You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 483

Less than a week had passed.

Emerson’s reputation as a womanizer was basically sealed. Tina sat in her office, scrolling through what felt like an endless flood of gossip and news. Her fingers tightened around her coffee cup, then relaxed. She let her long nails drift from the rim down to the keyboard, about to type a reply when Emerson walked in.

“Mom says she wants to come back and stay for a while. We need to get things ready at home,” he announced.

Tina frowned at him. “All of a sudden? You know it’s the middle of a heatwave in Riverdale. Can Grandma even handle that?”

She’d been living abroad for years without a problem. Why come back now? What was she really up to?

“Maybe she’s just homesick. Let’s get it sorted,” Emerson replied like it was nothing.

“Sorted,” Tina echoed in her head. As if it was just some little task.

Life had been just fine with the three of them. Bringing his mom home would mean tiptoeing around her moods and needs. That was how all the drama started. The whole daughter-in-law versus mother-in-law thing was the oldest problem in the book, and Emerson was old enough to know it. Back when they were younger and broke, they had to put up with Grandma. But now Tina was almost ready to retire herself. Was she really supposed to spend her days looking after an eighty-year-old?

Her lips pressed into a thin line. She wasn’t happy, that much was clear.

She just looked at Emerson, not saying yes or no. Their eyes met, and a heavy silence filled the room.

“If we bring her back, I probably won’t have time to take care of her,” Emerson said.

“She’ll have a professional caregiver. You won’t have to do anything,” Tina replied.

“Good. I’ll call the housekeeper, have her set up the downstairs guest room.”

Emerson hesitated. “The new housekeeper hasn’t met Grandma. Are you sure she can handle it?”

Emerson heard the edge in her words, and his heart skipped a beat. Thirty years of marriage, and they knew each other inside out. If she was talking like this, it meant she was at the end of her rope.

“I’m sorry. There’s just been a lot of work stuff lately. I’ll come home tonight and have dinner with you and Ruby. We’ll get the room ready together, okay?”

Ducking the real issue, as always.

So smooth. Typical.

Did he really think this was about some guest room? After all these years running a company, could he not tell from her tone that she was done?

Tina pressed her fingers hard against the desk, pushed back her chair, stood up, and stared Emerson down.

“Do you honestly think this is about a room?”