The Shop on Main(11)
“Let me repeat myself. Slowly, since you didn’t understand the first time. I do not need anything from that man.”
“Okay, consider it from your brother then.”
“No.”
“Jake, why are you being so stubborn? I can do this for you. For your mother.”
Jake paused a moment at the mention of his mother. “No, I don’t think she wants his money either. She asked for help at one time, when she found out she was pregnant. He refused and claimed I wasn’t his. But, considering the man was the first person my mother ever slept with, I’m his. Not that I like to know about my mother’s lovers. But I do know that one fact.”
“My father was wrong. He was wrong about so many things. He was a cold-hearted jerk.”
Owen sometimes thought that Jake had gotten the better deal out of life. Look at him with his big, rowdy, loving family. That was something money couldn’t buy, though he was sure their father could have made Jake and his mother’s lives so much easier. But Owen was sure that his father considered Jake a mistake… and his father never made mistakes. He just reinvented history and molded it to shape how he wanted it to be.
“My father and mother were… very different from your family. I had a constant string of nannies growing up. My parents were always away somewhere. I was plopped into boarding schools and summer camps.”
“So you want me to feel sorry for you now?” Jake leaned back in his chair.
“No. Not at all. I’m sorry my father didn’t acknowledge you, but then he barely acknowledged me. You obviously come from a big loving family.”
“And I wouldn’t trade them for all the money in the world.”
“I don’t blame you.”
“But it still doesn’t make it right, what your father did. My mother has struggled everyday of her life to put food on the table and clothes on my back. Her family helped where they could, but none of them had much to spare.”
“I’m sorry you had to live like that.”
“I swear, Owen. You are clueless. Don’t feel sorry for me. I had a rich life in other ways. But your dad could have made it easier on my mother. I’m just stating that fact.”
“He could have. But he didn’t. Now I’m trying to make that right.” Owen leaned forward. “By the way, he’s our father, not my father.”
“The man is nothing to me.” Jake pushed back from the table, his meal uneaten. “I don’t want anything from him, or from you.”
Owen watched as his brother stalked out of the diner. Now he wasn’t sure if he should proceed with his plans or not. He’d had such high hopes when he had found out about Jake. Unrealistic dreams that they’d become friends. That he’d finally have a chance at the family he’d always wanted.
He pushed back from the table, no longer hungry. He could be just as stubborn as Jake. He was going to go ahead with his plans. Jake would just have to adapt. He’d talk directly to Jake’s mother. Maybe she’d be more reasonable.
CHAPTER FOUR
Bella clicked the transfer icon on her online banking screen with a flourish of pride. The money she’d finally been able to save from profits of her shop this month transferred from her checking account to her savings account. That was twice now she’d saved money. She smiled at the increased balance in savings. She was really making this happen. Her store, Bella’s Vintage Shop, was not only supporting the boys and her, but was generating enough to put some cash away. She gave herself a mental high-five. Soon she’d have enough in savings to start to feel safe. For the first time in her life she’d provided her own financial security. Her life was finally sorting itself out.
She looked across from the end of the counter where she kept her laptop, to the row of windows across the front of the shop. The spring sunshine streamed through the windows and spilled across the old wooden plank floor and brick walls. She loved this old building.
It had been a few long years to get to this point, but she was so proud of herself. She’d proven her decision to open the shop had been a good one, in spite of all the people telling her it wouldn’t work out. Well, one person in particular, but she didn’t have to listen to his opinions anymore.
The bell over the door to the shop jangled, announcing a customer. She looked up from her work to see Mr. Potter, her landlord, enter the store.
“Mr. Potter. Good to see you.” She rose from behind the counter, and came out to meet him.
Mr. Potter had been a great landlord. He’d given her a fair rental price and she’d been grateful to him for letting her rent the building without putting down the first and last month’s rent as a deposit.