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“How?”
“Keep the lines of communication open, talk to her about boys, and let her know she can always come to me. It just all happened so quickly.”
It seemed like such a short time ago that Lexi was still cuddly and affectionate, but now everything had changed. Matt was gone, and on Lexi’s thirteenth birthday a gong had sounded somewhere in the world and turned her daughter into some kind of cactus resistant to mother’s hugs.
“So how have you been different than your mother?”
She’d benefited from June Callahan’s trust, deserved or not. There had never been any question that Maggie would keep and raise Lexi, and Mom offered her support in every way. And though they’d always been close, there were some things you didn’t tell your mother. Some of the things a girl didn’t tell her mother made her breath catch in her throat now.
“It just dawned on me that I’ve been a lot like my mother. Trusting, expecting the best. The truth is, when I stopped telling my mother everything, it was because I had something to hide.”
“Like sneaking off with boys?”
“Exactly.”
“So you shouldn’t be surprised that Lexi won’t tell you if she likes this boy as more than a friend. You do remember what it’s like.”
“I remember that there were times I wished my mother would interfere, stop me somehow. Save me from myself. It was so easy to fool her because she trusted almost too much.”
“So you think you want to be a little less trusting?”
“Maybe.” Maggie shook her head. “I mean, yes.”
“You want to be like my Aunt Debbie.” Maggie stared at Vera. “What do you mean?”
“My mother allowed me to go to Europe for my modeling career as a teenager. Then you have my Aunt Debbie. That woman should have opened her own detective agency. It all started with her husband. He cheated on her, and she found out by tailing him. As a teen, my cousin was pretty wild. My aunt used to follow her in her station wagon, and she got pretty good at it. My poor cousin never knew when my aunt would be tailing her.”
“So she had to behave because she never knew when her mother might be following?”
This sounded promising. Finally, a good idea.
“Nah, she just got better at sneaking around.” Vera smiled as she opened the door to their first customers.
Thoughts of Vera’s enterprising aunt filled her head all morning as she filled orders for macchiato and mochas. She didn’t want to spy on her own daughter, but she had to find a realistic way of knowing what was going on in that teenage mind of Lexi’s. No more mistakes could be made when her in-laws watched, waiting for an opportunity for her to slip up. As the morning rush ended, Maggie pulled Vera aside.
“I need to borrow your car.”
“My car? What for?” Vera’s face turned pale. Her precious sporty car was like her child.
“I’m going to spy on Lexi at lunch time. It’s the only way I’ll know what’s going on.”
“When will I learn to keep my mouth shut?” Vera put a hand to her forehead.
“Your aunt was on to something. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself. I’ll drive over and just sit in the car and watch them come out at lunch time.”
“But—why in my car?”
“Did you forget? I walked here this morning; my car is out of commission. This all has to be undercover, like your aunt. Lexi wouldn’t expect to see your car there.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.” She shook her head.
“Nonsense. You’ve been a great help. My eyes are wide open, and they’ll never shut again. So, keys?” Maggie held out her hand.
“Fine, but this is a bad idea, and I want it on record that I said so.”
Vera placed the keys to her BMW in Maggie’s hands. “Take good care of it. And whatever you do, don’t speed. Ryan issued a warning last week. He’s not letting me off again.”
Maggie determinedwithin minutes that sporty cars like Vera’s were great for spying on people. Her problem was that like her own mother, she’d been too trusting. Too trusting of Matt, her in-laws, Lexi. The only one she could really trust in was the Lord, and she was pretty sure He’d approve of her looking out for the one person He’d put in her care.
