AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I carefully sat, unable to take my eyesoff ofher. It was still so strange to be in contact with her after all this time, without the presence of my friend or the hostility I'd once known. I keptexpecting forit to end, as if her true demeanor was just lying low, like a snake in the grass, waiting for the opportunity to strike.
Her eyes came back to mine. “Do you like it here?”
“I do. It was a little rough at first. People werekindascared of me, I think …” I laughed awkwardly, glancing toward the purple-haired woman behind the counter. “But it's gotten better.”
“Good.” Laura nodded. “Did you just come from work?”
I glanced down at the apron I'd forgotten to take off. “Oh …” A chuckle rumbled through my chest as I reached around my back to untie it. “Yeah.”
“What's The Fisch Market?”
“Local grocery store.” I took the apron off and draped it over the back of the chair. “I'm the assistant manager.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, wow. Good for you,” she said, clearly taken aback. “So, you're doing well for yourself here, I take it. And … so soon after …” She swallowed, not wanting to say the words I knew were hanging on the tip of her tongue.
“Yeah …” I laughed uneasily. “Ikindagot lucky for the first time in my life, so …”
There was that smile again. Affectionate. Compassionate. “Good for you, Soldier. Really, I'm so happy things are going well for you.”
“Thank you.”
A thought popped into my head. That she and my mother still lived in the same town, that they might be in contact. That Laura mightactually behere to fish for information—had I already revealed too much?
“What's wrong?” She must've noticed my sudden shift toward apprehension.
“Um …” I cleared my throat and glanced around the coffee shop—not at all busy and quiet, save for music in the air. “My mother doesn't know where I am, and I, uh … I really want to keep it that way.”
“Soldier, I don't have any contact with her at all.”
My eyes met hers with a gentle warning. “But in case you ever do, I want herknowingnothing. Not where I am, not where I work. I don’t want her knowing you’ve seen me at all.”
Her brows pinched with concern as she nodded softly. “I understand, and you have my word. Really, I haven't spoken to her in …” She inhaled deeply before shrugging with her exhale. “God, it must have been … five years, maybe six. I think the last time was when I saw her at my doctor's office. She was the secretary there, and …”
My interest was suddenly piqued, and I remembered that first visit from my mother while I had been at Wayward. She'd told me she had gotten a job at a doctor's office, one she seemed proud of.
“Never mind,” Laura said, waving her hand dismissively. “It's nothing—”
“Wait. Did she say something?” I interrupted. Because as much as I wanted nothing to do with my mother, my desperation to put these discombobulated pieces together couldn't be thwarted.
“Um …” She pinned her lips between her teeth as her brow remained crumpled with contemplation. “Well, she said hello, like we had always been great friends or something, and, uh … she asked how I was doing, and I didn't know what to say to that because … well, what could I say really?”
She lifted her eyes to mine and curled the corner of her mouth in an apologetic smile. Like she was sorry for not wanting to talk to the mother of the guy who had inadvertently taken her son from her.
“Anyway, what I really remember is that she asked if I had seen you.” She swallowed and folded her hands on the table, interlocking her fingers and gripping them tight. “Which I found odd. Not just because of the nature of the situation, but that she … she was whispering, like she didn't want anybody to know that she was asking. And when I told her no, she nodded and said, 'Good.’”
I narrowed my eyes with questions I knew she wouldn't have the answers to. “Good? Why the hell would she care if I was seeing you or not?”
Billy's mom shrugged. “Maybe because … I don't know because …” She was hesitating, and I looked at her expectantly, encouraging her to continue. So, she sighed and dropped her gaze as she concluded, “You didn't deserve it?” She said it like a question. Like she wasn't sure of it herself.
“Yeah,” I muttered, wiping a hand over mybeardand pinching my chin thoughtfully. “Maybe.”
“Anyway, she doesn't work there anymore, I don't think. I only saw her the one time, and that was so long ago.”
“Yeah, well, that's par for the course.”
The conversation lulled, and I cleared my throat before offering to buy us both a drink. She gratefully accepted before asking if I'd like money, but I declined. The least I could do was buy the woman afreakin' cup of coffee for driving all the way here.
So, I ordered and waited for Kylie to make our drinks. Billy's mom stayed at the table, and I turned from the espresso bar to glance at her. To drive home that this was real, that she was here, and we were … what? Rekindling seemed extreme, but she clearly cared for me, and that had to mean something, didn't it?
