Page 43 of The Grump I Got Stuck With

“When I was twelve.”

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured.

“It wasn’t easy,” I admitted. “Especially after my father remarried. His second wife is…” I trailed off. “Well, let’s just say that she and I have never gotten along. But that actually ended up being a good thing, since it meant she left me largely alone. Around the house, I always had a book to get lost in. And in the summers, my dad was more than happy to ship me off to camp.”

“Is that where you met Weston and Locke?” she asked. “I’ve heard you all mention the Highland Adventure Camp.”

I nodded. “Weston’s grandad ran it. Weston and Locke became like the brothers I never had.”

“So you three basically grew up here in the summers?”

“Yeah.” I finished pouring my own drink. “After my mother was gone, Braeburn became the place where I truly felt at home. When everything happened with the trial last year, I knew this was exactly where I needed to bring Kenna.” I’d never been more glad that Weston and Locke had both already decided to settle here. It made my decision even easier.

“I’m happy this community feels safe after what you dealt with in London,” Madison said.

A muscle in my cheek twitched. This town meant a lot to me. “I’ve come for the summer festival, and for various other visits, ever since Weston moved back, and I’ve never had a single soul bother me. Even last year, when the trial was still ongoing, when that guilty verdict was hanging over my head, Braeburn always welcomed us. I’d escape here for the odd weekend and, for that brief time, all the troubles back in London…none of them existed.”

Madison sipped her drink, regarding me over her glass. “After all that, you still don’t want to invest in the community?”

I considered her words as I sank down on the couch beside her. Madison twisted toward me, our legs brushing. “I didn’t say that I didn’t want to invest. Simply that my priorities are elsewhere right now.” I sucked my teeth. “I just want to show everyone, especially the bloody media, that I haven’t been wrecked by everything.”

“Is that how you feel?” Madison asked. “Wrecked?”

“No. But I think that’s how everyone perceives me now. And I need to prove that I’m still as smart and capable and good at business as I was before I got scammed by Jessica.”

Madison leaned into the couch cushion. “Does Kenna ever ask about her mother?”

“She did at first, but not anymore,” I said. “Sometimes I struggle, trying to explain these things to her. The paparazzi. Why we had to move suddenly. But then other times I’m glad she was so young when it happened. That she won’t carry most of these memories with her. I just don’t ever want this experience to negatively affect her in any way.”

“Don’t you think it’s important to get Kenna back out into the world, then?”

I frowned. “What do you mean? She was out today.”

Madison laughed. “Yes, with you hovering over her like a hawk. You only let her out of your sight for a minute because Weston was there.”

“So?”

“So…It would probably be good for Kenna to have more friends her age. She told me she was in nursery back in London.”

I scoffed. “Yeah, but that was before…everything. Before every time I opened my mouth, someone turned around and sold my words to a tabloid.”

Madison’s face fell. “You’re kidding.”

I shook my head. “Wish I was. I learned the hard way to be very careful what I said around anyone because most people have proven that they can’t be trusted. Especially when nosy reporters are waving money around.”

“Maybe in London,” Madison said, sipping her drink. “But you’ve said how great this community is. If that’s true, then I think you can trust them to look out for Kenna.”

I wrinkled my nose. I knew she was hinting that I should look for a new nursery program for Kenna, but I wasn’t interested in that right now. Frankly, I didn’t want to let her out of my sight for an hour, never mind an entire day.

“It’s important for her to have friends,” Madison continued. “I think you know that considering how close you are with Weston and Locke. And I certainly know that.”

“Because of your parents?” I asked.

Madison sighed. “After all these years, I still don’t think they ever understood how much their disappointment weighed on me. You know that’s the only reason I became a paralegal?”

“To appease them?”

She nodded. “Gain their approval. Do something right for once in my life. But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t ever going to be enough, especially when their expectations for me were law school and the kind of brilliant legal career I would have absolutely hated.”