The Crown Ranch 2: Missing Out on Life

Meredith woke with a tinge of relief. Finally, a night where Frannie hadn’t woken up during the wee hours crying for her mother. Meredith wasn’t sure how much more of that she could take. Go to bed at midnight, be woken up by a crying child anywhere between two and three, take an hour to calm her down, and then rise with the 5 a.m. alarm.

Getting up at five was already pushing it to get some work done before having to get herself ready for work and the girls ready for school. Even with this new schedule, she was getting to work on time, before they opened at 8 a.m., but she wasn’t used to getting there so late. She liked to get there early, by 7 a.m. at the latest, in order to get a head start on the day. As for staying late, those days had ended, too. Then there was her lunch hour, or what used to be her lunch hour, which was now spent picking Frannie up from her half day at school and running her to daycare. She was working on a bussing option for that which would hopefully start next week. Thank goodness she could do some of her work at home, or she’d never finish anything. But truth be told, she didn’t feel as productive working from home.

Meredith stood under the hot spray of the shower. Her body ached, and her brain was sluggish. All she needed to do was get through this day, to get to the weekend, when she would have time to think and make a better plan. They needed a routine is all. Once she got in the groove, she’d be fine.

She stumbled out of the shower, then hustled to get dressed, slap on some makeup, and pull her hair into a ponytail. Every day this week it was a ponytail because she no longer had time for product, drying, and straightening. Today, in particular, she had to hurry so she could work a bit on the presentation she and Sawyer were jointly presenting at a 9 a.m. meeting.

After grabbing a cup of coffee, she flipped open her laptop and sat at the kitchen counter to put the finishing details into the PowerPoint presentation. Instinctively, she reached for her cell phone in its docking station, but it wasn’t there. Annoyance sifted through her. That’s right. I’ll spend the lousy few minutes I actually get to myself on my lunch hour picking up a new phone to replace the one Frannie dropped in the bathtub last night.

Meredith sighed as she recalled the death of her phone. Frannie had been playing some sort of farm animal sound game on the phone as Meredith drew her bath. When she asked her niece to test the water, the young girl did so with her hand that held the phone. Meredith snatched the device out of the water, but it was too late. Luckily, though, she was able to bite back the curse word on the tip of her tongue. Without a child in the room, it surely would have escaped. What she wasn’t able to hide was the anger that must have shown on her face, which sent the young girl into hysterics. Then, to make matters worse, Iris bounded through the doorway, picked up her sister, and rocked her back and forth in a soothing manner while glaring in disappointment at her. Why did her older niece hate her so much? They hardly knew each other.

Hoping for a miracle, Meredith pulled her cell phone from the baggie of rice she’d placed it in, as per her Google research advice on what to do in a situation when a phone got wet, but when she pressed the power button, nothing happened. No miracle for her today. A new phone it would be.

After reviewing the presentation document and adding just a few minor changes, she logged in remotely to the work network and uploaded it for safekeeping. There, all set.

She woke the girls and hustled them through the morning routine—wash, dress, breakfast. Go, go, go! How did her sister do this? She worked full-time at the credit union, and Dexter was surely no help.

After dropping the girls off at their schools, she sped off to work. When her assistant met her at the door with a horrified look on her face, she knew the day wasn’t going to start well.

The woman rubbed her nervous hands together. “Oh dear, oh dear.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Your 9 a.m. meeting got moved to 7 a.m.”

Meredith’s gaze flew to the conference room. Darkness shone through the windows. Empty.

She zoned back in on Peggy. “What happened? Who moved the meeting? And why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Peggy’s gaze landed on the floor. “I caught wind of it yesterday when I overheard Sawyer talking about it on his cell phone as he waited for the elevator. I asked him about it, and he said he’d call you. You were already gone. Just to make sure you’d know, I texted you last night when I got home from my granddaughter’s band concert.”

“That son of a bitch.”

Peggy looked up. “Didn’t you get my text?”

“No. My phone is broken. Frannie dropped it in the bathtub.”

“Oh, my.”

Meredith beelined for Sawyer’s office, not bothering to knock before entering. He sat behind his desk, taking a swig from his coffee cup.

“That was a prick move.”

His devious blue eyes smiled. “What do you mean?”

“You moved our meeting and didn’t tell me.”

“I told you. I texted you last night. Check your phone.”

“What time?”

“Oh, I’d say it was about 10 p.m. or so.”

“Knowing what I’m dealing with at night, you waited that long? You knew before you left here yesterday.”

He shrugged. “I was busy until then.”

“That’s bullshit. You waited that long to ensure I wouldn’t be able to make arrangements to get here on time. And what if I’d gone to bed already?”

Sawyer leaned back in his chair. His gaze emitted victory. “Hey, your personal life isn’t my problem. If you can’t commit to the job—”

“Don’t you dare preach to me about commitment to this place. I’ve given my life to this company for the past six years.”

A smile stretched across Sawyer’s arrogant face. “Kenneth and I were just talking about devotion to the company, priorities, and distractions, and how things change from time to time. You know, right after our meeting this morning.” His head cocked to the side. “You know, the meeting you couldn’t make.”

Fury shook her extremities. She wanted to slap that smug smile off his face. No, she wasn’t going to let him get to her, but she knew she would have to up her game. Only two or three weeks remained until the appointment of the new CEO would be formalized. She needed to keep her eye on the prize, remain professional, and then she’d deal with this self-serving prick.

She turned so fast to exit the room she almost spun right off her feet. That’s all she needed now—was to physically fall in front of this guy.

Meredith melted into her office chair. She wanted to scream. How was she going to manage this all in the future? Children were never part of her plan, but they were her sister’s children. She had no choice but to do right by them.

A light knock sounded on her door. “Come in.”

Peggy stepped through. Empathy shone in the kind woman’s gaze. “I’m so sorry. I should have made sure—”

“It wasn’t your fault; you tried. I just need to find a way to pull my shit together—and quickly,” Meredith interrupted.

“I’ll help you in whatever way I can.”

Meredith nodded. Her assistant was a saint, both at work and personally. They weren’t close, but Meredith knew how much the woman loved her family and bent over backward to help anyone in need. Her organizational skills were second to none. Perhaps she could learn a thing or two from this woman about work-life balance—something Meredith never had to worry about in the past because all she knew was work.

Kenneth stepped through the doorway. A look from him was all it took for Peggy to practically run out of the room.

The large man tugged at his cuff link, something he always did when he was uncomfortable. “So, you missed a good meeting this morning.” His tone oozed disapproval.

Meredith’s stomach swirled. How bad was this going to get?

“No need to worry though; as usual, Sawyer pulled it off. His presentation was his best yet. Showing them graphs of data from the past two years, since the shift in the economy, for the entire Midwest was brilliant. As you know, Mr. Evenson has been a little gun-shy about pulling the trigger on this project since he took such a bath on a similar one five years ago. But compiling that amount of solid data supporting the uptick in the economy for these types of projects is what sold him this morning.”

Bile rose in Meredith’s throat. Her data. Sawyer used her data and sold it as his own. She wasn’t going to let him get away with this, but she knew she had to choose her words carefully to make her boss understand without sounding like a tattletale. She parted her lips to speak, and just as quickly, he lifted his hand to silence her.

“I know you have stuff going on, so I’ll cut you a break on this one, and I hope I don’t have to remind you how important that grant application is for the low-income housing project that needs to be completed and turned in before the end of the month, right?”

The emphasis he’d placed on the word one and the reminder about the grant application let her know that there could be no more distractions from work or she’d have no work.

“I’m on it, sir.”

He nodded, rose from his chair, and exited her office, shutting the door behind him.

She blew out a breath. Thank goodness that application was almost complete. All it needed was some finishing touches and final word from the city as to whether or not they’d waive the special assessments. Once she completed the finishing touches, she’d sit on it for a day or two to think about it to ensure everything was correct—included—and then she’d submit it once she received word from the city. All good.

Before Meredith knew it, Peggy poked her head into her office and wished her a good weekend. She glanced at her clock—sure enough, 5 p.m. already. It would only take a few more minutes to get exactly where she wanted to with the grant application, then she’d run and pick Frannie up from daycare, dart home, and grab Iris so they could run to Bourbonville to pick up the girls’ things. Iris had been begging all week to go get their stuff and visit Aunt Mildred. The girl seemed to have some real connection to the old woman. The pleading got to her, so she agreed to go on Friday, rather than Saturday as she’d originally planned.

Meredith hustled out to the copy machine and pulled the last of the grant documents off it for the binder. In her hurry, she nearly bumped into her boss when she rounded the corner of the cubicles.

“I was just looking for you,” he said as he raised his hand, offering her a stack of papers. “Kathy already left. Can you proof these before you go? That way, I can make any changes if need be before my 9 a.m. meeting Monday morning.”

“Sure, no problem.” Like she’d say no to him after what had happened earlier in the day.

He ran his hand over his face. “Better yet, I’m going to come in tomorrow morning because I have some other stuff to work on. Leave it on my desk with your notes, and I’ll finish that tomorrow as well.”

“Okay.”

She took the stack of papers from him and hustled back to her office where she sank into her chair, defeated. Her niece would blow a gasket when she called to let her know they couldn’t go to Bourbonville tonight.

Meredith kept watch, hoping her boss would leave soon. That way she could scoot out to pick Frannie up, drop her off at the apartment, and then hustle back to work to finish proofing his presentation.

While she waited for Kenneth to leave, she ordered a pizza to grab on the way home. When he finally left, she sprang off her chair and headed to the elevator.

Her conversation with Iris was about what she expected. Even after she apologized twice, the kid was still angry. Evidently, waiting until the next day to return to Bourbonville was like an eternity to a thirteen-year-old. But they had no choice; duty called. Not fulfilling the duty would lead to no money to live on, but apparently, a teenager couldn’t reason that connection.

Meredith went back to the office. It took her over an hour to proof and correct the presentation. Not her boss’s best work by any stretch, and lately it seemed like he relied on her more and more to rewrite some of his work rather than just proof it. She guessed he’d checked out already.

By 9 p.m., Meredith pushed her way through the front door of her apartment to find Frannie asleep on the couch, and Iris talking to someone on the extra cell phone Meredith had picked up earlier in the day. It had frightened her that the girls had no way to contact her when they were home alone, hence the extra phone. She hadn’t had a landline in years and didn’t see the sense in getting another one when a cell phone could do so much more.

Scooping Frannie up, Meredith carried her to the spare bedroom and set her on the queen-sized bed the girls shared. The tired child hardly stirred. At least she had her pajamas on already, so all she had to do was cozy in. Then, Meredith headed back into the living room. Iris was still on the phone. Was it proper for a thirteen-year-old to be talking to friends after 9 p.m.? Meredith wasn’t sure and couldn’t seem to remember if they were allowed to do such, though in her day it was just a landline, no fancy smartphones.

Iris wrapped up her conversation then looked at her. “What time are we leaving in the morning?” she asked.

“About eight.”

Iris looked to be debating if that was a good time. Did she want to sleep later or leave earlier?

“Can I visit with Amanda for a while?”

“Who’s Amanda?”

“My friend.”

The response came with a bit of attitude, as if Meredith pried too much.

“Where does your friend live?”

Iris sucked in an annoyed breath. “In the trailer court. Two trailers down from ours.”

“I guess. But not until after we get all your things packed up.”

Meredith thought it best to get the work done before the pleasure—or they wouldn’t get it done in one trip. Though it wasn’t like they had much to pick up. Anne and the kids had nothing because Dexter spent all the money on drugs and alcohol.

Poor, sweet Anne had a decent job at the credit union and absolutely nothing to show for it. Meredith glanced around her luxury apartment. Guilt flooded her. She should have tried harder to get Anne and the girls out of Bourbonville. If she had, perhaps Anne would be standing in her apartment now rather than lying in a ceramic container. Meredith eyed Iris. Thirteen and no mother—and it was all Meredith’s fault.