“Save me your lame excuses,” he muttered angrily.
Rebecca sucked in her breath. She and Matt had had their moments, but she had never seen him like this, and she didn’t like it. “I am not making excuses,” she said tightly. “I know you don’t like the fact that I have to bring Grayson with me, but I’ve told you, I am volunteering, and sometimes—”
“What you are doing is letting other people use you so you can flit around and be some ex-beauty queen,” he rudely interrupted her as they strode across the marble floor, side by side, Grayson working to keep up between them.
The remark went all over Rebecca. No matter what he was upset about, she did not deserve that. “What is the matter with you?” she demanded angrily. “I’m not doing any such thing, but honestly, it’s none of your business what I do.”
“It is when you start interfering with my business,” he said coldly as they reached the elevator.
“How could I possibly be interfering with your business?” she retorted as he punched a button. “How could I possibly interfere in something I know nothing about? I couldn’t possibly care less about your business.”
“Mom?” Grayson asked nervously.
“It’s all right, honey. Matt’s just grouchy, that’s all,” she said irritably, and stepped into the elevator with her son.
“Oh, I’m grouchy, all right,” Matt said, coming in behind her. “You and Tom have lost all sight of what’s important. I don’t care, personally, but there are a lot of other people who are working hard to get him elected, and when you dash in, drop your kid, and take off with Tom, you are screwing up a lot of that hard work. You think everything revolves around you and what you want. How you and Tom look to everyone out there. But this campaign is a little bit bigger than you.”
She didn’t know if she should be angry or confused. “What are you talking about?” she demanded as the elevator landed on the bottom floor. The doors opened; Matt put his hand on her back, steered her none too gently out the door and into the underground garage. “I’ll tell you,” he said low as they strode toward his car. “I am talking about that fact that it is time for you to grow up and stop resting on your beauty queen laurels—”
“Stop accusing me—”
“Let me finish!”
“Mom!” Grayson cried, clutching at her sheath dress.
“You need to learn how to use your brains rather than your looks, and you damn sure shouldn’t let others use your looks!”
That stung. A swell of emotions, old and bitter, rose up in her. “This is ridiculous. I don’t know what you think has happened, but there is nothing going on. I was just running errands with Tom and—”
“I am talking about that meeting upstairs!” Matt shouted, pointing at the garage ceiling as they reached his car. “I have worked for weeks to get that meeting, and the first thing Tom does is trot you out there! Look at you!” he said, gesturing wildly at her as he tried to fit the key into his Jag. “You look great, Rebecca, but you don’t know anything about the issues facing this campaign, or even what Tom stands for. All you know is which recipe goes with what newsletter. You spend all your time running around on stupid little chores and you have no clue what Tom’s record is in the senate. If you were really interested in this campaign, you would learn about your candidate and the issues, but no, you want to walk around like a fucking beauty queen. This whole thing is about how you look, how Tom looks, and not about a political campaign.”
Rebecca gasped—he couldn’t have hurt her more if he had punched her. She couldn’t speak, she could only gape at him. All her fears and insecurities, all her hopes, bubbled up into some toxic mix. She felt queasy and pulled Grayson into her side. Her son buried his face in her dress.
Matt paused for a moment, looked at Grayson, then angrily yanked the car door open. He reached inside, got a book and Gray’s backpack and shoved them at Rebecca. She took them, still unable to speak, the burn in her heart spreading to her throat.
“There’s just one more thing,” he said, his voice dangerously low. “This is your kid, and you need to be the caretaker.”
“Mommy, I want to go home,” Grayson said into her leg.
Rebecca was too stunned to move at first. Whatever feeling she might have had for this man was effectively destroyed, stomped right into the ground, along with her pride. “Fuck. You,” she said calmly.