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“God, sis—” Seth broke off, concentrated on the road in front of him. He was frowning, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel.
“How could she do that to you?” He seemed to be talking more to himself than to her. “To think you’ve been carrying around that burden all these years....”
“It’s okay, Seth.” Susan placed her hand on her brother’s arm. “I survived.” She smiled over at him, showing him that she really was just fine. “If anything, Mom’s words set me free.”
“Only you would come up with that take on it.”
“It’s true.” She watched the trees whiz by, the fields of wildly growing weeds. “She took away the guilt I’d been feeling my whole life for bucking the system. For needing to make more of myself; for trying to be who I always knew I could be.”
“Maybe,” Seth grunted. “And maybe she’s to blame for your divorce. And for the fact that you’re now four months pregnant with fatherless twins.”
“Maybe.” She didn’t want to think about that. “But that’s not why I told you all this.”
She had a feeling he knew what she was getting at, but he didn’t say so.
“The point is, Seth, that if you quit your job—the work you love—you’ll never live life to its potential. Regrets will eat at you until you’re bitter inside, and sooner or later, they’ll explode on someone else.”
“Like Mom’s did on you.”
Parking at a restaurant a couple of blocks from Susan’s house, Seth stopped the Bronco, but he didn’t get out.
“You know the old saying that if someone gives you lemons you make lemonade?” Susan asked him.
“Yeah,” he answered grudgingly.
“Well, the lemons Mom gave me made some really good lemonade.”
Giving her one of his “do-we-really-have-to-do-this” looks, Seth waited for her to finish.
“Believe in yourself, Seth,” she told him, her gaze pleading with him to take her seriously. “Be strong, not only for you, but for those around you. Don’t settle. Ever. Anyway, if this woman really loves you, she won’t expect you to give up something that’s so important to you.” She had his attention. “For God’s sake, be whoever it is you need to be, ’cause if you don’t, chances are someone else is going to pay for sit.”
“WE WON.”
“I’m sorry.” Michael cursed himself for not coming up with anything more useful to say. He paced his hotel room, holding the phone in his hand, hating the confinement. He’d been in Denver far longer than he’d planned.
“When the trial was dragged out that extra week, I really thought Joe was onto something....”
Michael had been concerned about the extra waiting, what it was doing to Susan, physically and emotionally. “You can rest assured that the boy got the best legal care.”
“That poor little boy...”
Frowning; he worried about the despondency he heard in her voice. He hadn’t seen her in over a month.
“Don’t give up on him, Susan,” he said, hoping he wasn’t offering a bad suggestion. Perhaps it would be best if she just let go, went on, forgot. “You arranged for that funding for his surgery, you found Joe and there might be something else you can do.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
Michael made a quick decision. “I’m finishing up here in Denver tomorrow or the next day. How would you like to take a day or two off and have some fun?”
“What kind of fun?” His blood warmed at the sensual promise in her voice.
She was still Susan. Thank God. “Well, that, too,” he said, sitting down on the edge of his king-size bed. “We could make reservations at The Race Book.” On the Kentucky side of the river, The Race Book was the new hot spot at Turfway Park. “Or there’s a new Trekkie collectible shop in Louisville.”
“The Race Book would be fun.” She was sounding better already. “There’s no live racing going on this month, but I love the simulcasting. We can bet on a bunch of races at once.”
Yep. Still Susan, all right. One race wasn’t enough for her.
She had to take on ten at a time. “Let’s plan to go Friday.”
