AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I hadn’t been back from California a full day when Mrs. Jo called me to tell me she had a pie for me and I needed to come get it. When I had returned, I’d intended to catch up on the sleep I had missed while under the same roof as Kiro. However, telling Mrs. Jo I couldn’t come down at the moment wasn’t an option either.
Grabbing a discarded shirt from the chair in my bedroom, I made my way down to Mrs. Jo’s apartment. It was eleven on a Thursday, so that meant Brielle wouldn’t be around. She’d be working. I wasn’t sure where Cam went when she worked or if he was in their apartment … or was school back in session? I didn’t know when they started school around here, but I knew Nate had gone back last week. Didn’t matter though. Seeing the kid wasn’t an issue, but staying the hell away from his mama was.
I’d been unable to get her out of my head while in California, but the distance had helped me think through things. I wasn’t what she needed, and she was no longer a hot fuck I wanted in my bed. She was a mom with a great kid who she was raising alone.
Who knew respecting a woman could screw your head up? I wasn’t sure I’d ever taken the time to respect a woman I had fucked or planned to fuck. This was all new to me, and I didn’t know the best way to deal with it. That was why leaving the morning after our movie night had been so vital.
I had felt her looking at me in the theater. I knew she wanted me to look at her. If I’d have sat beside her, she wouldn’t have minded. She had softened toward me after I gave Cam some time and attention. But damn if I was going to take advantage of her because she was grateful to me. Getting the hell out of that theater had been the only thing I could do. If she’d have looked at me one more time, I wasn’t sure I could have kept my distance.
Mrs. Jo’s door opened before I even knocked.
“Come in; come in,” she said brightly.
Her apartment smelled like apple pie and vanilla. I followed her inside, and she closed the door behind us.
“When I heard that motorcycle of yours outside this morning, I went right on to cutting the apples I’d bought at the farmers market. You were gone for too long. I figured you needed a good Southern pie to remind you how much better it is down here. If’n I had to pick a coast and I hadn’t lived here my entire life, I’d still choose the East Coast. Life is just better here. Don’t know why you’d stay gone so long.”
She hurried into her kitchen, and I stood in her living room among the new furniture I had bought her. The place looked much nicer with the fresh paint and light fixtures.
“The way you were looking at Brielle last I saw you, I figured you’d be sticking around here more. But I guess finding out she’s a mama can scare a man off. She’s a package deal and all,” Mrs. Jo said as she walked back, holding a pie with a hand towel under the plate.
I opened my mouth to say something, although I wasn’t sure what to say to that comment. However, Mrs. Jo didn’t seem to need a response from me. She wasn’t done talking.
“No matter. It all works out the way it’s supposed to. Fate has its plan, and that’s the way it goes. That good-looking man who has been taking her out even took Cam last night. They went to that putt-putt place down along the strip. I reckon fate has Brielle going in another direction, although I sure thought it’d be you there for a bit,” she said, then held out the pie to me.
“Brielle is dating someone?” I asked, surprised by this information.
I’d just been gone for three weeks, yet the way Mrs. Jo was talking, Brielle had been dating this guy a lot. What, had she just started dating again the day after I left? Had I read more into her behavior the night in the theater?
“Oh, yes. That nice construction worker. He’s a fine man. Brings her flowers and went swimming with them the last day before Cam started back to school,” Mrs. Jo said. “Take this pie and add some vanilla ice cream to it. That’s the best way to eat it.”
The construction worker. They’d finally had that date, and it sounded like it had gone well. From what Mrs. Jo had said, the man was up Brielle’s ass. Didn’t he have a job? Working for me? When did he have time for all this swimming and putt-putt?
I managed to thank Mrs. Jo for the pie as she walked me to the door. I stepped out into the hallway and expected her to say good-bye and close her door, but she was watching me. Was I supposed to say something else about the pie? I’d thanked her already.
“Fate is what we make of it. We can let it happen, or we can manipulate it. All depends on what you want badly enough. Seeing the future isn’t a gift we’re given. Sometimes, you just gotta listen to your gut, take fate’s handlebars, and steer. But then that’s all up to you now, isn’t it?” Mrs. Jo said, then smiled at me before closing her door in my face.
I looked down at my pie and wondered if she’d truly made me this because she thought I needed it or if it had been a way to get me down here so she could tell me all of that. What had happened to her talk about me not being what Brielle needed?
I started to knock on her door but paused and dropped my hand back to my side. This wasn’t my business. I should be relieved. I should be happy for Brielle. Getting in her way and screwing with their lives wasn’t okay.
Turning to walk back to the elevator, I heard a door open behind me and glanced back to see if Mrs. Jo had decided she needed to say more. But it wasn’t Mrs. Jo’s door. It was Brielle’s.
She stood there, staring at me with those big blue eyes, and I felt something in my chest tighten. Damn her for getting to me.
“Hi,” she said with a small lift of her hand to wave.
“Hey,” I replied, then held up the pie a little. “Mrs. Jo made me awelcome backtreat.”
She smiled, but it didn’t meet her eyes. “She’s good about that.”
I wanted to say more. Ask her about the construction worker. Ask how Cam’s first week back at school was. Ask how she was doing. Just listen to her talk. But I did none of those things.
“Tell Cam I said hi,” I told her, then reached down to press the button on the elevator.
“I will,” was her soft reply.
I stared at the elevator doors until I heard her door close. Glancing back, I saw her head to the stairs. She was leaving and had chosen not to use the elevator because of me. I could go after her and apologize. But what would I apologize for exactly?
