You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 355

The city was sinking into twilight and shadows filled every corner. Outside, the snow Chelsea had complained about was finally coming down for real, blanketing everything in white.

In the Martin family’s living room, Tina pulled her gaze away from the window and watched Emerson making tea. “Theo’s been all over the news with that actress lately,” she said. “Do you think it’s real, or is it just for show?”

Emerson swirled the tea leaves around, looking bored. “It’s all an act. If he doesn’t do something dramatic soon, Newton Enterprises is going to tank.”

“At least he’s trying to save it,” Tina said.

She used to think Theo was just another spoiled rich kid—raised in luxury, his mother Kelly securing her spot in the Newton family by having him. He’d always been treated like royalty. But ever since that whole mess with Patricia, he’d started to stand on his own. He wasn’t exactly a mastermind, but for his age, he was doing better than most.

Emerson nodded. “So, what’s the plan for New Year’s? Are we going out to Blue Ridge to see Grandma?”

“If you want to go, you go. I’m not going,” Tina said flatly. She and Grandma never really got along. That tension went all the way back to when she first married into the Martin family. Grandma always insisted she treated both her sons the same, but nobody ever seemed happy with how things worked out. Even though Grandma had arranged for Jason to marry his wife, Tina still felt like she’d been left with a splinter that she couldn’t pull out.

Emerson finally looked up from the tea tray and met Tina’s eyes, annoyance flickering across his face. She might be hard on Grandma, but at the end of the day, she was his mom. Sure, she favored his little brother, but she’d never actually treated him badly.

“Grandma’s never really been that rough on you, has she?”

Tina realized she’d gone a little overboard and tried to backtrack. “If we both leave for Blue Ridge and this blizzard keeps up, what if something happens here in Riverdale? We’d be too far away to do anything.”

“Family gatherings are important, but isn’t the company important too?” Emerson asked.

Tina left the tea room, her polite, practiced smile disappearing the second she was alone. Her eyes turned cold.

The last time she’d seen Grandma was at Dragon Boat Festival. The old woman’s first words had been, “Everything you have now is because of me,” and Tina had replayed that slap in her mind for days afterwards.

Spend the holidays together again? No way. Not happening.

Tina climbed the stairs, not in any rush to actually call Ruby. Instead, she pulled out her phone and dialed someone else. After a bit of small talk, she got to the point. “It’s freezing out there. Make sure Grandma doesn’t catch a cold.”

There was a pause on the other end, but the meaning was clear. “Don’t worry, ma’am. I’ll take care of it.”