.

“Okay…”

Gabriella sighed, putting the cool water bottle to her forehead, apparently out of sorts.

“What I’m trying to say is, someone must’ve known I was going to need my EpiPen and made sure I had it in my purse.”

I kept watching her, waiting for more. Her gaze swung up and met mine.

“My mother, Nessy. My mother put it there. I used the power of deduction. It couldn’t have been Coulter, because Coulter knows about my allergy, and because he’s a real sweetheart who’d never hurt a soul, no matter how obscenely untalented he is in the kitchen, which is a culinary assault in itself.”

It was the first time I’d heard Gabriella crack a joke, and I had to admit, as far as wisecracks went, it wasn’t a terrible one.

“And you wouldn’t have done that, either. Why would you? You won Cruz. He was yours. And you’ve put up with so much of our… our… behavior,” she seemed to settle on a word, “over the years, it seemed out of character and out of place for you to pull something like that all of a sudden. Not to mention, I told you at least three times I didn’t want peanuts in my sundae, and you knew things could go south. You would never do that to your son.”

Something cracked in me when she said it. The acknowledgement from her that I was a decent mother made my heart go to her. I swallowed hard. She continued.

“That left me with only one suspect. My mother. I knew she’d been upset with me for losing Cruz. She was livid and beside herself when I told her we broke up. And then when the rumor you and he were together hit her ears, she lost it completely. She had the motive, the passion, and the proximity to me to pull it off. So I went to confront her yesterday.”

My stomach rolled all of a sudden. Mrs. Holland was insane. She’d basically poisoned her daughter. Put her life at risk.

And for what?

The town’s hottest bachelor?

As much as I mourned the problematic relationship with my own mother, I was pretty sure she was above trying to kill me to make a point.

Ninety-six percent sure, anyway.

“What’d she say?” I managed.