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"Since when? You fking abandoned us!"

"Watch your language, young lady"

"Don’t you fking ‘young lady’ ain her co here Neither one of us wants to see you"

"Your brother’s email says otherwise He wants to see me, Mia"

"Danny is a naive kid He doesn’t knohat he wants"

"He needs his o"

"Mia--"

"Ifor you here"

With that, she ended the call, then let out an infuriated roar that bounced off the apart nerve of that woman! She disappeared from their lives for two years and now she wanted to waltz back for a visit as if nothing happened?

Breathing hard, Mia stor rooer She was going to slam the door in her mother’s face Yep, that’s exactly what she would do if the woh on her visit threat

Brenda Weldrick-Jordan-Davis-Schwartz-Parker-Hassan-Reilly-Diaz-Reynolds had no place in their lives Not anymore

And not ever

An hour later, Mia had cal shower and nonstop self-reassurances that her mother was full of shit There would be no visit Nope, because Brenda’s ADD rivaled that of a preteen in et all about her kids again, just like she always did

Mia didn’t knohat had inspired the phone call in the first place, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to No doubt another divorce Or maybe there’d been a family-centered episode on one of her uilty or so Brenda could be counted on, it was not being counted on She hadn’t kept a single promise in her miserable, self-absorbed life, so there was really no reason to believe she’d actually show up in San Diego

When Mia stepped into the living rooain, she found her brother huddled over the coffee table with an open textbook, scribbling in his notebook

"Hey," she greeted hiet home?"

"While you were in the shower," he answered absently, his gaze glued to his homework "Practice ended early"