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Candace
Thanksgiving
“So how are things going with Senator Davis?”my mother asked.
“You mean you haven’t asked him directly?”I raised my eyebrow at her, knowing she would’ve checked in at least a few times in the three weeks I had been staying with him.
“There are three sides to every story, Candi.”
“Yeah, yeah.His, mine, and the truth,” I mumbled.My mother was so predictable.
“Exactly.For the record, he says his son adores you.”
I beamed.“He’s such a cute kid, mom.He imitates Mason all the time.Forget that kid’s grandfather running for President, someday Wyatt Fuller-Davis is going to dominate the world.”
“I’ve met him.He is precocious, isn’t he?”She set a bag of potatoes in front of me to peel.“He even calls Mason ‘Senator’ instead of dad when they are with his colleagues.”
“He doesn’t really call him dad.It’s always ‘Senator’ or ‘Mason.’Oh, and one time I heard him say ‘buddy’ which was funny because that’s what Mason calls Wyatt.”
“But things are otherwise okay?”she prodded.
“Yeah, mama.Why the sudden unease?You forced me to go without the slightest concern and now, suddenly, you’re worried about me?”
“I always worry about you.I just… when he dropped you off, he looked at you weird and I wondered.”
“What kind of weird?”I asked.
“Forget I said anything.I’m sure I imagined it.”She shook a hand in my direction.
“No way.What did you mean?”
“Enough about this,” she dismissed the topic.“Any thoughts on what you will do when Wyatt goes back to live with his mom?”
I had weird vibes about Catherine.Her calls were irregular, and you could tell she was intoxicated.I understood she was grieving, but shouldn’t she be putting Wyatt first?“Not sure when that will be, honestly.She’s not handling her boyfriend’s death well.”
“I’m sure it’s hard on her.Poor dear.Does Wyatt miss her?”
“Of course.Sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night crying for her.Breaks my heart.I understand she needs time to heal, but I wish for Wyatt’s sake she was doing it closer to him.He’s grieving too, you know?”I started cutting the peeled potatoes while my mother stirred something on the stovetop.
“He’s young.He’ll bounce back.I’m not sure what the exact circumstances are between Mason and Catherine, but I think if they could’ve worked it out that way, they would have.”
I wasn’t as sure.Mason didn’t seem to want her being around Wyatt while she was in this state, and I didn’t blame him.“I think she might be an addict, mom.”
My mother shook her head.“It would be a shame if it’s true.But I’m sure her reaction is normal.If something happened to you or your father, I’d be inconsolable.I’d probably do plenty of things that weren’t typical of me.”
“I guess,” I shrugged, still not convinced.I didn’t have a spouse or a child, and thankfully no one that close to me had ever died, so I didn’t have room to assume appropriate responses to the situation, but my heart hurt for Wyatt.
Chapter10
Mason
“Senator, when can we see Candi?”Wyatt asked, tugging on my pants.
I looked across the room at my father’s expression.He wasn’t a bad guy, but the press was all over the place, and the fact my kid called me ‘Senator’ was an image issue in his eyes.
To me it was a punch to the gut.
Still, I didn’t tell Wyatt to call me ‘dad.’Who was I to walk into this kid’s life and demand that place in his life?I looked down at my son and replied, “We will see Candace tomorrow.But good news, we see mama today!”
