READY FOR LOVE | JENLISA

Chapter 68

Lisa

"Well, look who's back." a familiar rough, sadistic voice says from behind me, making my blood run cold. I turn around to look at my mother's face, and she looks so much worse than the last time I saw her. She looks like she's in her fifties, despite not even turning forty yet. Her eyes are sunken in, hair wiry and greying prematurely. Her yellow, rotting teeth look like a dentist's worst nightmare as she smirks at me like she had just caught her prey, and the man standing next to her doesn't look any better.

"Weren't even going to tell me you were in town?" she chastises.

I grit my teeth, every muscle tensing as I slip into defence mode. I stand up from my chair, subconsciously stepping in front of Jennie, shielding her. "How did you know that I was here?"

She shrugs a shoulder. "I have my resources."

Resources?

What the hell does that mean? The only way that she could have known I was in town is if someone told her... and then it clicks. The crack head at the gas station. Not a doubt crosses my mind that they run around in the same circles and he put two and two together.

She waltzes up to the table, bypassing me to sit at the other end of the round table, the man who I only assume is another one of her druggie boyfriends following her. Even my grandmother with dementia stares at them with scepticism and distrust.

I retain my standing position, itching to get out of here, and just as I'm about drag Jennie out of here, my mother speaks up.

"So what, you're just here to make sure you collect the money without even consulting me?" my mother continues, leaning back in her chair.

"What the hell are you talking about!?" I spit, in no mind to play games with her.

"Don't play dumb with me!" she snarls, leaning forward with her elbows on the table. "You heard that this stupid old fool put you in her will over me and you're only coming down here to make sure that it stays that way!"

I shake my head, feeling like I just got hit by a freight train of information. "What!?"

She growls impatiently. "That money belongs to me!" she insists.

I blink, growing frustrated at her. "I have no clue what you're talking about!"

I reply honestly, not knowing where she's getting all these ideas about money. Did my grandmother seriously put me in her will? Why?

She slams her hands on the table, gaining the attention of nearby residents. "The hell you don't!" she accuses. "I've talked to an attorney, and the old, stupid bitch is leaving everything to you! And she's so far gone now that she won't switch it over in my name because she barely knows who I am anymore!"

A humourless, bitter chuckle escapes from the back of my throat. Of course. It all makes sense now. All the phone calls, why she wanted me to come down here to see my grandmother so badly. She wants me to have the will switched over to her name.

I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying my best to leash up my temper. "Of course. I should have known. You only ever call me when you need money." I state.

"I deserve that money! I'm her daughter!" she states hysterically.

"Yeah, and you're a shitty one at that!" I roar back, any reserve that I have left cracking. All the emotions that I had festering inside of me are coming to the surface. "You don't deserve anything from grandma!"

"And you do!?" she counters, and for some reason her words hit me straight in the chest.

"I've never said that I deserve shit!" I growl. "But I'll be damned if I give you any of grandma's money so you can go blow it all on drugs. Like you always do. Always have. That's why you're probably not getting anything in the first place. You were a shitty daughter to her and you only cared about getting your next high. You stole money from her all the time to get drugs and wound up getting pregnant at fifteen because you were so reckless. Then, you were a shitty mother to me, never caring about your own child once and shoving me off to her for as long as you could until she had to kick you out!"