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“Well, tell him the truth then. Tell him that me and your dad took care of TJ.”
“No.” Steel firms my resolve. “If it ever gets out, and Redix knows the truth, he’s an accessory, then you and Dad have one more person who’ll have to testify against you.”
“Darlin’.” She sighs. “That makes as much sense as tits on a bull. By the time an investigation and trial get done and I get sentenced, I won’t be alive. So tell him.”
“Don’t say that!” My mama jokes about her terminal diagnosis, and it isn’t funny. “Quit talking like that.”
“Why?” She sits up. “You livin’ forever?”
“No.”
“Well, me neither. Mine’s just coming sooner, so make peace with it.”
We don’t know how long Mama has, and she and Dad are living like every day is a holiday, and I do my best to help.
Mama’s fearless. She jokes about it. Cries with smiles about it. Brings up memories and tells everyone she sees that she loves them. She’s riding her wave to shore with all the grace and grit you’d expect from her. And I’m trying to be on board for her sake, but damn.
This is my Mama we’re talking about.
“Listen to me.” She pulls my hand to the bedside. “You go on with this man, Silas. Or you go on with Redix. Or you go on with some other person, I got no expectations. But either way, you GO ON. You hear me?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You go feeling sorry for yourself or sorry about me, and I swear I’ll haunt your ass from the grave. I’ll knock you so hard into tomorrow, and then I’ll find you there and knock you into the next day, too.”
She’s never laid a hand on me except for pulling me down into a big hug as she smiles.
“Life is lemon cake, Magnolia Cade. It’s bitter and sweet until the last bite, so you best enjoy it.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I whisper in her ear and swallow down the burn in my throat at how much I love her and swear like hell I’ll be strong for her, too.
“Magnolia Cade!” Dad shouts from the living room, and the whole damn building can hear him. “Where’s the damn fishing channel?”
I pull away from Mama, and she laughs.
“You can take the man from the boat, but you can’t take the boat from the man.”
“Number one eighty-two!” I shout back, laughing.
My parents’ love. It’s had its ups and downs; it teaches me mine will be the same. No matter who I’m with.
It’s easy jokes and introductions when Silas comes to pick me up.
“I’ll have her home by ten, Mr. and Mrs. Bryant.” He makes fun of their hovering by the door. He knows my dad and wins my mama over in a second.
Besides, his black suit with his hair slicked back into a knot makes him look so sexy he’d win over a firing squad.
Minutes later, a valet parks his truck while Silas offers his hand, and we step into Gentry and Stacey’s palatial home, and I have one plan.
Find Pamela Ryan and Cam Le.
My best friend disappeared from a bar in Hilton Head when we were twenty. All presumed she was dead until I got TJ to admit otherwise. Minutes from his death, evil smirked from his eyes, along with the intel that both Pamela and Cam, the maid who went missing, are being held somewhere by Gentry and Derek.
My gut tells me Derek has Cam.
And Pamela? My God, it’s been almost ten years, but she’s alive. Gentry has her. Growing up, she was part of our trio—me, Redix, and Pam—and Gentry witnessed it all. So if he couldn’t have me. And if he couldn’t keep Redix. He took Pam. And I’ll draw my last breath finding her.
