The Return of the Bad boy

Chapter 18: Summer

I found Mom holed up in her office again. She didn't permit me to come in. I took it upon myself to skip over to her desk.

"What are you working on?" I asked, peering over her shoulder.

Mom closed out the screen, placing her phone down on the face.

That wasn't suspicious at all.

She swiveled in her chair. "Since when are you so interested in my work?" Her tone was stern, and the lines on her forehead crinkled before she relaxed her face.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I was just asking to ask." Actually, I was digging for dirt and praying I didn't find myself in a hole that I couldn't get out of.

Mom adjusted her glasses, looking me up and down. "I think you should change."

Nothing was wrong with what I was wearing. Mom preferred me in dresses and skirts like a proper young lady. You might catch me on a good day wearing one of those, but most of the time, it was simple things like jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt. I was all about comfort above all else.

That was what Mom got for trying to raise a girly girl. She wanted a ballerina or gymnast, but her daughter turned out more like her father, interested in documentaries, history, and unsolved mysteries. Dad had always encouraged whatever hobbies and interests I had. And Mom used to scold him for trying to make me into what she thought was a tomboy. She said it as if it was a bad thing. Dad used to laugh it off, and I loved knowing that he had my back.

"Nope. I don't have the time. And I don't want to be late. Rosie is picking me up today."

Mom turned away from me to start up her laptop.

I didn't know if that was supposed to be her way of saying that the conversation was over, but I wasn't finished here yet. "You're working from home today?" I asked.

"No. I have to head into the office an hour or so, but I wanted to check my emails before I get ready." She glanced at me from over her shoulder. "Is there something you need to say, or did you wake up and decide it would be a good day to annoy your mother."

Whoa, okay. Someone woke on the wrong side of the bed.

I didn't think I was annoying, but I didn't usually spend this much time in her office either. She didn't make it very welcoming, and sometimes, I would knock, and she would run to answer it, standing by the door without fully letting me in.

Why did an assistant act as if she worked for the CIA?

My eyes went to the photos on her desk. One family photo was with her, the mayor, and his wife Mabel at the Christmas party last year.

Mom has been at his office for about two years or more. She had started working there a little after dad passed away. Out of all the jobs Mom had applied for, the mayor was the only one to call her back and bring her in here for an interview. It was hard getting back on her two feet after being a stay-at-home mom for nearly a decade, but the mayor saw potential in her and gave her a shot.

Without this job, I didn't know what we would have done otherwise, so I had been grateful. I've met the mayor's family a few times during a couple of events, and they had me thinking that they were this smart, put-together family. But with the way everything went down with Cam and how Jason's been acting. I believed there was something they were hiding.

The most beloved man in town could be posing as an angel, but not all angels were good.

I wouldn't want to assume my mother was in on it, but how could I not? Didn't I have to look at the mayor's inner circle too?