“A private investigator. I wanted to make sure you were okay. You’re my son.” She smiled sadly. “You may think we don’t love you, Toby, but we will never stop loving you, no matter what your mistakes are.”
He shook his head. “I killed Andy, Mom.”
She pursed her lips together. “It wasn’t on purpose.”
“I got drunk and crashed the car and I fucking killed him. I went to jail for it. Six months, don’t you remember that?” He turned his head toward me, and I realized he was talking to me. He wantedmeto know what had happened. This was his way of telling me. “He went through the windshield. I crawled to him and begged him to wake up. He didn’t.”
I rested my forehead against his temple and whispered, “It’s okay.”
“And Morgan was paralyzed because of that accident. Daniel killed himself.”
“Daniel had other issues,” Jeanie argued, her tone growing serious, like a true mama bear ordering her child to listen. “His marriage broke down and his wife left. She took the children to Los Angeles where she shacked up with a rich silver fox. Daniel was a wandering soul, Toby, and no one could help him, no matter how much we tried.”
“I didn’t know that.” He touched my hand and dragged it against his chest like I was his security blanket. I’d be whatever he needed. I gave his hand a squeeze. “Daniel blamed himself for the accident, too.”
“I know.” Her face softened and she smiled at me, gratefulness in her eyes. She was thanking me for being there for him. “He confessed to me after you left. Begged me to tell you to forgive him. I never did.” Her bottom lip wobbled and she took a sip of her coffee, her hand shaking as violently as her mouth. “I should have called you. I should have given him your number. He needed you to hear him out, but I was so protective of you. I thought if he called, it would make you spiral out of control. You were in a good place with the motorcycle club, as far as I knew. I couldn’t let him ruin that for you.”
I could relate to that. Family came first, no matter what.
“Yeah. I don’t know how I would’ve reacted if he’d called,” Thor said, jaw tight.
She nodded. “I know. I will always be your mother, and that meant protecting you when I could. I didn’t do a good job when you were here. I was trying to make up for it by leaving you where you were happiest. If I had it my way, I would have dragged you home so you were at my side, but I wasn’t that selfish.”
He wrapped his hand around his mug and stared at it, like he didn’t know what to say to that. Silence filled the room, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable kind. It was almost as if Thor and his mother were happy to just be in each other’s presence.
I took a sip of my coffee and sighed as the warm liquid slid down my throat and settled in my belly.Perfect.
Thor gave me a small smile. “She used to own a coffee shop,” he murmured absentmindedly.
His mom chuckled. “I worked nearly every day in that place. I’d never forget how to make a good drink. I miss it sometimes.”
“Sometimes?” He grinned at her.
She shrugged. “Fine, all the time. It gave me a purpose.”
I took another sip and moaned in delight as the dark, chocolatey taste burst across my tongue. “Why did you quit? You’re obviously good at it.”
“Why thank you, Loki.” Pride flashed over her soft face as she saluted me with her mug. “When you have four kids, it gets to be a little much after a while.”
Thor shook his head. “You quit because of me. After the accident. No one wanted to go to a shop owned by the mother of the boy who killed the town’s favorite son.”
Her expression turned pained, and my heart ached for her—for both of them. “Oh, stop it, Toby. Not everything has to do with you.”
He nodded but clearly wanted to say more. I reached over and touched his wrist, and he darted a look in my direction. His eyes glittered with pain. I couldn’t resist kissing him on the lips, even though we were sitting in front of his mother. He leaned into my mouth with a happy sigh.
The sound of the front door opening broke us apart and raucous laughter and voices filled the hallway. Thor’s eyes widened and he stood abruptly, nearly knocking over the chair in the process. Jeanie exhaled and smiled apologetically at me just as two men, one I recognized as Thor’s dad, entered the kitchen.
His dad froze halfway through the door, jaw tight and eyes hard as he stared intently at Thor. The other man, who had to be Thor’s brother, was a younger carbon copy of their father. He had the same dark hair chopped close to his head in a military-style crew cut, identical brown eyes, and the same round face with a hard jaw.
“Tobias,” his father grunted out, straightening. “I didn’t think you’d visit.”
“Colonel,” Jeanie whispered, nudging her head in Thor’s direction. The message on her face told him to stop whatever he was doing. I hadn’t been around Thor’s family long enough to understand the dynamics, but I stood and stayed at his side, offering my support.
“Colonel,” Thor said, his shoulders stiffening. It took me a moment to realize he was calling his father that.
Colonel—what a strange name, even his wife called him that—crossed his arms, his stare blunt and deadly. There was something about him I didn’t like, an unfriendliness that made me shift even closer to Thor. Appearance wise, he looked very much like an army man, with a bulky body and a rigid stance. No warmth came with his posture and voice. “A funeral is the only thing that made you man up and come home?”
“Colonel!” Jeanie rushed forward and slapped his arm. “Enough. Your son is home. The least you can do is treat him with respect.”
