Amy believed every threat falling from his lips and then some.
It took every ounce of strength and self-control she had to sit there and not curl up into a ball or find the nearest room to hide in. Her hands were clenched into fists to keep the shaking at bay.
“Enough,” Kate interrupted coldly. She rose to her feet and met Eric’s gaze head-on. “Mr. Taylor, if you want this to go to court, we are happy to oblige, but I will not sit here and allow you to continue to verbally attack my client in this manner. Security is already on the way up, so unless you want headlines in the paper about how you were escorted out, I’d suggest you leave the conference room.Now.”
Eric’s mouth fell open, and he stared at Kate as if she’d grown three heads.
Reluctantly, he allowed himself to be led out of the conference room, hands balled into fists the entire time. Amy stood in time to see Tyler drag Eric into the elevator, eyebrows pinched together. Eric was still bristling when he looked up, and their eyes met.
Amy froze and couldn’t look away.
She kept seeing flashes of their lives together, the endless slew of parties, where Eric kept her close to put her in her place, and all of the mornings after when he’d replay every wrong thing she’d done and how she’d embarrassed him.
Amy felt like she was reliving it all until the elevator doors pinged shut.
Amy blinked, heart sputtering uneasily, and placed a hand over her chest. She straightened her back when she saw Sylvie rounding the corner in five-inch black heels and a knee-length patterned dress with a blazer on top. A few wisps of hair escaped from Sylvie’s tight bun as she made a beeline for the conference room and pushed the door open. Kate pretended to flip through the folder as Amy stepped forward and nearly fell into her daughter’s arms.
Sylvie’s arms came up around her mother, and she gave her an awkward pat. “I hope it’s okay that I just showed up. June and Beth are visiting, and they wanted me to invite you to lunch.”
Amy drew back and adjusted the strap of her purse. She blinked back the tears and ignored the fluttering in her chest. “Yeah, I’d love to.”
“I’ll call you later to touch base,” Kate said on her way past.
She offered them both a polite smile on her way out of the conference room.
In a daze, Amy followed Sylvie out of the room and into the elevator. She snuck glances at her daughter the entire way, but Sylvie was on her phone. Once they pushed their way through the revolving glass doors, Amy immediately spotted Sylvie’s cherry-red Volvo parked next to the curb.
As soon as she pulled the passenger door shut behind her, Amy twisted to face her daughter. “This is a wonderful surprise, sweetheart. I hope this means you’re ready to talk about what happened the last time we saw each other.”
Sylvie twisted the key in the engine and exhaled. “I’m not ready to talk about it yet, but I thought lunch was a good place for us to start.”
Amy’s stomach dipped as disappointment, hard and heavy, settled in the center of her stomach “Of course. I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk.”
The world outside rushed past in a blur of shapes and colors.
A few blocks away, Sylvie pulled up into an empty parking spot outside a cluster of metal buildings. Together, the two of them crossed the street, and Amy’s heart lifted when she saw her granddaughters, June and Beth, through the glass window. Dressed similarly in knee-length dresses and sweaters, the two of them waved them over.
Amy was ready to put the entire day behind her as the waiter led them to the table in the back with the checkered tablecloth, mood music playing in the background.
June and Beth pulled Amy in for a hug, and the three of them lingered until Sylvie cleared her throat.
Reluctantly, she drew away from them and gave them each a bright smile. “You both look wonderful. It’s been too long since I’ve seen you.”
“Grandma, you look amazing,” June gushed, her green eyes lighting up. “Have you done something different to your hair?”
Amy blushed and touched a hand to it. “Just a little cut. I’ve also been trying out yoga.”
“Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it,” Beth added with a bright smile. “It really suits you.”
“Grandma’s been looking up online courses too,” Sylvie added without looking up from her menu. “And I think you’ve done a few pottery classes.”
Amy leaned back against her chair and nodded. “It’s true, but I’m terrible at a lot of things. It’s okay though, because I’ve been trying all of these new things. I wish I had my laptop to show you what I’ve been working on.”
Now that they were all together, after weeks of missing them, Amy wanted to show off everything she’d done.
A smaller part of her wanted to prove, as much to herself as to her family, that leaving Eric hadn’t been a mistake after all.
She was making something of herself, and if it took a while for everyone else to realize that, she was okay with waiting.
