December 19, Thursday

I TOOK a deep breath and dialed my mother's number. She answered on the first ring.

"Josephine, darling! I was just fucking thinking about you."

"Hi, Mom. How's the book tour?"

"Boring as shit. But listen..." She paused, and I heard the familiar clink of ice in a glass. "I've been thinking about what you said. About my books always being about difficult daughters."

"Mom, I'm sorry about that. I was upset and—"

"No, no, let me finish." She took an audible breath. "I'm going to give you the money. The whole five hundred thousand to pay off that dickless Curtis."

"Oh." I blinked back sudden tears. "That's... that's incredibly generous, Mom, but Curtis dropped his demands. He's not a problem anymore."

"Really? Well, thank fuck for that." She laughed softly. "But that's not really what I called about."

"No?"

"Those books I write, the ones about mothers and daughters..." Her voice caught slightly. "They're not about you, darling. They never were."

I sat down heavily in Rose's window seat. "What?"

"They're about me and my mother. Your grandmother." She sighed. "I was the disappointing daughter. The one who chose art over security, passion over propriety. The one who could never quite measure up."

A little bomb went off in my brain. "I didn't know."

"How could you? I never told you. Just like I've never properly told you..." Ice clinked again. "Bloody hell, this is harder than writing a sex scene."

I smiled despite the tears in my eyes. "Take your time."

"I've done a piss-poor job of telling you how proud I am of you. How much I love you." Her voice wavered. "You're nothing like me, thank God. You're brave and resilient and you write stories that make people happy. Even if they're not fucking War and Peace."

"Mom..."

"Let me finish, dammit. When all this mess with Curtis happened, I was so angry. Not at you – at myself. I should have protected you better. Should have told you more often how amazing you are."

Tears rolled down my cheeks. "I love you too, Mom."

"Well, good." She sniffled. "Because you're stuck with me. I was thinking after the tour I might come to visit you and stay for a while… if that would be okay."

I sniffed. "Yes, that would be okay."

"Well… okay then. We're okay?"

"Yes, Mom, we're okay."