I wasn’t interested in being cornered by my ex-high school boyfriend’s mom, probably to warn me away from her son.However, for the sake of politeness and to expedite both Vinny and I getting out of here, I opted to take the pie.Surely, this couldn’t take more than ten minutes.
My phone had one voicemail.I listened with a tight feeling in my chest, hoping it wasn’t another emergency.
“Hey, babe.You need to call me.It’s important,” Jay said, easy and familiar.Then, like it was the most natural thing in the world, “I went ahead and got your job reinstated up here.You’re scheduled back next Thursday.I’ll give you the details when you call.”
I deleted the message as fast as I could.I’d blocked him, hadn’t I?But I hadn’t blocked the Philly clinic’s number.
“Vinny fell asleep in front of the TV,” Mrs.Hust announced when I walked in.She slid a whopping slice of pie my way across the marble kitchen countertop.It looked as if she had quartered the pie and served me one of the wedges.Then she jerked the piece back her way, took a can of whip cream out of the fridge, and squirted a softball-sized pile of white fluff on top.I almost complained that was far too much, but she gave me a look of expectancy as if a Michelin chef was about to judge her cooking.
I bit into a forkful of the sugary concoction.An explosion of sweet bliss lit up in my mouth.“This is… wow.I’d ask for the recipe, but I’m not much of a baker.That lattice on top?”I gestured with my fork.“That’s not dessert.That’s craftsmanship.”
She took a cold pack out of the freezer and handed it to me.
“What’s this for?”I asked.
“Where that idiot horse kicked you in the leg.”
“Thanks.”I tried to position my leg in the bar height chair where I could put the ice on it, but it was awkward.
Mrs.Hurst gathered her hair into a ponytail and leaned back against the marble countertop.“I’m worried about Josh.What’s your take on how he’s doing?”
“In what way are you worried?”Not at all what I expected from her.I braced myself, half waiting for the warning to keep my hands off him.
“He just seems…” She searched for the right word, eyes darting away.“I don’t know.Tired?Lost?Maybe even miserable?”
“Are you saying that’s my fault?”The words came sharper than intended, but I couldn’t catch them once they were out.
“No.’Course not.You just got back.He’s exhausted.”She added quietly, “With everything.All the time.”
“I don’t think he’s slept more than a few hours at a time in weeks.”I took another careful bite, trying not to let my jaw clench.I could feel Mrs.Hurst’s eyes on me, the weight of some unspoken purpose pressing in, but I had no idea what she was leading me toward.
“Maybe it’s lack of sleep,” she said noncommittally.“Whatever it is has been a problem for a few years.How are you, dear?I’m terribly sorry about your parents.It’s been a lot this past week or so for you, hasn’t it?”
“It has.”I’d never sleep if I ate the whole piece due to the toxically high sugar content, but it was so delicious that I couldn’t stop eating.
“Is Josh behaving himself at work?”Her tone was light but edged with curiosity.
“Behaving himself?”I echoed as my mind involuntarily flashed back to us kissing after the funeral—too hard, too desperate, too much.
She fiddled with the pie server.“We all saw what happened at the funeral reception.I was on my way out, but the librarian stopped me with something about our Thursday knitting group.Then suddenly you two were shouting.The next thing I knew, you both stormed out opposite doors.”
I forced myself to finish chewing my bite of pie.“I’m sorry that bothered you.”The apology felt thin.“He and I still have some issues we’re working through.”
“Which is why I’m asking.I talked to him at Sunday supper about it.The second I brought it up, he tore out of here.He never skips my pie.I love my son to pieces, but he’s a grown man who knows full well how to behave like one.You don’t go blowing up at a funeral reception.I raised that boy better than that.If he has a problem, instead of behaving like a child, he needs to use his words.Communicate.”
I bit back a giggle.“We haven’t had much of a chance to work together and see if we cancommunicatewithout fighting.”
“You know he’s out with Milly tonight, don’t you?”She put the pie away in the refrigerator.Her tone suggested she didn’t like her son dating Milly.
What?I froze with my next bite halfway to my mouth.She wasn’t going to warn me away from Josh?“Who he dates isn’t my business.”
She squinted at me as if looking for a hint of how I really felt.“She snubbed me at church last week.What kind of person does that when they’re trying to date my son?”
“Maybe she was nervous,” I said to remain neutral.
“I can’t tell how he feels about Milly.He only talks about you to me, mostly complaints.You’re the only person that I’ve ever seen make my son behave like a raccoon with its butt on a cattle prod.”
I couldn’t tell if that was good or bad, but a snicker escaped me at the imagery.“Maybe Milly is a calming influence on him.That could be good, right?”
