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“Not much to say,” he said.
“River told me some. You know that. I want to hear from you.”
He figured as much. “What do you want me to say? That I asked her for space and she gave it to me.”
“Sounds as if Ivy has been giving you everything you’ve wanted all along and I’m wondering if you’ve given her anything in return.”
“Other than grief?” he asked. “Not likely.”
He’d thought of all of this too.
“You’ve always been the one that was rough around the edges. You didn’t talk about your feelings either.”
“I still don’t,” he said.
“But you want to,” his mother said.
“Not really.”
His mother opened a container and brought it over. “Not even for a chocolate chip cookie?”
He snorted and took two out. He could tell they were fresh. He’d smelled them when he came in but didn’t ask for them.
“Thanks,” he said.
His mother sighed. “Brooks. I’m sorry that your father and I didn’t seem to give you and your brother and Raine a good life.”
“No,” he snarled. “Don’t even go there. You guys are wonderful. You did great with us. Money isn’t everything.”
“That is right,” his mother said. “It’s not. You’ve been around too many people who thought the opposite. Or who wanted more from you than you wanted to give. But you found someone that doesn’t look at possessions at all.”
“Because she didn’t have much growing up. Not the way she was raised. I guess in some aspects Ivy had it worse.”
It still bothered him to hear how everyone treated Ivy based on how she was as a child. One in foreign countries just trying to fit in.
He knew what it was like to try to fit in too.
“That’s right,” his mother said. “She did. We all have things in life that aren’t easy. But she has had your head spinning from almost the beginning, hasn’t she?”
“She has,” he admitted.
“You like to be in control and hate that you can’t seem to figure her out.”
“Tell me about it.”
“But you told her what you were looking for. She gave it to you. I’m not sure what there is to figure out. Unless you don’t love her. I guess I thought you did. You’re not one to go back on your word and you’ve been firm for years on your feelings with dating and relationships. Yet you opened yourself up to Ivy.”
He had and he did.
“I’m not sure where things changed.”
“Changed in terms of you letting her in? Or changed in terms of you realizing how scared you are?”
“Both,” he admitted.
“It’s a pride thing with you,” his mother said. “It’s always been. You get that from your father.”
“You’ve got a bathtub full of pride too, Mom.”
