The Things We Leave Unfinished by Yarros, Rebecca (best free e reader .TXT) 📗

“I’m sorry?” Noah barked, stepping back to stand at my side, the shirt box safely tucked under his arm.

“Why the hell wouldn’t you sell the movie rights?” she shouted. “Do you know how much they’re worth? I’ll tell you. Millions, Georgia. They’re worth millions, and he—” She pointed to Noah. “He doesn’t own any of them. It’s just us, Gigi. You and me.”

“This is about money,” I whispered.

Mom blinked quickly, then adapted, her face softening. “Your party wasn’t, baby. But I was here. I really think that this could be the key to getting him back, and he promised to adapt it word for word. Don’t you believe him?”

“I don’t want him back, and I sure as hell don’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth!” I sputtered, fire streaking through my veins as the anger pushed through the armor of my disbelief. “Did you honestly think you could force my hand? Make me sell him the rights?”

Mom glanced between Noah and me. “Well, I can’t now, since that’s not the finished manuscript.” Her eyes narrowed on Noah. “Where’s the ending?”

Noah’s jaw flexed.

“It’s not done yet,” I snapped. “And even if it was, you can’t force me into anything.”

“Millions, honey. Just think of what that could do for us,” she begged, coming around the side of the desk.

“You mean what it could do for you.” I put myself between her and Noah. “It’s always about you.”

“Why do you even care?” Mom shouted.

“Gran hated movies, and you think that out of all her books, I’m going to sell the rights to this one to any producer, let alone the man who slept with everything in a skirt?”

“I don’t give a shit what Gran wanted,” she hissed. “She sure as hell never gave me a second thought.”

“That’s not true.” I shook my head. “She loved you more than life. She only cut you out of the will when you decided to marry a hopelessly-in-debt gambler, so you’d stop looking like a payday to every guy who crossed your path. She cut you out to give you a chance at finding someone who really loved you!”

“She cut me out as a punishment for making her raise you!” she yelled, jabbing her finger in my direction. “Because I was the reason my parents were on the road that night, coming to watch my recital!”

“She never blamed you, Mom.” My heart stuttered to life, aching for everything she’d gotten wrong.

“The woman you adore so blindly doesn’t exist to me, Georgia.” She looked past me to Noah. “Give me the endings. Both of them.”

“I told you, they’re not done!” How did she even know there would be two?

Her gaze shifted slowly to meet mine, her features transforming to a look of such pity that I recoiled, stepping back in to Noah. “Oh, you sweet, naive little girl. Didn’t you learn anything from the last man who lied to you?”

“This is done. You need to go.” I straightened my spine. I wasn’t the toddler she’d abandoned during afternoon nap anymore, or even the teary-eyed preteen who stared out the window for hours after she’d disappeared once more.

“You really don’t know, do you?” Sympathy dripped from her tone.

“Georgia asked you to leave.” Noah’s voice rumbled against my back.

“Of course you want me to leave. Why the hell didn’t you tell her it was finished? What else could you possibly get by keeping it from her?” Mom tilted her head just like I had, and I hated it. Hated that I looked so much like her. Hated that I had anything in common with her.

I needed her to go. Now. Once and for all.

“Noah’s not done with the damned book!” I snapped. “He’s in here working on it all day, every day! I’m never selling the movie rights, and you can tell Damian to kiss my ass, because he’s never touching this story. Ever. Now you can leave on your own, or I can throw you out, but either way, you’re leaving.”

“You’re going to need me when you realize how naive you’ve been. Why would you lie to her like that?” She studied Noah like she’d found a worthy opponent.

That unnerved me like nothing else could have.

“I learned not to need you a long time ago, right around the time I realized that other mothers didn’t leave. That other mothers came to soccer games and helped their daughters get ready for dances. Other moms picked out costumes for Halloween and bought pints of ice cream for broken teenage hearts. I may have needed you at one point, but it passed.”

She jolted like I’d slapped her. “What would you know about motherhood? From what I’ve read, you lost your husband over that issue.”

“That’s uncalled for,” Noah moved, but I leaned back against him.

I shook my head with a small laugh. She had no idea. “Everything I know about motherhood, I learned from my mom. I didn’t get it until recently, but I do now. It’s okay that you didn’t know how to raise me. It really is. I don’t blame you for being a kid with a kid. You gave me a really great mom. One who came to the games, helped me pick out dresses for prom, listened to my hours of chatter without batting an eye, and never once made me feel like a burden, never wanted anything from me. You taught me that not all moms are called Mom. Mine was called Gran.” I sucked in a stuttered breath. “I’m okay with that.”

Mom stared at me like she’d never seen me before, then crossed her arms under her breasts. “Fine. If you don’t want to sell the movie rights…if you don’t have enough common sense to take the money, or enough compassion for me to do it, nothing I say will make a difference.”

“I’m glad we agree.” My body tensed, recognizing her preamble for exactly what it was, the moment before she went for the emotional kill.

“But I’d be remiss if I didn’t