Page 63 of Never Let Go

I spread my hands on my thighs and rubbed them up and down to keep from saying something that would achieve nothing more than to hurt a grieving old woman more than she already was. “Was he always so proud?”

“No.” That faraway look came back into her eyes and she smiled. “Believe it or not, he was a wonderful man when I met him. I know you might not feel the same way, but he was still a wonderful man when he died. He simply didn’t always show it.”

I definitely didn’t feel the same way, but I also didn’t feel the need to confirm it for her. Instead, I kept quiet and let her talk. “When his father passed away, he inherited a lot of money. It was so important to him to take it seriously, to build a business that would become an empire and to become a real pillar of the community.”

“So the money went to his head?” I wanted to scoff again, but I didn’t. “Isn’t that a story for the ages?”

She brought her gaze back to mine and nodded slowly. “The money was important to him, but so were social standing and appearances. When your mother chose your father, he couldn’t handle the embarrassment of her seeing someone outside of our social circle. Unfortunately, that embarrassment only got worse when people found out she had chosen him over us.”

“Do you blame her for it?” I asked curiously, needing to know whether I should just leave. At this point, it felt like maybe that would be the right thing to do, but when she shook her head and the look in her eyes became honest and serious, I settled back in again.

“I regret not standing up for my daughter, Foster. I also regret not standing up to my husband. It broke my heart to lose not only her, but also the opportunity to know you. Ever since the day you were born, all I’ve wanted was to be there for all of you. It’s the greatest regret of my life to know that I wasn’t.”

As I stared back at her, I took a deep breath and realized again that this was a conversation she should be having with my mom. While I knew that I was probably an easier “in” than Mom herself, I had no business being in the middle.

Instead of responding to her, I inclined my head at the phone on the table next to her. “Why don’t you call her?”

Priscilla blinked at me, her cheeks flushing. She shook her head. “I doubt she’d take my call, Foster.”

“She will, but you’ll have to be honest with her. You’d have to talk about the hard stuff and not shy away from it if she becomes emotional.”

After a few more minutes of back and forth, I watched as she picked up the phone and then I stood. “I’ll leave you to speak to her in private. Thanks for the invitation. I hope I’ll see you again soon.”

She seemed surprised, but then she gave me a small smile. “Thank you for encouraging me to do this. You’re right, of course. She is the one I should be speaking to, but it’s been lovely speaking to you as well, Foster. Do you think your brother might come for coffee sometime?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll ask.”

She nodded. “Ruben will see you out.”

As if he’d been summoned, he appeared in the door, but I hung around until my mom picked up the phone. Although the few snippets of the conversation I heard as I left were tense, I hoped this was the first of many conversations they would have.

It was clear to me that they both had strong feelings about what had happened, but right now, the cause of everything bad was dead and they still had a chance to repair their relationship. Once I got into my car, I called Porter to give him a heads-up about what I had just facilitated.

At first, he seemed shocked that Mom had answered the call, but then I heard the smile in his voice. “Let’s hope they make up. It’d be nice for us to have more family in our lives and it’d be pretty cool if our future kids had a great-grandmother who was actually involved, don’t you think?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, it would be, but all of that is a long way off, unless you’ve got something you need to tell me.”

“Nah, but soon, I hope,” he said. “What about you? Think you’ll have kids with this Amanda girl?”

“I hope so. She’d be an amazing mother, but I haven’t even met her yet, so let’s not get our hopes up too much, okay?”

He laughed. “You’re meeting her soon and my hopes are sky high, brother. Just don’t fuck it up.”

I groaned. “I wasn’t going to, but now, I just might. Did you have to say that?”

I turned over my engine and drove away from my grandmother’s house while speaking to Porter over my car’s Bluetooth system. Worry nagged at my gut as I left though, wondering if I should’ve stayed to help Ruben with damage control if the conversation didn’t go as well as Porter and I were hoping it would.

But then I remembered that thought I’d had earlier about how she was so much stronger than she looked and I knew I’d done the right thing. So instead, I turned my attention back to my own conversation with my brother and wondered if I was ever going to get the opportunity to find out if Amanda was going to be the best mom ever.

30

SHELBY

I met Ashley at the mall near her house at noon, and she beamed at me, holding out a coffee she must’ve grabbed on her way. “Sustenance so you can’t complain that you need it within the next ten minutes.”

I chuckled. “You know me too well, but I really do hate shopping. Do you want to grab some lunch before we get started?”

“Nope. We’re diving into this right away,” she said stubbornly. “We’re on a schedule, and besides, if we eat before we find you a dress, you’ll claim that you look bloated in everything.”