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She squeezed his forearm. “I don’t know if I want to hear anymore. Not now.” It hurt her heart to hear about his childhood and that was only a small part of it.
“Then tell me about yours instead.”
She pressed her fingertips to her forehead and rubbed it hard, gathering her scattered thoughts. If she started talking about her mother she might not stop. She might end up telling him everything.
She frowned when the truth hit her. “I was wrong.”
“’Bout what?”
“About my mother being my only family left. In truth, I don’t have any family left. I’ve got no one.”
“Why?” he urged softly, his warm breath tickling her hair against her ear.
Yes, why? Why did any of this happen? How did she end up here in Manning Grove? How did she end up in the situation she was currently in?
How did she end up carrying a baby she did not want by a man she never wanted?
He thought he was asking about her family, her mother. Did he realize that by asking about her mother, it would lead her to what happened with the Shirleys, too?
Did he know there was a connection? Or was he just trying to get her to open up?
“Unlike you, I had a great childhood. My parents were loving. Comfortable financially. Average. I lived a normal life, I guess. Though, everyone’s normal is different, right? But...”
“It was good.”
“Yes. No complaints. When I was away at college, my father died from a massive heart attack. It was unexpected since he didn’t have any heart issues that we knew of... So, it devastated us. He was the breadwinner in the family and, really, the glue. I went home for the funeral, but afterward I needed to get back to school. My father had been excited when I got accepted into his alma mater and decided to major in accounting. However, after his funeral, my mother begged me not to go back, so I compromised by taking the rest of the semester off to stay with her. But it was important I honor my father by finishing what I started, by following in his footsteps and becoming an accountant like him, so I went back. While accounting isn’t the most exciting career, it’s solid, would give me a good future and job security. Accountants will always be needed, right?”
“Good with numbers.”
“Yes. Well, that next summer break I didn’t go home except for Fourth of July and a couple short visits because I had landed an internship in a pretty big firm not far from campus. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. But in the meantime, my mother was struggling. She was having a hard time dealing with the loss of my father, who had always been her rock. Add in the fact that I was no longer living at home and it all snowballed. I never wanted to settle in the town I grew up in and told my mother once I graduated and found a good position somewhere she could move closer to me, get rid of the big house and move into something smaller.
“She seemed to like that plan, but failed to mention that her loneliness had driven her to join some online dating site. If I would’ve known, I would’ve warned her to be careful.”
“She get hurt?”
She frowned. “Not exactly. She met a man who she began a relationship with, then without me knowing, she just up and sold her home in Virginia and moved to Ohio.” Autumn had been in shock that her mother hadn’t even said a word about this man until she had already moved and they’d been married.
That right there had thrown some red flags. But her mother seemed giddy and content.
“Without tellin’ you?”
“Yes. When she told me, I was kind of in shock. I mean, every time I talked to her, she sounded happier and happier on the phone than the previous months, but I just thought she was finally getting out of her funk.”
“She was gettin’ dick instead.”
Autumn shifted in his arms. “Um. Yes. I guess so.”
“Dick made her stupid.”
“Sig...”
“Pussy makes men stupid, too, Red. Same shit. Keep goin’.”
While she didn’t know everything about this man, she knew he had no filter. Sig’s comments shouldn’t surprise her.
“Well, I later find out this guy was a recent widower who had six children of various ages. His wife died while giving birth to number seven. We’re talking just a couple of months before he reached out to my mother online.” Another red flag. Who lost their wife and child and then was ready to date right away? Hell, not even date, marry another woman he hardly knew. Crazy.
“Fuck,” Sig muttered.
“Yes, well. He lives in a community which believes the more children you have the closer you get to God. At least, that’s what Mom said.”
