Prima Donna by Laura Drewry Read Free Book Online

building. Mr. Brandt insisted it was sacrilege to take Christmas down before the first of the year, and with the amount of work that went into setting the scene up, Regan was surprised he didn’t just leave it up all year.
    In her favorite red flannel nightshirt she washed up, clipped her hair back, and headed to the couch to watch the countdown, her phone clutched in her hand. Last New Year’s Eve, she had her own business, a steady income, and a guy she saw on a semi-regular basis. One short year later, she had no business, no income, and no guy. The business and income she missed. The guy—not so much.
    Hugging one of the throw cushions against her stomach, she hit Speed Dial 2 on her phone and waited for one of the nurses to pick up.
    “Hi, Lynn, it’s Regan Burke…Fine, thanks. How’s Mom?” She hadn’t even realized she’d been holding her breath until it came out in a rush. “You’re sure?…Okay…
She does?
But she never wants to talk to me…Well, yes, of course, if you think she’s up for it…Right. I just don’t want to upset her…If you’re sure…Yeah, I’ll hold.”
    Her mom rarely wanted to talk to her, so why tonight? Did it mean something? It
was
New Year’s Eve after all. Maybe it was a good thing; a breakthrough. Or maybe—
    Muffled voices on the other end, a hard clank, then her mother’s voice barking out Regan’s name.
    “Hi, Mom—how are you doing?” Regan pressed the phone tight against her ear as if that might help her pick up on the slightest waver in her mom’s voice. Nothing. “Yeah? I was up at a New Year’s party…no, by myself…he wasn’t there…because we broke up last summer…No, I didn’t cheat on him. Mom…Mom…I swear I didn’t do anything to him, we just didn’t belong together…It wasn’t anyone’s fault…Mom…Mom…okay, I’m sorry, you’re right.
You’re right
. It was my fault.”
    Regan would have agreed to anything if it calmed her mom down a little.
    “Tina said they were serving ham tonight…No she’s not, she wouldn’t do that…Tina likes you, Mom, she’d never try to hurt you…yes, I talk to her every couple of days—that’s because you don’t usually want to talk to me.”
    She let her head fall against the back of the couch and squeezed her eyes tight. “I’m sure if Dad called, she would let you know; she wouldn’t keep him from you…no, he hasn’t called me…I didn’t do that, Mom…no I didn’t—”
    On the other end of the phone, her mom berated someone walking by her chair. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough time for Regan to steer the conversation toward something a little less inciting than the topic of her father.
    “Have you been getting outside much? The weather’s been so nice…Uh, no, Mom, I don’t think they’ll agree to that…of course I want to see you, but…no, you’re right, we’ll ask.”
    Again, she waited for the slightest hint from her mom that tonight was going to end the same way it had on four other New Year’s Eves, but so far, there was nothing out of the ordinary, and this was the longest conversation she’d had with her mom in years.
    From the sounds coming through the phone, someone in the TV room must have taken the chair her mom wanted, which meant Regan had only a few seconds before her mom would hang up.
    “I love you, Mom…No…I never expect you to say it back. I tell you so you know…okay, sorry…Happy New—”
    The line went dead and she let the phone drop to the couch beside her as she heaved out another breath. It hadn’t gone too badly, and it didn’t seem like her mom was on the edge of doing herself any harm, so it was probably safe to ring in the New Year now.
    The countdown party was in full swing on the TV; a bare-chested rapper stomped his way across the stage while thousands of screaming partiers danced around him, everyone decked out in toques, mitts, feather boas, and huge sparkly plastic glasses Elton John would envy.
    Less than a