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“I wouldn’t go that far. We had one crazy night. That doesn’t mean it’s forever.”
“But it could be?” Katie asked hopefully.
Cindy was almost afraid to let herself go there, like if she gave it too much importance, she might be setting herself up for disappointment. “I just don’t know.”
“Where is he?” Julia asked.
“At a meeting.”
“Is it the eight a.m. meeting at the church that Jeff goes to by any chance?” Katie asked.
“Yes.”
“It’s good that he still went, even after being up all night,” Katie said.
“He never misses a day.”
“That’s important.”
“You guys… I really like him. Like, really, really like him, but it’s all so…”
“Big?” Julia asked.
“It could be.”
Julia nodded as she released a wistful sigh. “I remember what that was like when Deacon came swooping into my life and became the most important thing over the course of a few days and how terrifying that was.”
“That’s a good word for it,” Cindy said. “Terrifying.”
“We all have good reason to be terrified of making a bad decision in the partner department,” Katie said.
“Yeah,” Cindy said. “Exactly.”
“Don’t you think you’d know in your gut if he was someone you needed to be worried about?” Julia asked. “You with all your intuition and all that.”
“I’d like to think so,” Cindy said, “but Mom didn’t know what she was getting until it was far too late. That’s what is so scary about taking this kind of risk with someone. You just never really know.”
“We’re not Mom,” Julia said. “We know what to look for in a way that she didn’t, since she had never been exposed to what we were.”
“That’s true,” Katie said. “We do know more. It never would’ve occurred to her that the nice young officer she met at a dance was a monster. We’re wired to expect the worst while hoping for the best.”
“How do you ever really know, though?” Cindy asked.
“With Shane, it wasn’t just how he treated me, it was how other people responded to him,” Katie said. “He was obviously well loved and respected by his family and friends.”
“Jace doesn’t really have much in the way of family, and he hasn’t been here long enough to make a lot of close friends,” Cindy said. “Although everyone at the bar loves him.”
“For me, it was how Deacon treated Pupwell and then seeing him with his nieces. He was so sweet and cute with them.”
“You just have to put in the time and be vigilant,” Katie said. “No one is perfect, but we can’t go into every new relationship thinking that all men are monsters. We know that’s not true.”
“No,” Cindy said, “but enough of them are that I’m never sure who I can trust.”
“But look at Mom,” Julia said. “If she can take a second chance on love, then surely the rest of us can take a chance, too.”
“I think about that a lot,” Katie said. “The way she is with Charlie is like meeting her for the first time, the person she was always meant to be rather than the person she became to survive being married to Dad.”
“That’s a good way to put it,” Julia said. “I love who she is with Charlie. Watching her take that chance with him inspired me to give Deacon a shot. And I’m so glad I did. He’s the best thing ever.”
