AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We were getting serious now. “I cross my heart, whatever you say here is as sacred and secret as you tell me that it needs to be.”
As I said that, Eli walked into the house.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Lucas is going to help us figure out how to talk to Kandace.” I hoped that was right.
Lucas looked between us both. “Okay, so you didn’t hear this from me, except that I will tell her I told you but... Mom was raised in an interesting household. We’ll call her parents Grandma and Grandpa, but they never were to me. Grandpa insisted his kids be brought up Catholic. Educated Catholic. Live and breathe and die Catholic. He worked hard—too hard—and adored Grandma. He never told her no. She spent a lot of time doing whatever struck her fancy. Partying. Spending a few months at a time working on her college degree before dropping out. Starting random businesses…
“Those all sound like great things, except to Grandma, Mom was an obstacle that got in the way of having fun. Mom basically raised herself until Andrew came along. She won’t tell the story this way, but he knows what he was born into. He was Grandpa’s son, and basically became their only child. Mom raised him, too, because Grandma was too busy. When eighteen hit, Mom split as fast as she could.”
“Don’t blame her,” Eli muttered. The anger splashed across his face matched what boiled inside me.
“I think she felt bad about abandoning Andrew. He has a lot of Grandma in him, but he’s not oblivious. I think he realized that Mom—Kandace—was the glue keeping that family together. Even though she’d gotten her own place, he spent a lot more time with her than at home. She let him. He was just a kid and none of this was his fault.”
The more of this story I heard, the more my fury rose. How could anyone do that to their child, their children? Kandace deserved so much more than that. This made me love her more, too. Maybe that was the wrong reaction, but hearing about the kind of strength she had showed me she really was the woman I thought she was. Kind. Resilient. Incredible.
“Andrew told me all of this because he hates that they—their parents—stole Kandace’s life. She’s going to keep her distance from the two of you because she doesn’t want any of this to hurt me. Because she only knows how to look out for other people, not herself. I promise I’ll be fine, but you need to tell her how you feel,” Lucas said.
The expression on Eli’s face matched my turmoil. My anger and sadness. “We can’t tell her anything if she won’t talk to us,” he said.
“I think you need to tell her how you feel.” If one thing would get Kandace’s attention, it would be her son saying hey, mom, listen up. “I—we—will sweep her off her feet if she lets us, but Lucas, you have to tell her she needs to start living for her.”
Lucas’s brows bunched up and he twisted his mouth. “I guess I do.”
“You haven’t done that yet?” Eli sounded surprised.
“We’re close and all, but I don’t want to hurt her, either. I still need her, you know? She’s my mom. But I also want her to do good things for her.”
Another thing I adored about them was how close Kandace was with Lucas. I also knew, “You’re the center of her universe. If anyone can make her listen, make her understand, it’s going to be you,” I said. “She raised you to be independent. To be strong.” I couldn’t guarantee that, but it seemed pretty clear from his actions. “This isn’t you telling her you don’t need her. This is just the next step in growing up.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Lucas let out a light huff. “Can you travel with that thing?” He nodded at my cast.
“No,” Eli said.
Bullshit I couldn’t. “Yes.”
“Then be at Mom’s tomorrow a little after eleven in the morning. I’m making her brunch. I’ll tell her it’s important that if she likes you both, she needs to be with you, and then you can have her for the rest of the weekend.” Lucas paused with a frown. “Eww, me. Phrasing.”
I chuckled, but let the sound fade quickly. This was serious. “We’ll be there. Won’t we?” I looked at Eli.
He nodded. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Lucas wrote down the address for us, and we just had to pray that Kandace would hear us out.
29
kandace
I missedEli and Joystick so much that the feeling was a constant ache in my heart. I hadn’t called them back because I needed to break things off with them, but hadn’t found the strength to do so.
I worked late on Friday night, to keep my mind off the fact I was spending it by myself. When my phone rang a little after seven, andJonathanflashed on the screen, I wasn’t surprised. He was one of the partners based out of California, and he always put in long nights when his wife was out of the country on buying trips for her art gallery.
“Hey,” I answered, grateful for the distraction.
“Oh. Hey.” He sounded surprised. “I didn’t expect you to pick up.”
“Then why’d you call?”
