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“…so responsible,” she finished. “I had no control over your father, but still…”
“You don’t have to explain anything to me,” I said. “I get it. I get it more than you know.”
“I know you do, Bryce. If I’d never married him—”
“Then I wouldn’t exist, and neither would Henry. Don’t go there, Mom.”
“I try not to. You and Henry are everything to me. It’s hard sometimes, though.”
“I know.” Boy, did I ever.
“I’ll miss you, honey.”
“I’ll miss you too, Mom. And I’ll miss Henry something fierce.” Truth was, I’d been missing him already.
But this was for the best.
I left my mother to her packing, went back in the nursery to kiss my sleeping son, and then walked out to the deck to enjoy the evening—as much as I could, anyway.
Joe and I hadn’t finished our discussion. How were we going to communicate when we weren’t at work? I had no idea. Maybe the Spider would know a way to do that.
Could I contact him? I pulled my phone out and logged in to the new account Joe had set up. Nothing was in the account, at least not that I could see offhand. On a whim, I checked the trash bin.
And I found a gold mine.
Joe and the Spider had emailed back and forth this evening…and he hadn’t told me. It was in code—a code I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t like Joe to keep things from me. Could I wait until tomorrow at the office to confront him about this?
No. I couldn’t.
I quickly told my mom I was going over to Joe’s for a little while, got into the Mustang—tomorrow I was selling this damned car—and made my way to Joe’s home on the ranch.
His and Melanie’s house was smaller than the sprawling main ranch house, but not by much. I got out o
f the car quickly, and—
My heart jammed against my sternum.
Marjorie was walking out of the house.
I could get back in my car and drive away before our inevitable encounter. Yeah. That was what I should do.
Instead, though, I got out of the car and walked toward her.
She stopped suddenly when she met my gaze. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same,” I said.
“I had to talk to Melanie.”
“I have to talk to Joe.”
She nodded. “He’s out back on the deck. I’ll get out of your way.”
Let her go, I said to myself. Just let her go.
Instead, “Is everything okay?”
“Sure. Fine.”
