Southern Storm ( The Southern Series Book 3) (Souther Series)

by Natasha Madison

  “Because I’m your mother,” she huffs out, and I want to laugh. She is more like the annoying big sister. There was nothing motherly about my relationship with her.

  “And what were you going to do?” I say.

  “Do you know how embarrassing it is to find out news from Mary Ellen?” She blows out again. I sit on the bed and close my eyes. “That my own flesh and blood didn’t tell me but—”

  “I get it, Mother,” I say. “I should have called you for you to do nothing and then to tell me that you told me so.”

  “I wouldn’t have said that,” she huffs out. “I also heard about the party.”

  I close my eyes. Of course, she did. “Shocking,” I say sarcastically. “Who filled you in on that, Mother? Couldn’t have been Mary Ellen.” I know that whoever was in that room at the party would not have called my mother. “So when did he call you?”

  “I saw him yesterday,” she says, and my stomach sinks. “He was in the area.”

  “I bet,” I mumble. He was in the area a lot when we were living in a tiny trailer on the other side of the town, too.

  Of course he would sneak over at night and then leave before the sun came up. I remember the first time I caught him walking out of my mother’s room with his shirt over his arm and carrying his shoes. He looked at me and sneered and then turned back to look at my mother who was walking out in her purple satin kimono tied lightly around her waist and her hair all disheveled. She nodded at him, and he walked out, then she took one look at me and said that what happened in our house was private and to keep it as such. I was nine. I didn’t understand it then, and when I was twelve, I asked her if she even liked Mary Ellen. She gasped and said that she was her best friend. When I asked how she could do this to her, all she said was, “Everyone has needs, Savannah.”

  “It doesn’t matter that he was here. What matters is that you make sure it doesn’t get out to anyone else,” she hisses out now. “You signed that paper. Don’t forget,” she reminds me.

  “Oh, I know, Mother. I remember signing it. I also remember you assuring him that I wouldn’t tell a soul,” I finally snap. “I also remember when he forced you to move, thinking that I would go with you.”

  “He didn’t force me, Savannah,” she says, blowing out again. “I decided that it would be a good time to start over.” I shake my head.

  “I guess it helps that he pays for your apartment now, and that you don’t have to work anymore,” I remind her. “That helped you decide for sure.”

  “I worked my whole life!” she shouts. “You think it was easy what I did? I had no choice. I was a mother.”

  I snap, “A mother?” I shake my head. “Clearly, I am remembering it very different.”

  “Of course you are,” she sneers, and I can see her rolling her eyes. “I did the best that I could.”

  “You did the bare minimum, Mother. If that.” I close my eyes, feeling like a bitch for telling her how shitty she was. “You never once read to me or did homework with me. You barely knew what grade I was in.”

  “Oh, please. I kept a roof over your head and food in the fridge.” I laugh at that. “I did the best I could with what I had.”

  “No,” I finally say. “You did what you needed to do to keep up the appearances for the town.”

  “Why, you ungrateful bitch,” she says, and I laugh.

  “And that’s the end of that,” I say. “Listen, you tell that horrible excuse of a man that if he or his son is behind the shit that is happening to me, then I’m going to tell the whole fucking town my secret.” That’s a lie because there is no way I would do that to Ethan and Jacob. “Tell him that if I find out they were responsible for any of it, I’m going to stand in the middle of town square and sing like a fucking canary.”

  “I would not advise you to do that.” My mother’s voice goes low.

  “Of course you wouldn’t, Mother. You’ve never advised me to do anything besides spread my legs and keep my mouth shut.” I hang up when she gasps out, and I rub the tears away. I don’t know why I expected it to be different. I don’t know why I thought for once she would be on my side. I keep hoping that one of these days she’ll stick up for me, but I know deep down in my gut that it will never happen.

  Beau: We were just invited over to Casey’s house for a barbecue. Be ready in five.

  I want to tell him that I don’t want to go. I want to tell him that I shouldn’t go, but he doesn’t give me a choice

  Beau: If you aren’t ready and are coming up with excuses, I’ll just tell you now that I’ll toss you over my shoulder.

  “Great,” I say to myself. “Just freaking great.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Beau

  “Hello,” I answer the phone as soon as it rings.

  “Mr. Mayor.” Casey laughs out loud, making fun of me, and the only thing I can do is moan.

  “What do you want now?” I ask. “I told you that I’m not doing anymore real estate shit for you.”

  “That isn’t why I’m calling. I was calling to invite you over tonight for a barbecue.”

  “Really?” I ask him. “What’s the occasion?”

  “It’s just a little get-together,” he says. “Now that Olivia has decided to stay, I wanted to get all my favorite people together.”

  “Look at you.” I joke with him now, chuckling a little bit. “Being all in a relationship.”

  “I know.” He lets out a deep breath. “Never thought I would see the day, but when you meet the one.”

  “Shit, are you telling me that you are hanging up the bachelor title?” I ask.

  “There is no one else that I want to be with,” he says. “So I’m trying to do what I can to make her fall in love with this place and never want to leave.” Olivia is all city girl whereas Casey is as country as you get. But the two of them together just fit. I’m happy for him. He’s gone through a lot.

  “Well, count me in,” I say, pulling up to the mayor’s house.

  “You can check with Savannah and see if she wants to come. Jacob and Kallie will be bringing Ethan, who are feeling okay now.”

  “Yeah, I’ll tell her. Now that the bar is closed, she has the time.”

  “I heard about that.” He blows out. “Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Will do.” I get out of the car. “See you tonight.” I hang up at the exact moment that I open the door, and I’m greeted by a huge smile from Bonnie. Here I go, I think to myself.

  “Morning,” she says, walking around her desk and handing me a coffee cup. I grab it from her. “You have your schedule on your desk,” she tells me as she follows me into the office. “Your first meeting starts in ten.”

  “Thank you.” I toss my keys on the desk and look over the schedule. “Busy day with meetings.”

  “It sure is. It’s a good time for everyone to meet you and for you to fill them in on how you’ll be running things.”

  I nod at her and sit down. “Thank you, Bonnie.” She nods and walks out, closing the door behind her. The only thing I do before I start the meeting is text Savannah about the plans tonight.

  The day flies by the time I get up and walk out of the third meeting of the day with everyone else who attended the meeting. When I shake the head guy’s hand, I have to think about his name, and when I can’t come up with it, I just smile. “Let me know if you need me for anything.” He nods, and I turn to walk to Bonnie. “Any messages?”

  She smiles at me. “No, but your mom did call and told you that she expects you for dinner tonight.”

  “Yeah,” I say, shaking my head. “That’s not going to happen,” I mumble while I walk into my new office. I sit behind the desk, leaving the door open. Taking out the budget folder that I was looking at in the meeting, I see a couple of things that I didn’t understand. The logical thing would be to ask my father, but I’d rather eat nails. I’m looking at the numbers when I hear a knock and look up, seeing Jacob.

  “You’re back?” I lean back in the
chair, and he nods, coming in and closing the door behind him. He sits in one of the chairs in front of the desk and leans his head back and groans.

  “I didn’t think I would make it,” he mumbles. “By the time we got to the house, they were both puking out the windows.”

  “Yuck,” I say, shaking my head. “Where are they now?”

  “I dropped Kallie and Ethan at her parents’ house,” he says, and I nod my head. I don’t acknowledge the way my stomach flipped at the thought of them in my house. I grab my phone and send Savannah a text, asking her if she wants me to bring her lunch instead of meeting me. “Grady told me about your car.” I toss my phone down and nod. “You think it’s the same person as Savannah?”

  “Doubt it,” I admit finally. “My guess is it’s my brother.” He just looks at me. “Do you think my brother also did that shit to Savannah?” I ask, my stomach sinking. “You really think he’s that much of a prick?” I ask, and his face says it all. “Fuck.”

  “Anyway,” he says. I watch him, and I know he’s nervous about something, but I can’t imagine what it is. “The reason I wanted to meet with you is to go over the mayor’s role.” I cross my arms over my chest and listen to him. “It’s no surprise that you are not your father,” he starts. “And he had his own way of doing things.” He looks me in the eye when he says the next part. “Not ethical either.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?” I ask, not sure I want the answers.

  “It means he did things his way, and you either were with him or you weren’t. And if you weren’t, it sucked for you because you wouldn’t get anything.” He comes right out and says what I was thinking. “He was always the one cashing in on favors.”

  “I called Tony while I was at the bar,” I say. “He said my father made it clear that she was off-limits. He thought it would lose the contract.”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time,” he tells me, and I just look at him. “Let’s just say it’s good to have a good guy sitting behind that desk.”

  “What else am I missing?” I ask, and he takes a deep inhale.

  “Your father was not a liked man,” he says. “He did things shady as fuck, but he made sure he covered his tracks.”

  I shake my head and hang my head. “This is the man I wanted to look up to and be like,” I say.

  “You surpassed him a long time ago,” he tells me. “That said, we are on the same page, and we both want what is best for the town.”

  “I agree,” I say, and he gets up. “Now if you will excuse me, I’m going home to shower and then get my girl.” He stops halfway to the door. “You going to keep Savannah with you?”

  “Yeah,” I say.

  “You going to tell her that you love her anytime this decade?” he asks, and I shake my head.

  “I don’t want to ruin what we have,” I say. He puts his hands on his hips, and I raise my hands. “I know, I know, but …” I shake my head. “I will take her any way I can, and if it’s only through friendship, then that is what I’m going to do.”

  “She might need you more than just a friend,” he says as he walks out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

  I rub my hand on my face, and I’m about to call her when there is another knock on the door. This time, it opens just a bit, and my mother sticks her head in. “Knock, knock, knock,” she says with a smile as she enters. I get up to greet her. Of course she is dressed perfectly in a skirt and a matching top with a sweater tied at the neck. Her pearls hang perfectly around her neck. Her blond hair curled to perfect and even her makeup is perfect. That is my mother, perfect all the time. “There he is. My son, the mayor.”

  She comes over and hugs me. “So nice of you to come out,” I say, and she nods at me. “Come sit down.” I point at the couch. “Bonnie, can you get us something to drink, please?” I ask. Bonnie gets up, smiling.

  “You look tired,” my mother says when I walk back to the couch. “I heard about Savannah.”

  “Yeah,” I say, sitting down.

  “It’s terrible,” she says, putting her hand crossed in front of her while she folds her legs to the side. “Your father told me this morning when he got back home.”

  “Back home?” I ask her. “Where did he go?”

  “He had some sort of meeting somewhere.” She brushes it off. “A business venture. Now that he’s not mayor, he needs something to keep him busy.” Bonnie comes in with a tray of tea before I can answer.

  “Thank you, dear.” My mother smiles at her. “My favorite cranberry tea.”

  “I stock it up just for you,” Bonnie says and walks out of the room.

  “She’s nice,” my mother says, looking at me. “I said I wasn’t going to say anything.” My mother pours herself some water in the cup. “But now that you’re mayor, it’s time for you to start planting roots.”

  I close my eyes. “Are you saying that I need to have a kid?”

  “I didn’t say that exactly,” she says, putting her cup down delicately. “I’m saying that now that you’re mayor, you need a wife and then a child.” My mother is the most traditional woman I’ve ever met. Church every Sunday and cooks every meal for my father. She waits on him hand and foot and never talks back to him.

  “I think I’m okay, Mom,” I say.

  “Your brother,” she says, shaking her head. “He isn’t even close to giving me a grandchild.” I swallow now, not saying a word. “I think they are having problems.”

  “Well, he probably should lay off the booze a bit more,” I say, and she just looks at me.

  “He’s under a lot of stress.” My mother’s making excuses for him, and I have to shake my head. She was very good with that when we were growing up. She made an excuse about everything when it came to my brother and father. I was the only one who took it like a man and admitted when I was wrong. She called me the wild child for doing this.

  “He is barely working,” I remind my mother.

  “He consults on a lot of stuff,” my mother says, and I laugh. “It’s not funny, Beau. You should think about hiring him to help out here.”

  “Doing what?” I ask. “Drinking?”

  “You know what I mean. He can help take some pressure off your shoulders.”

  “Mom, having him here would put even more on my shoulders.” I try to let her down quietly and with as much respect as I can. When, in fact, I want to tell her that he can find a rock and hide under it for all I care.

  “Anyway.” She changes the subject. “I’m making a huge dinner tonight,” she tells me. “I’ve invited a couple of friends and their eligible daughters to come over.”

  “Mom …” I shake my head. “Not going to happen. Besides, I have a barbecue at Casey’s with Savannah and Ethan.”

  “Honey.” She picks up her cup and puts it to her lips. “I know that Savannah is like a sister to you and all that.” I cringe when she says that because the things I want to do to Savannah are nothing that you should do to your sister. “But this is a chance for you to meet eligible women to date and get to know.”

  “Again,” I say, “I’m not interested in any of them. I know most of them, and I’m happy the way I am. I don’t have a lot of time to donate to a relationship right now.”

  “Love isn’t going to knock on your door, Beau,” she says, shaking her head. “You have to put yourself out there.”

  “I’ll think about it,” I say, knowing it’s the only thing I can say to make her stop bugging me. “Now, what are your plans for the weekend?”

  “Well,” she starts, “I was hoping that your father would take me to the beach, but he has another thing that he has to attend this weekend. So I’m going to go to the beach with a couple of the women from my bridge club.”

  I look back at my mother. “I’m sorry, Mom, but I have a meeting to get to.”

  She gets up, making sure her skirt is perfect and not wrinkled. “Of course, dear.” She smiles and then leans up to kiss my cheek. “Think about tonight for me.” I don’t bother tellin
g her that it is never going to happen. The only thing I do is grab my keys and make my way over to pick up Savannah.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Savannah

  I have changed my outfit no less than fifteen times. I switch out the jeans for shorts and then think that’s too much. Going back over and over again, I finally settle on black jeans and a pink crochet top that falls off the shoulder. I think about changing it when the front door opens, and I hear Beau.

  “I’m here!” he shouts.

  “I’m in the guest bedroom!” I shout back and then look at myself again. He fills the doorway a couple of minutes later, and I look at him. “Is this too much?”

  He looks me up and down, giving me a chance to finally see that he’s wearing blue pants with a white button-down linen top, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows showing off his tanned arms and his watch. “You look beautiful.” He smiles, and my stomach flutters. I wonder if there will ever be a day when he doesn’t make me feel like a love-sick teenager waiting for my crush to finally see me.

  I look down at my outfit again. “Not too much skin?” I point at the shoulder that is showing.

  “No.” He shakes his head. “Stop overthinking it.”

  “Easy for you to say.” I shake out my hands, walking over to put on my wedges. “This is.” I look at him, there was a time when the Barnes’ family hated me, heck, there are probably a couple of them who still do. I sit on my bed, trying to still my heart. The whole day has made me a nervous wreck. “I broke five glasses today.”

  I look at him, and he comes to sit next to me. “If you don’t want to go, we don’t have to.”

  I shake my head. “Casey is one of your best friends. I wouldn’t do that to you.” He puts his arm around my shoulders and brings me closer to him, which just makes my heart speed up. The smell of his musk makes me want to just put my head down on his shoulder. “I mean, unless you’ll go without me.”

  “Nope,” he says, his thumb rubbing my arm. “Besides, what am I going to tell Ethan when he asks where you are?”