Rekindled Read Online Free Page A

it. Not really.
     She’d said something terrible, she had no doubt about that. She couldn’t remember
     what—only that this time Mac’s ears hadn’t turned red, and he hadn’t looked down and
     walked away. This time, he’d turned around, hands clenched into fists, and he’d hit
     her back verbally. Called her on what a bitch she was. He was the first person to
     ever do that.
    And then he’d told her to watch what she said, because someday, she might be cleaning
     his floors.
    Karma was, in fact, a bigger bitch than
she
was.
    “Can you call a screaming match a conversation?” she asked, feeling subdued.
    “I don’t know. Maybe confrontation?”
    “Maybe.”
    “Do you remember it?” he asked.
    “Of course I do. It wasn’t every day I went toe–to-toe with a guy twice my size with
     half the school looking on.”
    “No. Because most people never stood up to you.”
    She shook her head. “No. They didn’t. So, what made you do it?” she asked. It was
     suddenly imperative to know what made someone change the way things worked. What the
     last straw was.
    Weird that she was asking with herself cast as the bully. But she wanted to know.
     Because she’d hit a wall a year ago with her husband. The enough-is-enough point.
     She wanted to know what had made Mac reach that point with her.
    “I had a whole lot of opportunity to feel like I was beneath the people around me.
     I was reminded of it whenever people invited friends over and I wasn’t included. Or
     when I was and I couldn’t reciprocate because there was no way I could have anyone
     over to my house. Only Lucas ever came, and that’s just because he was worse off than
     I was. My whole life was a reminder of how far beneath you I was, and I wasn’t going
     to listen to you tell me about what I already knew.”
    She felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. “I’m sorry I did that,” she said.
     “To everyone, not just you.”
    “You live and learn.”
    “Yeah. You do.” She looked down at her food. “So, is that why you hired me? A little
     revenge to go with your dinner?”
    “There’s a lame joke in there somewhere about what dishes are best served cold, but
     I’m going to skip it. And yeah, a little bit, I’m not going to lie.”
    “Fair enough.”
    “But I’m still going to pay you. I’m still going to let you stay here. Until you decide
     you’ve had enough.”
    “Of what?”
    “Of slumming it with the peasants. I’m not trying to be cruel here, Lucy, but work
     is hard. Most people wouldn’t do it if they had the choice, and you’ve proven that
     by
not
doing it when you had the choice. I can’t imagine, with other options open, you’d
     choose to stay here.”
    “Okay, and how do you think I’ll go back to not needing work? How is it you think
     I’ll magically slide back into my old tax bracket?”
    He just looked at her, blue eyes locked with hers. “You’ll go back to your husband.”
    “You think so?”
    “I do. Because in the end, whatever was going on between you two, I doubt it’s worth
     giving up all that to come and clean all this,” he said, sweeping his hand over his
     surroundings.
    She put her hands flat on the table. “Yeah, of course. Money is awesome, right?” she
     said, feeling a little bubble of hysteria forming in her chest. “I mean… why
     would you ever leave money? What the hell could be more important than the money?
     Why would you need to be treated like a human being with thoughts and emotions when
     you could have all the money? Screw love and affection. Who needs it when you have
     Prada?” She picked up her fork and pushed on the tines with her forefinger. “Yeah,
     you’re right. I’ll probably go back. Because it was so great to live with a man who
     was always telling me what an empty-headed bimbo I was. I mean, it wasn’t ideal, sure,
     but we had money. And money wins in the end, right? Not strength. Not anything else.”
    “Lucy…”
    She stood up.