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“Oh, dear. I know that look.” She patted his arm. “Stop it. There’s nothing you could have done.”
“Mama—”
“Tell me about this girl. Is she anyone I know?”
Just like that, the discussion was over before it began. They’d have to talk about it at some point, but he wasn’t willing to fight with her—not while she looked like a stiff wind might topple her over. “Jules Rodriguez.”
“Danny’s little cousin?” Her eyes lit up. “She’s got that wonderful coffee shop with all the cats. I go in there once a week with Lenora. That Loki is a darling.” She accepted the tall glass of water he’d filled for her, some censure creeping into her dark eyes. “She’s a nice girl, Adam.”
“I know.” He braced himself for what would come next.
Sure enough, his mama said, “If I thought for a second you were going to hold still long enough to put down roots, I’d keep my thoughts to myself, but you’re as footloose and fancy-free as that father of yours.”
Of all the things she could have said, this one stung the most. Because it was true. He set the pills in front of her. “I’m staying long enough to get you sorted out, Mama. I promise.”
“Oh, honey…” Tears filled her eyes, tears that felt like they were ripping into his very soul. There was a terrible knowledge on her face that he wasn’t ready to face. Not now—maybe not ever. His mom managed a smile. “I love you.”
That was it. There was nothing else he could say. “I love you, too.” He waited through the torturous process of her taking her pills, and then watched her with an eagle eye while she walked back into the living room and her recliner.
She shot him a sharp look. “I’ve been getting around just fine on my own before you got back, Adam Christopher. I don’t need you hovering.”
“In that case, I’ll be going.”
He hesitated by the door and looked at his mama. She used to be larger than life, a formidable woman who stood between him and the rest of the world. And here he was, leaving her again. It didn’t matter that it was for a date instead of the rodeo, or that she was practically kicking him out the door. He should be here.
“Go, Adam.”
As always, she knew what he was thinking without him saying it. He forced a smile. He could be positive if that’s what she wanted, at least until he got some concrete answers. “Do you want me to bring anything back?”
“I’m fine. Go on your date.” She waved him away.
He went, but he could feel her eyes on his back the entire time, and her words rang in his ears. The thought of settling down in one place was enough to have him breaking out in hives. It was a small part of the toxicity that had been Adam as a teenager—the desire to go anywhere but here, to get in a truck and just drive until he met the horizon. He’d failed a lot of people when he left.
Just like his father.
He shook off the thought through sheer force of will and climbed up into his truck. Jules apparently lived over that shop of hers, and so it took him ten minutes from leaving his mama’s house to pulling into the parking lot. Devil’s Falls was like that, though. It took fifteen minutes to drive from one end of the town limits to the other—and that was only because of the twenty-mile-an-hour speed limit and single stoplight.
He got out of his truck and looked up and down Main Street. There were the same two bars down the street, the same diner, the same hardware store, the same everything. Nothing had changed—not even a fresh coat of paint. The only difference between the street now and when he was eighteen was the addition of a Starbucks down by the stoplight and the café in front of him that used to be a pizza joint.
Restlessness hit him, fierce enough to have him clenching his fists. It wouldn’t take much to get back in his truck and keep driving, to search out the nearest rodeo and put in his registration. Everyone in Texas knew him. They’d get him in. He could be on the back of a bull inside of two days. Then maybe he wouldn’t have to think about the circles beneath his mama’s eyes or the worried looks Lenora kept shooting her when she thought neither of them was watching.
No. You promised you’d stay, and that’s what you’re going to do.
Adam paused to take in Cups and Kittens again. It was such a random-ass idea—a coffee shop where people could come and spend time with cats—but it was obvious that it was something Jules felt passionately about. Hell, he’d spent a grand total of twenty minutes with her and he could tell that wasn’t the only thing.
