Calamity Jena (Invertary 4)

He shook his head as he folded his arms over his yellow shirt and green tartan waistcoat. “Now go, Jena love. I’ll absorb the costs of your misadventures, but I’m keeping the betting going. It brings in business.”

She frowned at him, but she couldn’t very well argue the point. She’d seen the state of the bar—there was a lot of damaged furniture, and she had no money to repair, or replace, any of it.

“Fine, keep betting, but if you’re running a pool on my wedding, I want to put ten pounds on never.”

“No problem. I’ll get right on that.” Dougal walked away from her, still laughing and muttering about her making a fool’s bet.

Jena growled in his direction before stomping up the stairs to the hotel rooms above the pub. The stairs were carpeted in red tartan and the walls painted a deep green. It should have been gaudy, but it wasn’t. It was warm and expensive looking.

Jena knocked on her mother’s door and waited. She could hear her banging around inside. Her stomach clenched, her palms tingled and her heart raced—all over talking to her mom. She shook her head. If that didn’t say something about their relationship, she didn’t know what did.

The heavy wooden door swung open and her mother scowled at her. “Well, well, you decided to spend time with your mom. Took you long enough.”

Jena followed her into the room. It was lovely. Decorated in creams with a red tartan accent. Classy as well as comfortable.

Before Jena could say anything, her mom was off on a new tirade. “I can’t get a hold of Josh at all and Frank has disappeared off the face of the planet. He’s checked out, his room is empty and no one knows where he’s gone.” She faced Jena with her hands on the hips of her skinny jeans. Her white vest clung to her enhanced breasts. Her neck and wrists were decorated with copious amounts of silver and her eyes were outlined in her trademark black. “I hope you’re here to take me to the castle. I can’t stay in Scotland forever. I need to get this song to Josh and find out if he wants me to tour with him in the next few months. I have arrangements to make.”

When her mother took a breath, Jena jumped in. “Frank was arrested for trying to kidnap me. He’s been sent back to the States.”

Her mother blinked a couple of times before licking her lips. “I guess that means you’re it where Josh and Mitch are concerned. Let me get my jacket and you can take me to him. They won’t even let me past the gate to the castle.”

The news of the kidnapping had about as much impact on her mother as a speck of dust would have colliding with the moon. Her mother turned away to nab the black leather jacket that was lying on the bed. Jena put her hand on her mom’s arm to stop her. She looked irritated when she turned back to Jena. She tapped her toe impatiently on the thick cream-coloured carpet.

“What is it, Jena? I want to get out of here.”

Jena took a deep breath. “I didn’t come here to introduce you to Josh. I came to ask you to go home.”

Her mother sucked in a loud, dramatic breath. Her hand flattened against her chest. “You’re kicking me out of your town?”

Jena swallowed hard. “No. I’m asking you to leave. I’m not going to introduce you to Josh or Mitch. No one is. Dougal has been sending you off on a wild goose chase, making up Josh sightings to keep you out of the way. No one in this town wants you to hassle Josh or Mitch. They belong here. They’re protected here.”

“From crazy opportunists or fans. Not from serious musicians like me.” Her mother dismissed her with a wave and turned back to get her jacket.

“Mom.” Jena clenched her hands tight in front of her. “You fall into the crazy opportunist camp. You’ve come all this way to force Josh to listen to your songs. You’re hunting him down like a stalker, making deals with people to get to him. It’s not going to happen. You need to go home.”

Nastiness shone from her mother’s face. “What if I want to stay here to visit with my daughter?”

Jena shook her head. “Yeah, we both know you don’t want to visit with me. You’ve never visited me. I left home at sixteen and you’ve never come to see me, not once. I visit you. Usually in whatever club you’re singing in. I call you, you never call me—unless you want something.” She looked up at her mother. “Let’s stop pretending. You don’t want to be around me. I think you should go home.”

Her mother sneered. “Of course I don’t want to be around you. You’re a loser, Jena. If you didn’t have my eyes, I’d wonder where you came from. Look at you. You’ve wasted every opportunity you’ve been given, you’ve thrown away good men, let your career die and now you’re hiding in this backwater. And for what? A house that’s falling apart and a small-town cop. It’s pathetic.”

Jena stared at her mother for a moment. All the years she’d tried to earn her love flashed before her eyes. They were wasted years. It had been a wasted effort. This woman, her mother, didn’t love anyone but herself. In fact, Jena wasn’t even sure she could see anything outside of herself and her needs. Jena knew, without a doubt, she was all but invisible to the woman.

“Okay,” Jena said at last. “I’ve said what I came here to say. Don’t come round the house, Mom. You won’t be welcome.”

She left her mother standing with her mouth hanging open. She closed the door gently behind her and left the way she’d come in. Feeling both lighter and heavier at the same time. Deep in her heart she knew she’d never belonged to her mother. She’d never belonged anywhere. A smile started slowly until it was so wide she was grinning. She’d never belonged anywhere until now. Now she belonged in Invertary.

Matt was waiting for her outside the pub. He was leaning against his SUV, looking worn out.

“I just got back,” he said. “I dropped everyone at my mum’s house. The rest of the family were already there. I told them I had to come get you.”

Jena walked right into his arms without a second’s hesitation. “Let’s pick up some food on the way. People need to eat.”

Matt nodded, but he didn’t stop holding her. People passed them, calling their hellos. Matt didn’t respond. He just kept his arms wrapped around Jena, in the middle of the high street on a sunny Tuesday afternoon. And it felt perfect.

Grunt arrived at Claire’s family home exactly ten minutes after Claire had rung him asking him to come. He didn’t know why he was there. She still thought he was a criminal and a kidnapper. He couldn’t allow himself to hope that something had changed. That she was giving him a chance to prove how much he cared about her.

He ran a nervous hand over his head before he knocked on the front door of her mother’s house. It was a nice place, well kept. A typical example of the grey stone buildings that dotted the town—the windows were large, the ceilings high and the roofs tiled with slate. It looked like a good family home. A place where Claire would have been happy. He was pleased about that.