Page 43 of Between the Lines

“It is,” she said carefully. “Why do you sound like it’s bothering you?”

He exhaled, and she could hear him shift, like he was pacing. “I don’t love it.”

Blaise closed her eyes for a moment and lay down on the bed. She opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling. Beau woke up and came to snuggle. “Well, thanks for that vote of confidence.”

“Mom, I didn’t mean...” His voice softened. “I’m not saying it’s bad. It looks good. Professional. I just, I don’t know about you putting yourself out there again.”

Again. There it was.

She didn’t say a word, just waited for him to get the rest of it out of his system.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to make yourself so…accessible,” Evan went on. “What if someone actually contacts you?”

“Then I might get a job out of it. A paying job.”

“And you might not. Look what happened the last time you trusted someone. It didn’t go well. I just don’t want to see you get taken advantage of. Or hurt. Or…used.”

Blaise let out a slow breath through her nose and tried to maintain her patience. “I appreciate that you’re worried about me,” she said. “I really do. But this isn’t the same thing.”

“How is it not?” he asked. “You’re making yourself visible. You’re inviting attention. Literally.”

“I’m making an effort to get work in an attempt to make my financial situation a little more livable,” she said. “And I’m doing it on my terms this time. I’m not signing anything blindly. I’m asking questions. I have people in my corner this time. I even have an attorney I can call.”

“That doesn’t mean you won’t get hurt.”

“No,” Blaise agreed. “It doesn’t. But avoiding everything that carries risk isn’t living, either. You don’t know what it’s like to be my age and have to think about where every penny goes.”

There was silence on the line. She refused to be the first one to break it.

“I just don’t want to see you hurt. Or disappointed,” Evan said finally.

“I know,” she said. “And I love you for that. But disappointment isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a person. Wondering what if? That’s definitely worse.”

He didn’t say anything right away.

Something nudged at her. The same question she’d had when he’d first called. “Evan,” she said. “How did you even find my website? It’s only just launched.”

Another pause. Longer this time.

“I—well,” he said, and she could hear the hesitation now, clear as day. “I have Google Alerts set up. For your name.”

She sat up and her jaw dropped. “You what?”

“It’s not like I’m stalking you,” he said quickly. “It’s just alerts. If your name pops up somewhere new, I get a notification. I set it up a while ago. After everything that happened. It felt like the right thing to do.”

Blaise straightened. “You didn’t think to tell me?”

“I didn’t think it was a big deal,” he said. “I was just keeping an eye out. Making sure nothing weird was going on.”

“I don’t need you monitoring me,” she said, more sharply than she’d intended. She reined it in, but not all the way. “I’m your mother, Evan. Not your child. And certainly not someone who needs to be tracked. I made one mistake that, yes, had big consequences, but it could have happened to anyone.”

“I’m not trying to control you.”

“Really?” she said. “Because that’s what it feels like.”

The silence that followed was brittle.

“I did it because I care,” he said quietly.