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“John Williams? No!” her mother cried, but Ellen wasn’t sure she could believe it.
“What would make Stuart think you might’ve been sleeping with him?”
“I have no idea, but this is exactly why I didn’t want you moving to Coyote Canyon in the first place. I thought you weren’t talking to Stuart. But you obviously are. Why are you letting him fill your head with all this...stuff? He’s just trying to turn you against me!”
Ellen stared up at the ceiling of her truck. “He had me take a DNA test, Mom.”
Jan said nothing.
“You still there?”
“You don’t have anything to worry about,” she said matter-of-factly, but was that confidence or the same stubborn denial she’d seen in her mother about other things she didn’t want to face?
“I don’t? I’ve had to worry about everything since I was just a little girl, because you won’t stand up and take charge of your life. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to forgive you if you’ve been lying about this, too. If you’ve been calling Stuart my father just because he was your husband, when you knew you’d cheated and I could belong to someone else, you’ll be on your own from here on out. As far as I’m concerned, that’s...crossing a line I thought even you would never cross.”
“What are you talking about?” her mother asked. “Does it really matter? You’re an adult, on your own, and that’s all in the past!”
Ellen could no longer speak. The outrage was simply too much for her. She didn’t want to continue this conversation, anyway. If her mother didn’t understand the hurt and damage she’d caused by now, she never would.
“We’ll see what happens when the results come back,” she choked out and disconnected.
Her mother tried calling her back several times, but she ignored every attempt. Talulah tried to reach her, too. But the world had become so inhospitable, all Ellen wanted to do was crawl into bed.
Thankfully, it was Stuart who followed Leo outside and not Lynn. For all Hendrix knew, she was sulking inside the house, hoping Stuart would take a turn at blasting him for his disloyalty.
“What’s going on? What are you doing here?” his uncle asked.
Zeus sat at Hendrix’s feet, wagging his tail, and Leo stood next to Hendrix, hanging on to one arm as though he was afraid to let go for fear his cousin would disappear for good if he did.
“I had to pick up a few things from the office.” Hendrix hadn’t even considered going after the belongings he kept in his desk. He’d been too focused on other things, but it was as good a reason as any to show up at the house, so he went with it. He wasn’t about to volunteer that he was checking their tires; he knew that much.
“You don’t have anything to say to your aunt?”
“After what she said to me this morning?” he said. “Hell, no.”
Leo clapped a hand over his mouth but spoke through his thick fingers. “Oh! You swore, Hendrix. Mom’s going to be mad again.”
“I don’t care,” Hendrix muttered.
His cousin gasped in shock. “How come you don’t like Mom no more?”
“It’s your mom who doesn’t like me,” Hendrix corrected. That was a childish way to state the problem, but it was about the only way he could make Leo understand he hadn’t instigated the rift.
“Just say sorry,” Leo prodded. “Everything will be okay if you say sorry.”
“I won’t say sorry.” Although Hendrix spoke softly, he knew the steel in his voice revealed his determination. Stuart might not have a limit when it came to how far Lynn could push him, but Hendrix had reached his. Someone had to call her on her behavior, especially when it came to Ellen.
His uncle rubbed the beard growth on his chin. “You like her that much.”
He was obviously referring to Ellen. “What I would like is to see a change around here—and I don’t think continuing to indulge Aunt Lynn is the way to get it done.”
“Even if it costs you your job...”
“You know I don’t deserve to lose my job, not over this.”
Stuart seemed uncomfortable, but he didn’t say anything.
“You’re going to stand behind her on that, too?” Hendrix prodded.
