Page 46 of The Master
“Aunt Matilda was an army nurse who became an RN after she retired from the military. She was the logical choice to care for Grammy after Pap passed.”
“And your other two aunts?”
“Aunt Thelma and her husband live in Montana. They have four kids, all grown, and with families of their own. Aunt Denise and her son moved to France after she caught her now-ex-husband cheating on her with the babysitter.”
It was hard for me to wrap my head around having a family that large, even if it was made up of great-aunts and second cousins or first cousins once removed or whatever the relation was.
“Have you told any of them about me?” The question popped out before I could think better of it.
“I have.” Finley smiled warmly at me. “In fact, I was planning to talk to you both about having a Fourth of July picnic with all of us together. Nate, your family would be welcome, and of course, Roberta is too.”
And just like that, the mention of my mother’s name brought everything crashing down again.
It must’ve shown on my face because Finley frowned. “Did I say something?”
Nate gave me a sideways glance, and I sighed. “Mom and I are…well, we’re having a disagreement. I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“That’s all right,” Finley said, the tension on his face melting away. “Whatever you need from me.”
I needed to change the subject, and I brought up the first thing that came to mind. “Did Flora drag you into this mess with Nate and me?”
“She didn’t.” Finley didn’t appear to be the least bit thrown by the question. “Probably because she’s never met me.”
I thought it more likely that Roma was smart enough to tell Flora that going after Finley too would damage their credibility. While Nate’s reputation made the women’s accusations more believable, Finley’s would do the opposite. He was known to be a fair and trustworthy person who would be believed on his word alone. There was also the fact that he was gay, and any talk of inappropriate sexual behavior toward women would immediately be discredited.
“Do you think one of them hired someone to write that letter?”
“What letter?”
I looked over at Nate, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes. “The obscene letter someone slipped under my door. I would’ve thought Nate showed it to you when he had people looking into it.”
Finley turned to Nate now too.
“The person I have trying to figure out who sent it isn’t connected to the label, so I didn’t think to share it.”
Something about Nate’s explanation didn’t sit right with me, and I suddenly remembered how uncomfortable he’d been when I asked him to tell me who he suspected. We’d been interrupted by Mom’s call, and after that, the letter had slipped my mind.
“Should we get the police involved?”
I was grateful Finley had directed the question to me instead of Nate. “I’d prefer not to unless absolutely necessary. The things that woman said–”
“A woman wrote it?”
Nate’s eyes dropped. “The handwriting looks that way.”
I stared at him. “You said you recognized it. The handwriting.”
He shifted in his seat, and Finley shot him a suspicious look. Nate was definitely hiding something.
Thirty-One
Nate
Shit.
I’d hoped that, with all of the stuff going on with Roberta, Ashlee would’ve forgotten about what I’d said about the letter. This wasn’t the time or place I wanted to have this conversation. Honestly, I didn’t want to have this conversation at all. She was already dealing with the consequences of my bad decisions. Isti Mollen could end up being the last straw.
One look at Ashlee’s face was enough to confirm that she wasn’t going to accept any excuses or delays. I had to tell her something. Since Finley already knew all of my secrets, he’d know if I skirted the whole truth, but considering what I wanted to leave out, I was guessing he wouldn’t call me out on it.
