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“You behaved foolishly.”
Shep glanced over his shoulder, finding his mother entering the room with a small baggie of ice wrapped in a tea towel.
“Here, put this on your hand.”
He accepted the ice and placed it on his knuckles, gritting his teeth against the pain cutting across his fingers. “Thanks.”
Mom settled in next to him, staring out the window. “Nash wouldn’t tell me much, but he did say that Emma’s ex-boyfriend was at her house. I take it that didn’t go over well?”
“Not exactly,” Shep grumbled.
“Shep,” Mom rebuked. “Emma needs you strong, not losing your temper.”
Shep snorted. “Believe me, he deserved far worse than he got, and if I had lost my temper, he would be in the hospital or the morgue right now.”
Silence settled in, and Shep knew his mother was examining him. She finally pressed a hand on his arm and asked, “Are you looking so miserable because of Emma or because of having to sell the land?”
“Does it matter?”
“Of course it does,” she said. “Because if it’s Emma, then that’s one conversation—”
He stopped that thought in its tracks, not wanting to discuss Emma with his mother. “Right now, I’m only thinking about you.” Which was a half-truth. Emma was there, strong on his mind too.
Jenny’s heavy sigh sounded weighted with a thousand worries. “You can’t always glue the world back together again, Shep. Things sometimes are going to fall apart, and you have to let them.”
He glanced down at her, spotting the warm affection in her expression. “I’m not good at letting things fall apart.” It went against the grain. He fixed, that’s what he did. He ensured his family was safe an
d happy and thriving. That was his purpose. For the first time ever in his life, he couldn’t control shit, and the ground felt rocky beneath him.
His mom gave a soft smile. “Well, then, you need to learn how to let go and not try to control everything around you. You can’t take the world onto your shoulders. Your father did it. Now you’re doing it. It’s not good for anyone to take on too much. This is life. Sometimes things fall apart.”
“Not in my life,” he stated.
She laughed quietly, then cupped his face. “You’re not going to listen to me, are you?”
“What are you trying to say? Then I’ll decide if I’m going to listen to you.”
“Just breathe, Shep, that’s all you need to do right now. These trying times will pass over, and we’ll still be standing at the end of it.” Her eyes grew teary, and he reached for her hand, comforting her, as she added, “Learn from your father’s mistakes. Keeping secrets, holding too much in, does nothing good for anyone. You don’t need to protect me. That’s not your job, son. That’s my job as your mother.”
He gave her a soft smile. His mother had always been strong. “And you’re very good at your job,” he told her.
She glanced out to the view he’d been looking at, then said, “Emma will come to you.”
Wishful thinking, maybe. “What makes you think that?”
“Because when you’ve experienced love . . . true love, you can see it anywhere. That’s what you and Emma have. I saw it written all over your face when I first met Emma, and I saw it all over Emma’s, too.”
He glanced down then arched an eyebrow at her. “We’ve known each other for days, Ma. She was with this guy for a year. It’s not that simple.”
“Love doesn’t know time. When it’s right, it’s right.” She gave him a sweet motherly smile and patted his arm again. “She’ll come for you. Trust me. Her heart will bring her here.”
Shep didn’t know about that, but suddenly some of the tension inside began to leave him in the comfort of his mother. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her in close. “Tell me about you right now. Are you all right?”
“I have you boys. Of course I’m all right.” She leaned up and he dropped his head, getting closer to her while she kissed his cheek.
Emma had told him that exact same thing. He drew in a deep breath, fighting against all the things he wanted to do, watching his mother return to the kitchen. He glanced out the window again, staring at a bird flying from the mature oak tree.
“Mom’s right, you know,” Chase said from the doorway. “She’ll come to you.”
