Page 58 of Tied Over

Quick nod, and then she leaned to check, since both sides of the double doors had decorative glass. “Mommy!”

Once the heavy door was open, her mother, looking exhausted but impeccably attired, dropped to one knee, and Stella launched herself at her. I could see that Stella got her gorgeous curls from the woman who had the same cloud around her head. She had thick eyebrows, a great nose, flawless skin, great laugh lines, and the same deep, dark-brown eyes as her kid. Hugging and tears and laughter came quickly, which was nice to see and better to hear. Bodhi and I returned to cleaning until Stella led her mother into the kitchen.

“This is Jed and Bodhi,” she said happily. “You guys, this is my mom.”

We were not, I was thinking, what she was expecting, because she stared like we both had two heads or something. I got how it worked with him. The man was catch-your-breath beautiful, but how she was looking at me was odd.

“Hi. I… You’re younger than I thought,” she said to Bodhi, then to me, “and you’re older.”

“I get that a lot,” I teased her.

“I—thank you,” she said, breaking down.

I put my arm around her. “Everything’s okay, and Stella just finished making us breakfast.”

She hugged Bodhi next and wiped at her eyes. “Breakfast?”

“Pancakes,” Bodhi informed her, passing her some tissues so she could blow her nose. “And I don’t think we’re going to need lunch.”

“No,” I agreed. “Those suckers are gonna stick all day.”

Meredith laughed then, and that was a good thing.

I explained to Meredith what might happen with the Denver PD, and she appreciated my letting her know. Blindsided with that phone call would not have been good.

“It’s unlikely,” I explained, “but you need to be ready.”

She hugged me a little too tight over that—my chest was still sore—but I had never been one to turn down a hug.

I was surprised how happy everyone was to see Meredith. It looked to me like she’d been a fan favorite and everyone was sorry that she and Keith had gotten divorced.

“I would have picked you up,” Keith told his ex-wife, gently moving her curly black hair off her shoulder.

“It was early,” she replied softly, and I saw the warmth in her eyes. “I didn’t want to wake you, and I wasn’t sure if Vanessa was still here.”

He shook his head. “No. Vanessa won’t be here anymore.”

She tipped her head and looked at him.

“You were right.” He grinned at her. “She was too young for me.”

“It was the whole not knowing who Pearl Jam is, right?” she teased him.

“That’s right,” he agreed, laughing.

Bodhi took hold of my arm then and walked me out of the kitchen.

“What?”

“You’re watching them like they’re on TV.”

“It was just gettin’ good.”

He shook his head at me. “C’mon, you gotta take a shower.”

“You know I’m gonna need a vacation after my vacation if nobody lets me sleep.”

I got an exasperated huff. “You’re stalling.”