Mia Cade had two goals in life. One, to put as much distance as possible between herself and the manipulation, irritation and, most of all, interference of her family. Two, to help raise millions of dollars for charity.
She figured both goals were a direct product of her upbringing.
She’d spent her formative years as a Navy brat, her family packing up every couple of years to relocate to a new place in the world. With every move, Mia’s older sister, Megan, threw another fit about leaving her friends, and her younger sister developed some new ailment that ensured their mother’s full attention. Leaving Mia to organize and handle the details of unpacking and getting the family settled in their new home.
Their mother toured them through every new city or country, ensuring that they saw the good and the bad. The rich and the poor. Her purpose was to instill appreciation in her children, along with as much culture as possible.
In London, they’d visited Buckingham Palace, watched Macbeth onstage at the Royal Opera House and organized a Fill Your Boots charity campaign, collecting money on base for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute.
In Shanghai, they’d prayed in the Jade Buddha Temple, toured the Shanghai Museum and spent a few hours a week reading to disabled orphans.
Megan had gotten in trouble for shoplifting in London, had a screaming match with their mother in the Louvre and had tried to run away in Tibet. Marley, on the other hand, developed migraines in Virginia, violent allergies in Tokyo and pneumonia in Alaska. And so it went in Honolulu, Bahrain, Venice and New York. Every new station was a sea of unfamiliar faces, cultural education and charitable works, combined with high drama, hospital visits and Mia desperately trying to organize her life into some semblance of sanity.
By the time she’d finished college, she’d seen enough of the world to know she wanted to stay as far away from travel and her family as possible.
She’d chosen San Francisco.
All the way across the country from them.
Too far away for drop-in visits. Yet no distance was too far from nagging phone calls.
“Mia, you should listen to your sister. She warned you about that girl.”
“Jessica is my roommate and she’s twenty-six, Mother. A year older than me. It’s okay to call us women now.”
“Girl. Woman.” Her mother pshawed. “You’ll always be my baby.”
God help her.
“But that isn’t the point. Your sister’s concerns are the point. I told you, she thinks this Jessica girl is mean and nasty and vindictive. She’s a bad influence, a backstabber and someone who surely has it in for you.”
“Because I was crowned homecoming queen instead of her? Mom, that’s ridiculous.”
“Don’t forget that you were valedictorian, too. Marley said this girl holds grudges. There’s no way she forgot that you swept into that school and knocked her right off the pedestal.”
And off she went, in the style only Anne Cade could. Ranting with half facts, high drama and a heaping helping of guilt. Mia let the words roll over her while she went back to searching for a way to fit an extra fifty seats into a dining room for the upcoming charity ball. She’d managed to squeeze in thirty by the time her mother wound down.
“Look, Jessica is fine. She’s nice. She’s safe. She has a good job. She pays rent, helps with the bills. She’s not luring me into bars or doing drugs. No wild parties, no illicit affairs, no disreputable men.”
And just like that, her mother turned on a dime.
“You could do with meeting some men, Mia. You’re a good-looking girl, smart and fun, and your table manners are exquisite.”
“Can’t forget those table manners.”
“Speaking of, I know the perfect man for you. He’s good-looking, six foot six and very clever with languages. He fixed my computer last week. Remember the trouble I was having with it? It’s so handy to have a man around who can fix things, don’t you think? And didn’t you say you needed a new computer?”
Not enough to want a man to go with it.
“What’s his rank?”
“Petty officer,” her mother replied, biting off the last word in obvious frustration. “Now don’t be silly, Mia. Your bias against military men is ridiculous. Are you going to throw away the opportunity to meet the perfect man just because he serves his country?”
In a heartbeat.
“I don’t have time for dating, Mother,” Mia sidestepped, knowing her perfectly justified arguments always fell on deaf ears. “I’m super busy with work. And speaking of—”
“Fine, fine. If you want to refuse to meet the perfect man, that’s your choice. That’s not why I called, anyway,” her mother said dismissively. “Your uncle will be in town later this month, meeting with donors and attending a climate change event. I can count on you to be a proper hostess, can’t I? Show him around, keep him company?”
Of course she’d take care of her uncle, US Senator Luis Penz, who’d spent as many years in California as she’d been alive, show him around and keep the poor, bored-with-nothing-to-do man company.
A part of her wanted to offer that sarcastic thought aloud. To point out that she was an independent adult, a professional with a good head on her shoulders, solid social skills and a strong sense of responsibility.
But that wouldn’t stop the nagging interference. It’d only irritate her mother into bringing in backups, usually in the form of Mia’s siblings. Or worse, her father.
So she kept her thoughts to herself, settling for a roll of her eyes and an innocuous, “Of course, Mother.”
“As you can see, it’s poor timing for you to have that woman living with you.”
“It’s not like Uncle Luis would stay in my apartment, Mom. There’s not enough room for his suits.” To say nothing of his security detail.
“I don’t want him meeting this woman, Mia. She’s bad news.”
“Because she lost the homecoming crown?”
“No,” her mother snapped. “Because she works for a criminal.”
Mia grimaced. “Actually, she works for a businessman. Santiago Alcosta is totally on the up-and-up, Mom.” Not an idiot, Mia had researched the man as soon as she heard who Jessica worked for. “He’s built his business in real estate, and Alcosta International is above reproach. Sure, he has a few family members who got in trouble, but who doesn’t? Your own sister was arrested last month.”
“A few family members? His father was considered a drug lord. His brother was arrested for smuggling. Mia, your Aunt Phoebe shoplifts cat toys to donate to the local shelters.”
But
