Lighting a Match in the Rain

Chapter Thirty-Five

I followed the main man of the house into the kitchen, where he gestured for me to sit down at the kitchen table where I once ate dinner with them. Anna was standing at the kitchen sink, washing and drying a few dishes even though the dishwasher beside her was running. Callum was sitting at the end of the table with a pencil and a few papers that I figured was homework. Julian walked over to his little brother and started helping him with whatever he had to figure out. Anna greeted me before turning back to her duty.

Looking at James, my smile faded after I got one more look at his expression. It was calm, stern, and grim. "I just want to make sure you aren't in any kind of trouble," he started, giving the tone like he just wanted to help me. "Is Reed selling you drugs?" The breath left my lungs. "Is he promising anything for your company? Paying you?"

I didn't hide the horror on my face. "Excuse me?"

He folded his hands in front of him. "You can tell me. I'll help you get out of it," he insisted calmly.

I glanced at Anna who was still focused on the dishes, and then to the two sons. They were both briefly glancing up at me, but acting like they weren't eavesdropping.

"Reed doesn't abuse drugs," I assured James in a calm and collected tone.

"But he does sell them to you," he clarified slowly in return.

"No." I shook my head. "Reed doesn't sell drugs at all."

"Then why have you been accompanying him lately?"

My brows were furrowed as I frowned. "Because he's my friend?" I stared at James and his confident expression.

"No one is 'just Reed's friend,'" the father insisted. "There's always something--."

"Not this time," I interrupted him.

"Ella--."

"I'm insulted that you would accuse such a thing out of me and your son," I snapped harshly, standing from the table. I wasn't going to listen to him talk down about Reed.

"I have my reasons," he assured me. "Everyone knows of Reed's past and his bad habits."

"Maybe you should stop assuming the worst, and instead have some faith in him."

"He's my son, I know---."

"Exactly. He's your son," I said, ignoring the stares of everyone else in the room. "Talk better of him."

I turned and started leaving. "Don't disrespect me in my house."

"I'm not the only one being disrespectful."

I left the room and the house, not glancing at Anna or the two other sons.

#

 "So, how much?" I leaned on my elbows on the glass counter and rested my chin on my folded hands. I'd been tapping my foot on the ground as I silently waited in the longest two minutes of my life. 

The man examined the necklace closely, turning it over and around in his hands. "I'd give you sixty-thousand for it."

My lungs were emptied and my jaw dropped. I quickly glanced around the room, seeing if anyone else heard. The store was empty. "Sixty-thousand dollars?" I asked him, thinking I hadn't heard him correctly. 

The man nodded firmly once and rested the piece of jewelry gently back in its cushioned box. "Sixty-grand."

That would cover the rest of the debt. It was more than enough.