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“Why? He never cared about us before.”
“Because it’s her right, Zeke!” God, he was so stubborn! If it wouldn’t hurt her more than it would hurt him, she’d seriously kick him in the shin.
“I know you don’t get this, Mimi, because you grew up with a mother and a father and yeah, I know, your Mom can be a whack job on occasion, but it doesn’t change the fact that she acts the way she does because she loves you. They didn’t leave you. They didn’t run out on you and Luke, so sorry, but I don’t think you have the right to tell me how I should feel about this. And I know you love Allie, but she’s my family. She’s my responsibility. And I’m not about to let that mother fucker screw with her head. Got it?”
“So, what? That’s it? You’re the only one who has a say in all this?”
“Basically, yeah.”
She wanted to scream the house down. It took all she had not to. “So, where does that leave us?”
He blinked. “It doesn’t have anything to do with us. Like I said, I’m getting a restraining order on this guy. Let me take care of it. He’s not your problem.”
The crazy thing was, he actually believed what he was saying.
“At least now that it’s out in the open we can talk to the counselor about this and see what she thinks,” Mimi said.
“The counselor? I’m not talking to her about this.”
“But you’re the one who wanted to go back! You even made an appointment.”
“Yeah, but not to talk about my daddy. It was supposed to be about us.”
“Don’t you see? Your dad is about us. I’m your wife. I’m supposed to be your partner, the person you trust more than anyone else in the whole wide world. If I was going through something like this, you would be the first person I would tell. You’d be the person I wanted to help me get through this. Aren’t I…that person for you?
“It’s not the same thing.”
“But it is.” She hated how her voice cracked. She was losing him. Right here in front of her and there was nothing she could do to bring him back.
“So what does this mean? Either I step in line like some good little soldier and go to counseling with you so we can talk about how I feel about my father, or what?” he demanded.
“Or…” she shook her head. “Or I don’t know what. But I’m not going to be with you this way. And you need to tell Allie. You’re making a big mistake there, Zeke. Believe me, she’ll find out about this one day and she’ll never forgive you.”
“There’s where you’re wrong. Number one, she’s never going to find out, and number two, she doesn’t want to see him so I’m saving her the trouble of telling him to go to hell.”
“And you know all this for a fact?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Well, good for you. I guess that makes you smarter than me.”
He shook his head and scooped up the car keys he’d dropped on the kitchen counter last night. “I think we’re through here. If you need me for anything I’ll be at the cabin.”
“Great. Yeah, thanks.”
She waited till she heard the door close to let the tears fall. He was impossible! She knew he would react this way. The thing was, she was hurting, yes, because he was her husband and he’d shut her out, and boy, that did not feel good. But she was also hurting for him. For that thirteen-year-old boy who’d never forgiven his father for abandoning him. She wanted to help him. But she couldn’t. Not if he wouldn’t let her.
The whole thing would be so easy if she didn’t love him. Or if she only loved him a little. If she was content to let him come back home and pretend that everything was all right. But she would never be satisfied with just a part of him. It hurt too damn much.
She was more in love with him now than she’d ever been. And therein lay the problem. If she didn’t have one hundred percent of Zeke Grant, then she didn’t want any of him.
Monday morning Mimi walked into police headquarters with her arms loaded down with baked goods. There were cookies—chocolate-chip, sugar, oatmeal raisin and peanut butter, a couple of pies, four loafs of fresh bread, brownies, and Rusty’s favorite magical coconut bars (with extra coconut). Mimi knew they were his favorite because she made them every year for the office Christmas party and he always ate so many that he got sick.
Not that she wanted Rusty to get sick. She just wanted to show her gratitude to everyone who’d come out to help her. And homemade cookies and treats were the best way she could think to do that.
Zeke had been gone all of five minutes Saturday morning when she began pulling out the baking sheets from her kitchen cabinets. She’d been angry (at him) and mortified (at herself). Half of Whispering Bay’s emergency services had been at her house because she’d called to report a possible break in by two horny armadillos. The National Enquirer couldn’t have come up with a better story.
Of course, she hadn’t known who was making that God awful noise when she’d called, but it didn’t matter. The end result would still be the same. By Saturday afternoon, the whole town would know her business. And thanks to Mrs. Manley from across the street, they would also know that Zeke had spent the night. Somehow, baking always made everything better.
