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“Makes for easy cleanup.” He slid into the chair at the opposite end of the table from her and unwrapped his sandwich.
She settled into her seat and popped open the tab on her cola. “No wonder you don’t have dirty dishes stacked in your sink.”
“I’ve always hated doing dishes, or any other housework for that matter, so I’m always looking for ways to make my life easier in that way.” He lifted his beer to his lips for a drink.
She was gratified to see him finally relax with her, and knew their light, unthreatening conversation was what was putting him at ease. “Did enough housework as a kid, huh?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said as a reminiscent gleam appeared briefly in his eyes. “More than I care to remember.”
Just like her, he’d grown up without a mother, and she imagined life had been difficult at times for him and his siblings. And with Cole being the oldest, most of the household chores would have fallen to him. “Well, I’m definitely impressed, because your house is always spotless.”
“I have a housekeeper who comes once a week,” he admitted after swallowing a mouthful of pastrami. “I’m on my own the rest of the time, which is why I’m extra careful about the messes I make.”
She laughed, and his gaze met hers, filled with a warmth and awareness that tickled her tummy and stirred reminders of last night’s kiss. Not ready to shatter the easy moment between them with a reminder of the attraction he was fighting, she picked up her fork for a bite of potato salad and shifted to another casual topic. “So, how is everything going with the MacGregor custody case?”
He took advantage of the switch to business-related conversation. “As good as can be expected, considering what I’m dealing with. The guy wanting custody of his kid is a prior felon, and from what his ex-girlfriend has told me, he’s got an explosive temper and has no business being alone with their little boy. I’m hoping the evidence we’ve collected against him helps to keep her son with her and only gives her ex chaperoned visitation rights.”
“That’s such a sad situation,” she said, feeling a twinge of sympathy for the mother who was trying so hard to protect her son—at any expense. “Then again, being fought over by two parents has to be awful for the child, too.”
“It’s painful for everyone involved,” he said, his tone low and gruff.
She regarded him thoughtfully from across the table. “You say that as if you’ve had experience in the matter.”
“I have.” His fork stilled over his potato salad as he looked up at her, his composed expression masking deeper emotions. “My parents were divorced before my mother died.”
Regret rippled through her. “I’d forgotten. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He shrugged his broad shoulders as if the matter was insignificant, yet the slight clench to his jaw told a different tale. “It was a long time ago.”
Despite his dismissive tone, she had a very strong feeling that his parents’ separation had affected him more than he was willing to admit. To himself or to her. “I can attest to the fact that growing up without a mother is extremely difficult, but having divorced parents has got to be just as traumatic—unless, I suppose, it’s an amicable split.”
“It wasn’t,” he said succinctly, and took a long drink of his beer before continuing. “My mother was having an affair and divorced my father for the other guy, whom she married. If that wasn’t enough of a shock for my father to deal with, my mother fought for and won custody of Joelle, who was five at the time, and took her to Arizona to live with her and her new husband.”
Melodie stared at Cole in stunned disbelief. Mothers gaining primary custody of their children during
a divorce wasn’t unheard of, but to only fight for one child seemed odd to her. “Just Joelle?”
“She’s the only one my mother wanted,” he said, unmistakable traces of bitterness threading his deep voice.
Her heart constricted with compassion, which she kept to herself, knowing Cole wouldn’t appreciate her expressing such a sympathetic emotion on his behalf. “What about you and Noah?”
“We lived with my father, which is exactly where we wanted to be since my mother wasn’t exactly the nurturing type.” He pushed his fork through his potato salad but didn’t take a bite. “At the time of the divorce, Jo was only five and very confused about what was happening to her and the family. It was extremely tough to stand by and let my mother take her away from us when we knew she only wanted Jo to hurt my father even more than she already had. And her ploy definitely worked, on all of us, not that she cared that her two sons were affected by her actions.”
Melodie set aside her half-eaten sandwich and exhaled a slow, deep breath, blown away by all she was learning of Cole’s tumultuous past. “I take it Jo came back to live with you, Noah, and your father when your mother died?”
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t as simple as that. My father had to fight for custody of Joelle again, this time against my mother’s new husband.” His mouth twisted with an ironic smile. “Peter held on to her for a good six months, until a judge ordered him to return Jo to my father because he had no rights and he wasn’t her legal guardian.”
“Wow, I had no idea.” She tucked her loose hair behind her ear and tipped her head. “Between your parents’ divorce and your mother and father’s deaths, you’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?”
“I’d like to think I managed okay, despite my less-than-ideal childhood,” he said a bit defensively. “And my sister and brother turned out okay, too.”
“You did a great job, Cole,” she told him softly, sincerely. “With Jo and Noah, and even for yourself.”
“That’s because I had a lot of people who helped me out along the way, your father especially.” Finished with his dinner, he swiped a napkin across his mouth and tossed it onto his plate. “I owe him more than I can ever repay for taking me under his wing after my father’s death. He’s the main reason I’ve done so well with my investigative business, thanks to the connections he set me up with in the beginning.”
“He thinks very highly of you,” she said, wanting to reassure Cole of her father’s unconditional support.
“The respect is mutual.”
