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“What makes you think I want a man like West?”Cass asked.
Silence draped over the table now, and Cass filled her plate with all the things a good picnic should have—potato salad, fruit salad, a hunk of sandwich, potato chips, and sweet tea.She’d spread a red-and-white checkered tablecloth over the patio furniture too, and she’d stopped by a florist that morning to get a vase of fresh flowers for the centerpiece.
She’d bought everything except the salads, which she’d made with Bessie that afternoon.Bea had brought the sweet tea, and Cass lifted her glass to her lips.“I loved West,” Cass said.“I love him.Not past tense.But Harrison doesn’t have to be like him for me to like him.It’s kind of exciting to be exploring something different.”She speared a strawberry and looked down the table.Everyone watched her, and she let a somewhat naughty smile touch her face.“It’s like an adventure.”
Lauren smiled first and shook her head.“I think it’s great, Cass.”
“Thank you,” she said, looking to Joy.
Joy nodded and said, “I’m glad you told us before I made a fool of myself.”
Cass frowned.“Why would you have done that?”
“She wants a Hilton Head summer boyfriend,” Bessie said, grinning.She giggled, and Joy swatted her arm.“I asked Harrison if he was single yesterday morning on the boat, and he said yes.”Her eyebrows went up.
“We haven’t told anyone,” Cass said, her gaze moving to Bea.“Sorry, Bea.Don’t be mad.I just needed…a day or two.”
“A week,” Bea said, eyebrows cocked.
“I needed a week,” Cass amended.
“She’s not mad,” Lauren said.“She likes being the first to know, so she’s stinging.She’ll find a way through it.”She popped a green grape into her mouth, and Cass marveled that she could say things so bluntly and act like they didn’t also cause a sting.
Bea gave her a sharp look, and Lauren did have the decency to look a tad ashamed.She turned back to Cass and covered her hand.“I am happy for you.It will be a grand summer adventure.”
“You got yours,” Cass said.“Maybe I’ll get a happily-ever-after too.”She picked up her sandwich then and took a big bite.
“What about Conrad?”Sage asked, and Cass very nearly choked.
She shook her head and hastily put her turkey and provolone back on her plate.“I haven’t told Conrad.Or the girls.Or anyone but the five of you.So, this is something we have to keep between us.”
Everyone nodded, but then Bessie said, “No one in Texas will care.”
“Are you kidding?”Cass asked.“My parents live there.My sister.My kids know a ton of people.”She shook her head.“No.You can’t just be casually talking about who I’m dating, even in Sweet Water Falls.”
“Who you’re dating?”
Cass yelped at the sound of Conrad’s voice, and she spun in her chair.Sure enough, her son stood there, his face turning a shade of purple a human face should never be.“Conrad.”She shoved her chair back and got to her feet.Her right ankle twinged in pain as she hurried across the expansive patio.
Her son turned and went back inside, his anger floating on the air and slamming into her as she followed him.“Conrad,” she said.“Wait.”
“Wait?”He spun back to her, and Cass quickly slid the door closed.Her friends could see right through the glass, but maybe the whole neighborhood wouldn’t be able to hear the forthcoming conversation.“You’re dating?Who?Someone here?Someone online?Who is he?”
Conrad paced back and forth, his long legs eating up the length of the island in the kitchen and he wore the floor between it and the dining room table.He looked over to her with venom in his eyes.She didn’t answer but folded her arms and glared back at him.
He finally paused at the opposite end of the table and copied her pose.“Start talking, Mom.”
“First.”She held up one finger.“I am your mother, and I deserve more respect than you’re currently showing me.Secondly.”She pulled out her proper grammar and held up another finger.“I am a grown adult, and I donotneed your permission to do anything.I can sell that house in Texas.I can move here.I can date anyone I want.You’re notmyfather, and I do not have to run anything by you for your approval.”
Her chest heaved, but Cass needed to get these things out of her mouth.“I call all of you kids all the time.I make sure you’re healthy and happy.I ask you how you’re doing.I pay for everything you all need.”Her voice almost broke, but she drew in a deep breath to cover it.“Have you asked me how I’m doing this year?You left right after graduation, and I stayed.I stayed in Texas by myself!I’m the one who had to live in that house all alone with everything your father owned.The way his clothes smelled.His half of the bed empty.”She gestured right and left with every example of the loneliness and abandonment she’d felt.Her.Not him.
Conrad started to cry, but Cass was past that.Pure anger simmered inside her.“I know you miss your father,” she said.“I do too.I’ve gone to counseling too, Conrad.I’ve taken steps to heal from losing him, and I’m ready to move on.You can’t expect me to live in the past forever.”
Her son nodded, and Cass flew toward him and gathered him into a hug.“We can never replace him,” she whispered as Conrad sobbed into her shoulder.“I’m not trying to do that.I’m trying to find someone to share my life with again.A friend.A companion.You’re busy at college—trying to find someone to share your life with too.Sariah has a life with Robbie.Jane’s…well, Jane’s trying to find herself, just like the rest of us.”
“I’m sorry,” Conrad said.He stepped back and wiped his face.He went into the kitchen and flipped on the sink.He splashed water on his face and turned away from her to get a towel.He kept his back to her as he said, “I’m sorry, Mama.”
“I haven’t told the twins,” she said.“I just told the ladies in Supper Club tonight too.You were next.”
