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Her voice grew harsh. “Excuse me?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “I want to live in Manhattan. You don’t get on Finley or Matthew’s asses about coming home. Why me?”
“You’re my only daughter. Don’t you want to share some girl time?” she reasoned.
“You have tons of friends. You can have girl time with them.”
“They’re not my daughter.”
Sadie muttered something in her sleep, and I pulled the quilt over my head and lowered my voice.
I grunted. “No, Mom. I’m not having this conversation again. I want to stay in the city, and that’s final.”
She exhaled loudly into the receiver. “Don’t fault me for wanting to spend time with you.”
I knew what she was doing. She was trying to guilt me into coming home and living, but that wouldn’t happen. Four years of freedom, and I wasn’t willing to give it up.
“Then come to the city to have lunch with me,” I compromised.
“I can’t. I have tennis lessons at the club at noon, then lunch with Lila Van Pelton.”
“See, you’re busy. You don’t need me.”
Sadie pulled her pillow over her head and groaned.
“Mom, I have to go. Sadie and I have a thing.”
She snorted. “Jesus, Ryleigh, you can’t even make up a good lie?”
“We do!” I protested.
“Fine. Go do your thing, and I’ll talk to you later. I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I swiped the end button before she thought of something else to say, shoving off the quilt. Sadie peeked out from under her pillow.
“What did she want now?”
My best friend was well aware of my mother’s manipulations to get me to move home.
“Same old shit. I don’t know how many more times we have to go through this. I’m staying in Manhattan. Sorry, I woke you up.”
Sadie sat up. “We should get up anyway. Where were you this morning?”
“I couldn’t sleep, so I called Ty. Laura woke me up in the lounge.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Eww, you fell asleep on the make-out couch?”
I threw my stuffed tiger at her, “Big deal. It’s no worse than falling asleep on the carpet in there.”
I was referring to a few weeks ago when Sadie drank a few too many and passed out in the lounge. She was too heavy for me to drag down the hall, so I gave up, leaving her there.
She smirked, “If you were a good roommate, you would have rounded up the masses and had them carry me to our room.”
I chuckled. “I know, I suck as a roommate. Still want to live with me?”
“We signed a lease. I have no choice now.”
