Page 58 of Billionaire Retreat

I laid Sadie down on the couch and started cleaning. I needed to keep busy or else I would go insane. I heard a car pull up in my driveway and looked out the window, expecting to see Kenny, but it was Mom’s car.

She climbed out slowly, looking tired. I opened the door and waited on the porch for her. She climbed the steps looking weary and beat down.

She didn’t notice me standing there with the door open until she was almost on top of me. “Oh, wow... I didn’t even see you standing there.”

“You’re tired,” I said, stepping out of the way as she entered the house.

She collapsed on a chair in the sitting room and sighed. “Nina,” she said tiredly, “don’t get married. I swear your dad made me sprout seven new gray hairs today. And all on my chin. Don’t tell anyone that. My hairy secret goes to the grave, got it?”

“Got it,” I said with a small smile, happy that she could still joke at a time like this.

“How are you doing, Mom? How are you holding up?” I sat down in the little antique chair across from her.

“I’m doing ok. Your dad is driving me crazy. He’s the worst patient.”

“Yeah, I can imagine that. You know how cranky he gets when he’s sick.”

“Oh yeah, he hates being fawned over as he calls it. He slaps at the nurses’ hands, tells off the doctors. He’s just a handful.”

“That’s Daddy for you.”

She smiled. “He’s going to be fine. It’s my reputation at the hospital that I’ll have to worry about. They might all hate me just by association.”

“Guilty by association.”

“Yeah, your dad is getting quite the reputation and dragging me down with him,” she laughed.

“So, he’s going to be alright?”

“Yep. He might need a few physical therapy sessions, but otherwise he’ll be fine. I’ll have to change his diet.”

“Oh nooo!”

“That’s what he said. No more steaks and potatoes. Veggies and fish from now on.”

“He’s going to have to cancel all his outdoor parties.”

My dad planned outdoor parties every summer and invited nearly everyone in the neighborhood and everyone who visited the neighborhood. One year the postman had shown up, the FedEx driver and the man who maintained some of the local yards.

“I’m glad he’s going to be alright. I’m also glad I’m home.”

“Speaking of which, I’m sorry, I just panicked. I should have waited to call you. I’m a doctor yet I panicked!” she said with disbelief in her voice.

“Well, for the first time it was you who was the family of the patient. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“Did you lose your job because of me?”

I shook my head. “We were done filming.” She paused and I could easily guess what was coming next. “So did you talk to him?”

I didn’t play coy. I knew who she was talking about.

“Yep.”

“And?”

“It didn’t go well. His mother showed up and pretty much made sure that he thought the worst of me... not to mention his sister had a daughter and never told the father. And he, of course, resents his sister for that.”

“Yikes.”