Free Center Stage: Magnolia Steele Mystery #1 by Denise Grover Swank Page B

her why my mother would have confided in her, but the answer was obvious. My mother had replaced me with my archnemesis.
    “So what are you doing back here? Hiding from the press?”
    I still didn’t answer, feeling dangerously close to getting sucked into a black hole of despair.
    “You were never very good at staying in the background. I see that hasn’t changed either.”
    We rode in silence after that, and I was surprised when she headed downtown—even more so when she pulled into the same parking lot my mother used for her business.
    Emily started to get out of the car.
    “I don’t think this is going to work,” I said, sounding more pathetic than I’d intended.
    She stopped, staring at the dark building in front of us. “You want to hire another attorney?”
    I knew that wasn’t possible. Momma had hinted that she wasn’t going to pay Emily. Only then did I remember that Momma had said she would barter for her services by catering for a party. Did her party have anything to do with the big solitaire adorning Emily’s right ring finger? But shouldn’t it be on the left if she was engaged?
    “Magnolia?”
    If she were getting married, who could it be? Was it someone I knew? Did he look like Tanner? I couldn’t help wondering if I’d ever find someone who fit me. Despite how I’d felt years ago, when I was young and in love, it wasn’t Tanner. But maybe Emily was right. Maybe I was a narcissist. Maybe I loved me too much to truly love anyone else.
    “Magnolia.” Emily’s voice was softer now, almost gentle.
    I turned to face her, trying to remember the last time she’d been nice to me.
    “You’re in shock. Everything’s probably all setting in. Let’s go into my office.” She got out of the car. Moments later my door opened and her hand reached in and tugged on my arm.
    “I didn’t want to hurt her,” I said, my voice breaking. “I couldn’t help it.”
    “It’s okay,” she said in a soothing tone as she led me across the parking lot to one of the office blocks. She opened the door with a key, then pushed me into the stairwell behind it and locked the door behind us. “Up the stairs.”
    She stayed behind me, prodding me up the flight of stairs until I reached the top. A plaque on the door read, Emily Johnson, Attorney at Law .
    She’d barely passed the bar, yet she had her own law firm? Her rich daddy must have set her up, but the world wouldn’t care. All they’d see was a young woman who ran her own practice.
    No wonder my mother loved Emily. She was everything I could never be. Everything she had hoped I would become. Respectable. Normal. Close to home. Her office was literally two doors down from my mother’s business.
    Emily opened the office door and turned on a lamp. She led me to a worn sofa, and as I sank into the leather, I realized my face and part of my shirt were wet with tears.
    I was in a world of shit.
    My sobs broke loose—years of built-up guilt, regret, and loneliness wanted out. The truth was, even when I’d lived in Franklin, I’d always felt alone. But that wasn’t entirely true.
    I’d never felt alone with my father.
    But he’d left without a trace. No body. No note. No nothing. Rumors had swirled. His biggest client’s wife had disappeared at the same time, taking some of her husband’s money with her. The gossipers claimed Daddy had left us to be with her. Other people whispered that he’d pissed off the wrong people and met an untimely demise. My secret shame was that I’d always hoped it was the latter. It was the only explanation I could accept for his failure to contact me.
    Emily sat in a chair by the sofa for a couple of minutes, then stood and handed me a box of tissues. “I’m going to get you some water.”
    I nodded. “Thanks.”
    She walked through a door, leaving me alone. The office was one long room that was divided into two parts by furniture. The sofa was in the front part of the office, along with a matching chair, but deeper