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“Any word on the other matter?” Sam refused to say the wordsmotherorNicolettain his presence.
“I heard she’s called a flashy local lawyer. He’s all about playing to the media and will probably plead her case in the court of public opinion by stating that her son the president would rather let his mother rot in jail than offer any kind of help.”
“You have to stay strong.”
“That’s what everyone says.”
Every indication of playfulness and fun was now gone, and in its place, the wounded young boy he’d once been remained. Sam hated Nicoletta for what she’d done to him. For what shecontinuedto do to him. “What doyousay?”
He poked at the food on the plate with his fork, seeming a million miles away. “I could get her a real lawyer. I could get Andy involved.” He was one of Nick’s closest friends and an attorney.
Sam wanted to yellNO!to that, but she bit her tongue and let him talk.
“I look like an asshole for letting her sit in jail when I could help her.”
She rolled her lips together to keep words that could add to his pain from spilling out.
“What do you want to say?” he asked, glancing up at her.
The hurt she saw in his eyes enraged her. “I can’t tell you how to handle this situation. You have to do what you think is best.” She reached across the table to take his hand. “You’re the best man I’ve ever met.”
“Skip was the best man you ever met.”
Sam shook her head. “He was an amazing man, but even he did things that I didn’t agree with, such as letting Cameron Fitzgerald off on murder charges while trying to protect his dead partner’s widow. I mean, I get why he did it, but he shouldn’t have risked his own career and reputation to protect her. You wouldn’t have done that.”
“We can’t possibly know that.”
“You always do the right thing, even by people who don’t deserve it.” She paused, considering her words carefully. “The only other thing I’ll say is that any time you let her into your life, you regret it because you’re forced to confront the fact that she cares only about herself. She will never care about you the way a mother should, and every time you have to come to that conclusion all over again, you lose a little piece of yourself. I can’t stand watching that happen.” She took a sip of her wine. “So yeah, that was more than I meant to say.”
He smiled, but it wasn’t the usual dazzling event she was used to. “You’re right. As always.”
“It’s hard for you to ignore her because even after everything she’s put you through, you’re still a good and loyal son who feels like he needs to fix things for a mother who never fixed anything for him.”
“That’s it exactly.”
“I have no idea how you managed to grow up to be the kind, thoughtful, caring, loving man you are when you were raised by wolves. She doesn’t deserve you.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
“But if you feel the need to help her, I will never judge you, and I’ll never think less of you. I promise.”
“Thank you for that. It matters.”
“You have to be able to live with yourself.”
“That’s the part I’m finding difficult. Look at where I am while she’s sitting in a jail cell.”
“You’re here because you made different choices for your life than she did—and no thanks at all to her. You went from nothing to this, thanks to your own grit and determination and years of hard work that no one ever saw. While you were doing that, she was finding ways to rob and steal and grift and shake down her only child for money, all because she thinks the world owes her something. That’s the difference between you and her, and the current circumstances are what they are because of the choices each of you made.”
“Yeah.”
“Please tell me you know that you’re not in any way responsible for her.”
“I do know that, but at the end of the day, like you said, I’m her only child.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to forget I ever met her.”
