AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After that, she wasn’t able to work. So I picked up more shifts at the diner in Maravillo and sold my candles and lotions and soaps on the side, hoping one day that income would overshadow what I made waiting tables. But even with Mom’s disability checks, we couldn’t make enough to cover the mortgage and the taxes, which were over a thousand dollars a month.
When the bank foreclosed on the house, Dottie didn’t even hesitate to offer to take us in.
And thank goodness. In that, at least, the stars had finally aligned, bringing me back to Lindenbach, and to Sebastian.
“So you’re seeing him tonight?” Mom asked. I couldn’t tell from her tone how she felt about it.
“Yup.”
A pause. “You okay?”
“If I said yes, would you believe me?”
“Not a chance.”
“I’ve imagined it a million times in a trillion variations. How do you even say something like this? Just blurt it out? Is there a way to break it gently?”
“The word break implies probably not. The best you’ve got is probably a good news/bad news setup.”
“Is Priscilla the good news or the bad news?”
“Good news. The bad news is that you didn’t tell him.”
“Because I couldn’t find him.”
“You don’t have to defend yourself to me, honey. I’m just saying it’s not going to be easy.”
“Neither has being a single mom.”
“No, I understand that well enough. It’s our curse. Our men either die young or leave. So just make sure he’s healthy and isn’t going anywhere.”
“Sebastian? Stay still? All he’s ever done is try to get out of this town. And anyway, I don’t think it’s going to work out in the forever relationship sort of way.”
“Why not?”
“Because I didn’t tell him about Cilla. Because he never wanted kids. Because right now, in this moment, he’s not a dad. In a few hours, he will be. All because of me. And that’s on top of his divorce. The timing sucks. It’s always sucked.”
“That’s the spirit,” she deadpanned.
“It’s too complicated to have any illusions about what will come of us. My current concern is that he doesn’t hate me when he finds out.”
“Oh, I don’t think he could ever hate you. It’s not in his nature.”
“Yeah, well, I’m about to test that theory.”
We were quiet for a moment as we approached the house. I helped her up the front steps, my thoughts a whirl.
“After all this time,” she said. “He’ll finally know tonight, and you can go to sleep with a clean conscience.”
“I don’t know about clean.”
She nudged me and walked through the door I held open. “Maybe he’ll be happy. Maybe it’ll all work out. And if it doesn’t, well … you’ve been doing it this long alone.”
“I really am a kick ass mom, aren’t I?”
“Judging by the small fortune in the swear jar, I’d beg to differ.”
When I laughed, she turned to face me, her eyes and smile soft.
“You know how to be alone.”
“I’ve always had you, Mama. I’ve never been alone.”
Her eyes were a mirror of mine, her dark hair streaked with gray. But those eyes knew what it meant to be alone more than I ever would.
“Neither have I, because I’ve always had you. But I’m a poor substitute for Sebastian. Maybe you won’t have to do it alone anymore.”
I pulled her in for a hug so she couldn’t see my face. She couldn’t see the hope or the pain that came with the thought of Sebastian and I doing this together.
But that was nothing more than a dream.
And I wasn’t the kind of girl whose dreams came true.
4
By and By
PRESLEY
I had never been so nervous as I was standing on the front porch of the Vargas mansion with a confusing mixture of certainty that I was about to be permabanned, coupled with the hope that had inspired me to shave all my bits.
It really could go either way.
I took a deep breath and ran through my plan again. I’d played out dozens of conversations in my mind since I’d seen him earlier today, narrowing it down to one in particular, thanks to its concise and simple explanation. That is, assuming I didn’t just blurt it out like an idiot.
Minutes away from unloading my secret. No more telling Priscilla her dad was busy fighting crime in Metropolis, or that he was on a moon station collecting rock samples. Don’t worry—she didn’t believe me. It was a running joke in our family. Sometimes he swallowed knives with the circus. Sometimes he was a baseball hall of famer. Just depended on my mood.
But the jokes would finally be over. Assuming he wanted to meet Priscilla. And assuming he wanted to be involved in her life.
If not, he’d be fighting an intergalactic space battle in the Gamma Quadrant indefinitely.
I just had to survive the next few minutes, and—
The door opened with a whoosh, and framed in the threshold was Sebastian Vargas, smiling like he was the happiest man alive.
