“I didn’t do anything. I haven’t seen him in weeks.” The last time I spoke with Andy was in Hawaii.
“You fired him!”
What the fuck? “Of course I didn’t fire him. He quit.”
“Oh, is that how you’re playing it? You tell him either he quits or you fire him, then wait until he resigns because he can’t bear the humiliation?”
“I told him nothing of the sort. And as far as I know, there’s been no problem with his job performance. I don
’t know why he quit.”
“You know he needs more nurturing than most people!”
My jaw slackens. “And this is relevant because…?”
“You should’ve given it to him.”
The gall. “You’re his mother, not me.”
“Seriously? Is that what you tell yourself while you abuse my son?”
“Nobody’s abused him. He’s an adult now. He’s his own man.”
I thought the reminder that Andy’s an adult would help, but I miscalculated. Aunt Dorothy’s voice gains a crazed edge.
“He’s your cousin!”
“Which is why I gave him a chance.”
“You’re trying to ruin us! I should’ve made sure you were thrown in jail, then Dad wouldn’t have left you a penny. Just look just how you lord it over us like you’re somebody when all you’ve got is filthy money!”
My lips twist into a cynical line. She doesn’t think money’s so filthy when it’s in her husband’s war chest.
She continues, “You’re just trying to make Chuck look bad during an election year! He has big dreams for the country!”
I roll my eyes. It’s always back to her husband’s political career. “I don’t give a damn what Chuck does because I’m not voting for him. Nor do I give a damn about his big dreams for the country.” They most likely have something to do with raping everything he can to enrich himself and his buddies.
“You’re going to be sorry when Chuck’s in the White House!”
“Then I’m glad he never will be. A lobotomized lemming would make a better president.”
She screeches loudly, and I hang up.
Furious, I clench the phone. A deep growl starts in my chest, but I push it down. I’m not stooping to Aunt Dorothy’s level of ranting and screaming like a lunatic.
“Who was that?” Elizabeth asks only a few feet from me. Sand covers her bare feet, and she hugs herself. She hasn’t put on anything except some lip gloss earlier, and her pallor is stark.
“Nobody important.”
“Sounded like more than a simple HR crisis. I don’t think your HR people yell like that.”
“No. It was the mother of one of my former employees.”
“And you answer calls from your workers’ moms?” Elizabeth rubs her arms, then looks away.
Shit. Now I made it sound like Elizabeth isn’t important. “It was my aunt.”
“Aunt?”