Sisters by Choice (Blackberry Island #4)(62)
Not much more than a tent trailer, but she didn’t say that.
“I suppose you want to take it out of our line of credit. So we’d be at risk for that. What if there’s an emergency or a—” His gaze swept the page, then he threw it down and glared at her.
“Your grandmother’s money? You’re spending it on the business? Is this what you’ve been hoarding it for? I should have guessed. You’re so damned selfish, Kristine.”
She sprang to her feet and glared at him. “No,” she said loudly, her hands curling into fists. “No. I won’t accept that. You’re wrong. Totally and completely wrong. I’ve always supported you, Jaxsen. Whatever you wanted, I made happen. Whatever was important to you was important to me. But it’s never been reciprocal, has it? You’ve never once supported me or my dreams. Not even on something as ridiculous as what I drive. I wanted the Subaru, but you wouldn’t hear of it and insisted I get an SUV. I didn’t want an SUV, but it mattered more to you, so I gave in.”
He stood and faced her. “That’s not fair. You said you didn’t care.”
“I fought you for two weeks before giving in. Why do you have to get so damned involved in my car? It’s mine. Not yours. I don’t tell you what to drive.”
“Then we’ll buy you a damn Subaru.”
“That isn’t the point,” she yelled. “The point is you want things your way and you don’t care about me or my feelings. You don’t support me.”
“I do. I don’t give a damn that you stay up every Thursday night so you can bake your stupid cookies and sell them for a nickel apiece. I don’t care that I had to buy an industrial mixer and cookie sheets and whatever, and that you’re gone every Saturday morning, to sell your damn cookies. What did you make last year after expenses? Ten thousand dollars.” He waved his hands in the air. “We’re in the money, now. All that did was push us into a higher bracket and your ten thousand dollars got eaten up by taxes.”
The hits came so hard and fast, she didn’t know how to protect herself. “That’s not true,” she shouted. “You pay taxes on the margin. And the taxes aren’t the point.”
She turned and walked to the far side of the room. “I’m such an idiot. I listened to you and did as you asked. I live my life in service of you, Jaxsen, and you don’t give a shit about me or what I want. That’s what this comes down to. You say the ATV or the tent trailer is for the family and that I’m a bad person for not seeing that. But it’s not for the family. It’s for you. You’re lucky that the boys want to play the same way you did, but even if they didn’t you’d still buy all that crap.”
“Because it’s my money,” he roared. “I earn it while you sit on your ass here at home.”
His words echoed in the basement. She felt the blood rush from her head and wondered if she was going to faint. She’d never fainted before and didn’t know what it felt like. Not that it could be worse than the hole that had just opened up inside her.
“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, taking a step toward her. “I’m sorry, Kristine. I shouldn’t have said that. It was wrong.”
“It was, but it’s also what you think. I suppose every stay-at-home mom wrestles with that question. What does he really think? I know I did. At least now I know.”
She walked to the coffee table and picked up the folders. She held them against her chest, like a shield, and faced him. “I’m opening the bakery. I’m going to do this, Jaxsen. It’s the right thing and it’s fair and you have no reason to be anything but supportive.”
“It’s a dumb idea.”
“Dumb or not, I’m doing it. Either help or get out of the way.”
He studied her for a long time. “Is that what we’ve come to?”
“I guess it is.”
He started for the stairs. When he got there, he looked back at her. “You’re asking me to choose. I’d be careful about that if I were you. You may not like what happens.”
Sophie spent the next two days fuming about her fight with Dugan. No, not a fight. That would require a level of engagement they simply didn’t have. He’d gotten some attitude and he’d said things and now they weren’t speaking. It was no big deal.
On the bright side, Mrs. Bennet’s litter of kittens was doing incredibly well and she and Lily had started making friends. Maybe tonight Sophie would leave the two bedroom doors open so the mother cats could hang out at will.
She finished up reviewing the orders for the week and then leaned back in her chair. It was nearly six and most everyone had left for the day. She supposed she could go home, too. Or maybe she should take a few minutes to figure out what she was going to do about hiring a sales director.
She didn’t know why Maggie had been so stupid, but she had been and there was no going back from that. CK Industries was a great company. If Maggie couldn’t see that, then she obviously had no vision and didn’t belong here, despite what Dugan had said.
He’d been so incredibly wrong, there wasn’t a word for it. He’d been quadruply wrong with whipped cream and a cherry on top. He was—
She opened her browser and typed in his name. The list populated immediately. She started at the top and prepared to wade through an entire herd of Dugan Phillipses until she found the one she was looking for, only the very first entry was for Phillips Consulting.