Sliding into Home - The Bradford Series Book Two

Chapter 25

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Chapter 25

Ash

Well, that wasn't what I expected to find. I'm not sure if I should be horrified or thrilled. I didn't think I would ever see Mom and Derrick get together, much less walk in on them getting busy. I had given up hope on them years ago. I thought Mom had too. Derrick had his life on the red carpet with the biggest spotlight on him. Mom was afraid to go anywhere near that. I still don't know why.

Ever since that first camp that I went to Mom and Derrick clicked. It's not like she didn't date before that. She did, no one clicked with her like Derrick did. I really thought they were going to work out, then one day Mom went to work at Bradford Engineering, before it turned into Bradford Drake, and when she came home everything changed.

She didn't enjoy her job like she used to. She avoided the family and only came around when she had to for business. It was weird. She pushed Derrick away and even he didn't understand why. She continued to work for Cade and he loves having her as his assistant. She allowed me to participate in the football camp every year but she stopped coming to them after those first few years. I thought she was just busy and had to work but I don't think that was it.

I've wondered for a long time why she acted so differently around the Bradford's. She's perfectly comfortable with Blake and Emma, Matt and Chelsea, and she loves Georgia and Jim. Cade adores her and would do anything to keep her working for him. But the two people who she changed her attitude with were Derrick and Adam. I understood Derrick, she really did fall for him and it was hard to see him, knowing he was off limits. Or that's what she said to me. But what was the deal with Adam?

Did she know the stuff he was doing? How long has Adam been taking money from the company? How many times did Mom get stuck at the office late at night? She was happy to stay for Cade. It wasn't often but he made sure she had a sitter or he would send a car for me and I'd stay with Isabelle until they were done. I vaguely recall Adam requested her to work for him once? The week before it all changed. After that she didn't work overtime again and she only worked for Cade. What happened for her to avoid Adam like the plague?

I've got a lot of questions and no answers.

I wanted to talk to her about it. I need answers before I face Cade. I'm not sure what I'm getting myself into but I'm running out of time. Cade is dealing with too much right now for me to land another blow to him. How do I tell him about me and Maddie? How do I say Dalton is mine?

"Looks like he's in some pretty deep thinking." Turning around, Dillon and Matt are taking a seat at Georgia's monster table.

The table has been here as long as I can remember. They've added on to it as the family has grown. Blake and Lance hired some people from Moss Bluff, the Tuckers, to do it. They're related somehow and I've never understood how. That's a side of the family I don't see much. Beckett and his family I know but the extended part always confused me. This family is so huge!

"I'd say he needs to get whatever is eating him off his chest. Tomorrow is going to be a tough day for all of us. Sleep would probably be a good idea." Matt's right. Tomorrow is going to suck big green donkey balls. And I'm going to be making it worse. Maybe I should just keep this to myself. No, I can't, too many people know already. It's better for Cade to hear this from me.

Kicking the chair across from him out, Dillon motions to it. "Take a seat, son. Let's hear it."

Obeying the order, I sat down for the first of many talks I'll be having about this subject. I might as well start now. It'll be good practice for me, to warm up for my face to face with Cade. Linking my fingers together on the old butcher block table, I stare at my hands and try to figure out how to say this. "There's no easy way to do it."