AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He didn’t like it when Ryan pretended to know what he thought. Not everyone had Ryan’s one track mind about women.
“Why wouldn’t you?” Ryan fiddled with the visor while they sat at a long stoplight.
“One reason. The kid.” The teenager he’d been asked to mentor. What a joke.
“Yeah. I can’t blame you. I once dated a woman with a kid and let me tell you, if the kid doesn’t like you, there’s no chance.”
He hadn’t told Ryan about the cigar because the fact that he’d been fooled by another teenager was nothing short of humiliating. As far as he was concerned, the theft would remain between the mother, daughter, and the one who’d been duped.
“Anyway, I won’t be here much longer.” Maybe if he’d start saying it out loud more it would come true.
“Where are you going?” Ryan’s brow furrowed.
“Back to Virginia.”
Kimberly wanted him to, and ever since her last phone call, the guilt had pressed down. Maybe he was supposed to be taking Robert’s place somehow, though he never could. He’d never be half the man that Robert had been.
“When?”
That was the question of the hour. “Soon, I hope.”
“Guess I can’t blame you. The most excitement I get around here is the occasional paper cut.”
“That’s not why I’m going back.”
“Why, then?”
Going back wouldn’t change anything, not in any real way. He’d have to face Kimberly again, and he wasn’t sure if being around her would be any different now. The last time he’d barely been able to look at her since he’d failed her as much as he’d failed Robert. And now she was a single mom. Like Maggie.
“Honestly, I’m not sure anymore. I just know that I have to. Running away doesn’t solve anything.”
A true friend, Ryan didn’t ask any more questions.
Maggie wasn’tsure whether unloading on Vera would do any good, but she couldn’t stop herself. It helped that Vera was a good listener, and she stayed quiet as Maggie explained Lexi’s latest antics. The cigar theft from their neighbor, a cop, and now this new friend she hadn’t told Maggie anything about.
“And yesterday, I asked her for the rest of the day to tell me something, anything, about Anton, but she wouldn’t. She just kept telling me he’s her friend and nothing more.”
“Is that all? Are you done?” Vera pushed a button on the drip machine that would start another pot of coffee.
“Isn’t that enough? I’ve got a serious problem.”
Why couldn’t Vera see the danger that was imminent? Her daughter anda boy!
“I see that you think it’s serious.”
“That’s because it is.” Maggie stopped dipping carafes in the sudsy water and locked gazes with Vera.
“Well, I’ll grant you that the cigar is a new one for me. Never thought I would hear about a kid stealing a cigar, but when I think of the reason, it makes my heart break. And honestly, Lexi is not the first girl in history to keep something from her mother.”
“No, but—“
“Are you going to stand there and tell me you never kept anything from your mother?” Vera raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow.
Not unless one counted fooling around with Matt when she had no business doing so, getting pregnant, and keeping it from her mother for the first two months.
“Your silence is speaking volumes.” Vera laughed.
“OK, so I kept some things from my own mother. But that’s not what I wanted for my daughter.” She sighed. “I was going to do it better.”
