Saying Yes to the Boss

“What? Why? I thought you wanted me to continue getting information for you.”

“No. It isn’t worth it. I don’t want you anywhere near him. I don’t want to be anywhere near him, either. I just can’t believe this.” Carson dropped down onto the weight bench and shook his head. “I never should’ve dug through my mother’s things. I was better off not knowing the truth.”

“You can’t go back and change the past. All you can do is make the most of what’s done.”

Carson made an annoyed hrmph sound and slung the towel around his neck as he stood up. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not talk about this anymore. It will ruin the whole evening.” He walked up to Georgia and gave her a kiss as he wrapped his arms around her waist. “What’s going on with you? You said you were going to be with your mom tonight.”

Georgia’s gaze dropped to his bare chest as she nodded. “Yeah, that was the plan. But when I got home from work, I found that my mom is gone.”

Carson’s brow furrowed into a frown. “You mean she left early?”

“You could say that. You could also say that while I was at work, she robbed me to buy drugs and ran off.”

* * *

Carson eased back so he could look her in the eye. Certainly he hadn’t heard her right. “What?”

Georgia just shook her head as he pulled her tightly into his arms. “You were right all along,” she said as she started to sob against his bare skin. “I thought she really wanted to be a part of my life, but she was just using me. I feel so stupid for falling for this.”

Carson stroked her hair as he held her close. “I’m sorry, Georgia. I didn’t want to be right. I’d hoped I was wrong. Are you sure that she wasn’t just out somewhere? Maybe she went to another AA meeting?”

“Yes, I’m sure. There was no need for her to take my iPad, emergency cash and all my jewelry for an AA meeting. She destroyed my bedroom looking for stuff she could sell. She’s not coming back. And if she did, I’d turn her away.”

All Carson could do was hold her. He couldn’t make her mother a better person or erase what she’d done to her daughter. He could only be here for her now.

Georgia finally pulled away, rubbing the tears away from her cheeks and creating black streaks of mascara across her pale skin. “I’m sorry to just fall apart like that. Excuse me for a minute. I’ve cried all my mascara off. I’m going to run to the restroom and clean up a bit.”

Carson nodded. “Okay. How about I pour us some wine and order a pizza? I think we both need a little alcohol and cheese tonight.”

“That sounds great. Thanks.”

He watched her disappear down the hallway to the powder room. Then he went to the kitchen to open some wine and dig out the pizza-delivery flyer. Georgia’s giant purse was sitting on the stack of papers he needed to search through. Since the day she’d interviewed, he’d been curious about what she had in that thing. His life fit in a wallet. What could she possibly need to carry around with her all the time?

When he lifted the straps to move the bag aside, curiosity got the best of him, and he leaned forward to peek at what she kept in there. It was hard to make out much, but he did see a white envelope with his name written on it. He knew he shouldn’t do it, but he reached inside and pulled it out. When he opened the envelope, he found a check inside from Sutton. For twenty million dollars. It was made out to the Cynthia Newport Memorial Hospital for Children fund. Carson almost couldn’t believe what he was looking at.

“What kind of pizz—?” Georgia stopped when she saw what was in his hand. “Did you snoop in my bag?”

“I picked it up to move it and saw this envelope with my name on it. What the hell is this about?”

“It’s a check for the hospital,” she said, snatching her purse from his hands. “I told you that Sutton was going to make a donation.”

Carson scanned the check again and shook his head. Why had he given so much? And how long had she been holding on to it? “When did Sutton give you this check?”

Georgia frowned and her gaze dropped from his to the check in his hands. “This afternoon.”

“Wait…you saw Sutton today? After he stood us all up for our meeting?”

She nodded. “He asked me to come out to his home to pick it up.”

“And you didn’t think to mention that to me b

efore? You were supposed to tell me when you were going to see him. Going to his house isn’t very safe, Georgia.”

“You weren’t around to tell. Anyway, I was going to give you that as soon as I saw you next, but I completely forgot about it with everything that happened with my mother. So here you go. He asked me to give that to you.”

He wouldn’t even meet his own son face-to-face, but he’d asked Georgia to come all the way out to his mansion just to give her a check? Something didn’t seem right with any of this. “What did you guys talk about?”

“You, mostly.”