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The wind had picked up. It scraped chilly fingers over us, stinging our faces, searching for an opening in our clothes.
Mom shivered, and I took her arm. “You’re cold. Let’s go back.”
She nodded and fell into step with me. After a while, she said, “I’d really like to meet Eden. And maybe…after the baby’s born, you’ll let me see him sometime?”
“If you’re well enough,” I hedged. “Then, sure.”
Her face fell. “I understand,” she said in a voice like a rusty hinge. “I’m not exactly grandparent-of-the-year material. Just think about it, okay?”
“I will.”
“Thank you.” She squared her shoulders. “I won’t drink around the baby. That’s a promise.”
I grunted, because how many times had she promised something like that?
“I won’t touch a drop before your hockey match. I promise.”
She’d showed up drunk and tripped in the stands, hitting her head on a bench. I’d had to leave the rink to drive her to the doctor so she could get stitched up.
“I’ll pick you up at the dance. Midnight, right?”
She’d never showed. I’d waited until all the other kids were gone, then hitched a ride with a teacher kind enough to drive me to our crumbling, out-of-the-way cottage on the opposite end of the island. Mom had been weeping on the couch, a couple of empty wine bottles on the floor next to her.
“They hired me at the Cove Restaurant. I’m starting as a dishwasher but if it works out, they’ll promote me to server.”
It hadn’t worked out. In fact, she’d been fired within a week for coming to work drunk.
I looked at my mom’s worn, hopeful face and forced myself to sound positive. “Okay, great.”
A flurry of snowflakes dusted our clothes a powdery white. “You were right about the snow,” I said, and we shared a smile, a genuine one.
Before I left, I replenished the stack of firewood on the front porch, then started a fire in the wood stove in the living room. When I came back to my feet, Mom had a cigarette out.
I watched as she lit it. “I’ll see you in a few days, okay?”
She walked me to the door and gave me a hard hug, the smoke from her cigarette curling around us. “You’re good to me, Talon. Don’t think that I don’t appreciate that.”
An uncomfortable pressure banded my heart. I put my arms around her in return. A loose, awkward hug.
“Call me if you need anything,” I said, and left.
Cain strode up as I reached my apartment. “What did Mary want?”
“Hello to you, too.” I touched my palm to the pad, unlocking the door. “And just the usual. She wanted to see me.” Cain would buy the evasion. He knew how needy my mom could be.
He followed me inside, closing the door after us. “She say anything about Esposito?”
“Only that she hasn’t heard from him.”
Going behind my wet bar, Cain got out a bottle of blood-whiskey. “Well, it’s not a loan shark he owes. It’s a casino. He dropped two hundred grand at the tables.”
So much for winning big at poker like he’d told my mom. Although that was a lot of money even for Esposito.
I hung my leather jacket in the closet next to the door. “So what’s new?”
“This is different. This time, he owes someone high up in the Quebec City hierarchy. When he started losing, they fronted him another hundred-fifty thou instead of shutting him down.”
“Hell.” My fingers flexed. In my mind, they were tightening around Esposito’s throat.
