AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Addy shook her head. “Since two days ago when I decided to stop overthinking my life.”
“And this has to do with this Lucas fellow?” her mother asked, reaching out to touch Addy again but then catching herself and tucking her hand back into her lap.
Maybe it did. Addy wasn’t sure. All she knew is she felt as if she’d been walking through her life with her eyes closed. Sure, she’d told herself a million times she was free of Robbie, but she’d been lying. The fear he’d given her was still there, despite SOV. She used that fear conveniently, driving away people who got close enough to hurt her. But with Lucas, she wanted to say to hell with being afraid, to hell with protecting her heart.
“No, it’s not him as much as it is me, Mom. I need to let go before it’s too late.”
Addy’s father had chatted up Shelia, ranting about the LSU baseball team’s ranking in the top twenty, but now he ambled over to where Addy stood scrubbing the counters like a demon possessed. “Let go of what? And who’s this guy you mentioned? Is he Catholic?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t asked.”
Neither of her parents said anything.
“That’s your biggest concern?” Addy gave a wry laugh. Jeez, her parents were a piece of work, but she did love them. “He’s Ben Finlay’s brother and he’s taking care of their children while they deal with some personal issues. He’s a bit overloaded with three kids, so Aunt Flora and I have been helping out a bit.”
Her mother’s shoulders sank. “So just friends, huh?”
“At the very least. He’s a great guy, but he’ll be going back to Texas soon.”
“Texas?” Her dad snorted, with a disgusted expression. “Figures.”
Addy bit her lip. Her father thought anyone north of Baton Rouge and west of Lake Charles not worthy of spit. Born in the Irish Channel, raised on shrimp boats in the swamps around Lake Pontchartrain, and returned back to New Orleans East to rebuild what Katrina had destroyed, her father was a proud Y’at. Louisiana born and bred, with a decidedly snobbish tendency to think the world existed only around New Orleans. “Yeah, it’s a big ol’ state you run into if you get on I-10 and drive west. Eventually, you’ll hit a little town called Houston.”
“Watch it, smarty pants,” her dad drawled.
“I know you’re here to check on me, but I’m doing fine. I can’t control Robbie or what he does once he gets out, and I’m not spending my life-”
“Shoot us because we worry about you,” her mother interrupted, standing and pressing her hands down her bright red skinny jeans. “We’re only doing our job which never stops no matter how old you are.”
“I know, Mom. But you can’t control the world any more than I can.” Addy reached for the hand her mother had clasped behind her back and gave it a squeeze.
“I’ve decided we’re paying for an alarm system for Flora’s house,” her father said.
“Dad, you can’t just decide that.”
“I can and it will be done. Your mother’s already talked to Flora, and we’ve scheduled the guy to come out on Monday. Flora’s going to meet with him because I’m going to the hearing.”
“Dad, you don’t have to-”
“I know I don’t, but you and a frail old woman are all alone in that big house. Hell, you just admitted your neighbors are out of pocket, and that weasel weirdo on the other side is never home.”
“Troy? He owns a bar and keeps odd hours is all. And he’s a nice guy. Tattoos don’t make you a weasel weirdo, Dad.”
“All the same.”
Addy crossed her arms. “I don’t like to be managed.”
“I know you don’t, sugar,” her mother said, “and that’s not what we’re doing. Your father won’t sleep once that man is out, and if, God grant our wish, he’s not, it’s not a bad idea to have added security. Should have been done long ago.”
“It’s too much money for y’all. Let me cover it.”
Her father wagged his graying head and crossed his arms over his barrel chest. “I ain’t rich, but I got enough to cover it, cher. Now no more arguments, or I’ll turn you over my knee.”
Addy opened her mouth, but her father’s soft, “I need to do this, darlin’” stopped her.
“Fine. Put in an alarm system if it makes you feel any better.”
“It does. If you had a husband like Gigi and Caro, I wouldn’t worry as much, but what can Flora do? Scare a robber off with her crazy-looking clothes? Do some”—he glanced at her mother—“what’s that crap she does called?”
