Sweet Nothings (36 page)

Joanie ripped the papers out of her hand.

Nick stepped forward. Joanie was furious, a state he’d never seen her in. Her eyes were wild, her jaw hard. Grace seemed unaffected. Both cats stood on the bottom step of the stairs, watching.

First things first. He needed to get Joanie’s mother out of GiGi’s belongings, and out of the house.

“Grace,” he said, pulling both women’s attention. He walked over and closed the flaps on all three boxes. “Maybe you could take a seat on the couch, where we could all talk.”

He reached for her hand to help her up, but she only looked at it, her nose wrinkling. She sent a scathing look toward Joanie. “Really? This is who you date?”

“Who I do or do not date is none of your business.” Joanie’s nostrils flared. He did not like seeing anyone affect her this way.

“I suppose you can’t expect much more here in this rattrap of a town, anyway,” her mother added. When Nick moved to pull Grace to her feet, she smacked his hand away and rose on her own. She then turned her nose up at the couch and pulled over a chair from the kitchen table. She plopped down in it and crossed bony legs over each other.

Joanie’s chest rose and fell with her breaths, but she remained silent. Nick was out of ideas. What did he say when the mother she hadn’t seen
for twenty years popped back into her life? Especially when he could see what a cold-hearted bitch Grace was.

“How about this?” he said, still standing, a woman on either side of him. “How about I help Grace get settled in at the hotel, and we all three meet up for breakfast in the morning? We can talk then.”

Neither said anything, only stared at each other, and he was beginning to wonder if they even realized he was still there. Cat came over and rubbed at his legs. At least Cat knew he was in the building.

“You’d better go, Nick.” That wasn’t what he’d expected Joanie to say.

“I don’t want to leave you here. Let’s take your mother to the hotel, and then you and I can take the cats to the house, and—”

“
Cats,
” Grace sneered. “That sounds about right. They’re probably as horrible as that dog your grandmother had.”

So the woman wasn’t a pet person. That he could believe. Unlike her daughter.

“Just take Cat and go,” Joanie said. “Leave Bob here.”

She still wasn’t looking at him. “Babe,” he said, stepping over and getting in her face so she would have to see him. “This isn’t good for you. Let me take you—”

“No,” she said. “I’ll stay here. I need to deal with this.”

He needed to not let her out of his sight. He didn’t know why, but he had the worst feeling that if he walked out that door without her, she wouldn’t be coming back to him anytime soon. He could feel a wall going up between them as he stood there watching her.

“Come on, Joanie. I’m not leaving you here with her.”

Hard, gray eyes turned on him, and he had to wonder if he knew her at all. “You don’t have a choice. Take Cat and go.”

“Fine.” Anger sliced through him, but pushing the issue would only make it worse. He nodded and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “Call me later.”

She didn’t confirm, and he suspected she wouldn’t. She was standing right there, pulling away from him in front of his eyes—because of a
woman who didn’t deserve two minutes of her time—and he couldn’t figure out a thing in the world to do about it.

Nick put the baton he carried on her couch in case she found she needed it, then picked up Cat. He considered taking Bob, too, just to force her to come looking for him later, but didn’t want to leave her there alone. She might need someone after she had her conversation with her mother. If she didn’t want him, at least she could have Bob.

“I’ll see you later,” he said and slammed the door on his way out.

Once on the porch, he looked back, wanting so badly to be inside with her. He wanted to kick the woman out and make sure she never hurt Joanie again. But maybe this was what Joanie needed. She had to face the past and try to get some answers. See that there was no curse. Merely a piece-of-shit mother.

Hopefully, then, she’d come out the other side in a positive place.

He put Cat in the truck, who found his spot on the dash, but instead of going straight home, he decided to make a pit stop first. He wasn’t the only one in town who would be worried to know Joanie was at the house alone with her mother.

Joanie startled with the slamming of the door and briefly glanced that way, wanting to call Nick back. He would help her through this, she knew he would. He would do anything she asked of him. But that would be using him. She wouldn’t be like that.

The instant Joanie had seen her mother and realized she was pawing through GiGi’s possessions, she had a very good idea why she was there. GiGi had died and now Grace was looking for something. Money? Something of value she could pawn?

No doubt she was looking to score some cash, because Grace
was
the type who used people.

Memories had bombarded Joanie over the last few minutes. Arguments Grace had with GiGi, always making excuses to take money from
her, calling her names. Hurting her. Grace Bigbee was not a nice person, and if people didn’t give her what she wanted, she hurt them.

In a way, Joanie had done the same to GiGi after Grace had left. Both of them had been hurt. Both of them losing someone who was supposed to care. And what had Joanie done?

She’d acted just like her mother. Hurting her grandmother. Pushing her away. Staying out all hours of the night just to annoy her. She
had
been just like her mother.

No wonder hers and GiGi’s relationship had plummeted.

She pushed the thoughts from her mind. “What are you doing here, Grace?”

“You’re going to try to distance us by refusing to call me Mom?” Her mother’s smile was a sneer. “I’ll still be your mother. And Georgia’s next-of-kin.”

Yep, she wanted something. And then Joanie’s brain replayed the snippet of conversation she’d heard before she’d come in.

It’s worth plenty of money.

Then we’ll go wherever you want.

Joanie’s breathing became shallow as two things registered at once. Grace wanted the house, and she was still doing exactly what she’d always done. Anything to win over the man. Going wherever he wanted.

Just as Joanie had decided to do earlier tonight. She was willing to give up her life to move to Nashville with Nick?

A sour taste settled in her mouth that she couldn’t seem to force down.

“How did you find out she’d passed away?” Joanie asked with caution, having no doubt that was why Grace was back.

Grace snorted, then laughed in a very unfunny manner. “I’ve kept tabs on you for years. It may not be much, but that house of hers is paid for.”

“You’re coming back to Sugar Springs?” Joanie knew she wasn’t. She just thought she could grab the house out from under her.

“I wouldn’t live in this flea-infested place again if it were the last place on earth. But I am her daughter. And there’s been no mention of a will. The house belongs to me.”

Why Joanie had never even considered that, she had no idea, but the fact that she was trying to sell a house that didn’t belong to her, while having taken out two major loans to remodel it, made her stomach roll over. Her mother was going to sweep in and get the proceeds from the sale, and Joanie was going to be left holding the bills.

Because she hadn’t heard anything about a will either. Hadn’t even thought about one.

“Probably didn’t intend to look me up and see that it got to its rightful owner, were you?” Grace asked. “Of course, I do appreciate you fixing it up. That’ll bring in a pretty penny.”

“Are you kidding me?” Anger suddenly fueled Joanie’s words. “Why would I look you up? Ever? You left. You chose Bill.”

A confused look passed over her mother’s face. “Who?”

“Bill,” Joanie snapped out. “The man you were dating when you left with him. Without me.”

“Oh… Bill.” The confusion cleared and her mother waved a hand in front of her face as if the memory were nothing more than a gnat. “I haven’t thought of him in years.”

The words were like a punch to Joanie’s kidneys. He had meant no more to her than any of the others. “So you lost him, too?”

Of course she had. She couldn’t keep a man.

No Bigbee could.

Nick’s house came to mind, and her visions of the two of them living there together, as husband and wife.

No Bigbee could keep a man
.

And she was about to do the exact same thing her mother was
still
doing.

Had she lost her mind?

The women in his neighborhood would run her out the instant they saw her cupcake van.

“You’re despicable,” Joanie spit out. Hating herself as much as Grace.

A hand swung out and slapped Joanie across the face so fast she didn’t have time to keep it from happening. She jerked back, tripping and falling over a pillow on the floor, and stared up at her mother, shocked.

The woman had been gone for twenty years, and she came back thinking it was okay to hit her?

“Get out of my house,
Mom
.”

“I will not leave until I get what I came for.”

Joanie saw the police baton that Nick had left and picked it up. She rose to stand, facing her mother. “Get out, or I’ll remove you.”

Cold, dead eyes, so very much like her own, stared back at her. “That house is mine,” she spit out.

“It very well may be, but you aren’t going to come into
my
house and lay your hands on me. Get out and we’ll deal with each other through a lawyer on Monday.”

Grace stared at her a few seconds longer, then kicked at some papers on the floor. She slammed the door behind her as she left, leaving Joanie standing frozen in the middle of the room.

The woman had left on her thirteenth birthday, then returned twenty years later to the day. And all she’d had to say to her was “give me the house”? Not to mention the slap on the face.

The shock began to wear off and Joanie noticed her hands shaking. She dropped the baton and crumpled to the floor, unable to stop the flow of tears. A knock sounded at the door a second before it slowly began opening. Joanie grabbed the baton and jumped to her feet, assuming it was her mother.

“I swear I’ll beat you to within an inch of your life if you step foot back in my house tonight.” She hadn’t known she’d had such anger toward her mother, but it felt pretty darn good letting it out.

The door swung wide and Lee Ann stood there, dark hair sticking out in all directions and a lightweight jacket thrown on over her pajamas. She peeked in, wide-eyed, and looked around.

“She’s gone?” Lee Ann asked.

Joanie collapsed to the floor. “She’s gone.”

“Oh, honey.” Lee Ann hurried into the house, closing and locking the door behind her, then lowered to her knees and wrapped Joanie in her arms. “Nick stopped by and told me.”

Of course he had.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

“I—” Her words were cut off by loud, racking sobs. When had she become such a crier? Lee Ann held her tighter and they sat in the middle of Joanie’s living room, both of them crying and hugging until all the tears were gone.

Finally, Joanie looked up, her face puffy, and confessed, “I had no idea I hated her so much.”

Nick checked the display of his phone to make sure he hadn’t missed a call or text. When he returned the phone to his belt, Cody chuckled from the driver’s seat of his SUV.

“What’s that make?” Cody asked. “Fifteen times since we hit the outskirts of Atlanta?”

“Fifteen times for what?”

“You sap.” Cody shook his head. “Fifteen times you’ve checked your phone, you loser. What’s the matter? You can’t be away from her for one day without crying?”

Nick shot his brother a glare. They’d headed out early that morning, but Nick had yet to hear from Joanie about what had happened after he’d left her place last night.

“I don’t cry, you asshole. I’m just worried about her. What did Lee Ann say after she went over there last night?” He hadn’t wanted to ask Cody, preferring to hear it from Joanie instead, but he had to know.

Cody let go of the teasing and glanced Nick’s way. “Said Joanie had a police baton in her hand when she got there, ready to smash her mother’s skull in if she came back.”