The first time I left Strawberry Springs, I wanted to be done with the place, yet I still thought about Grace. This time, the unfinished feeling tempted me to turn the truck around and go right back. I didn’t like Grace thinking I was the kind of man who would leave her to handle this alone. I wasn’t.
I just didn’t want to get hurt again.
Still, I had to figure things out with my life before I could even consider dropping everything.
Clyde had only given me a day off since I’d told him I wasn’t feeling well after Grace dropped the news on me. He expected me to be there tomorrow, and I wasn’t sure if he would believe an excuse.
As I neared my hotel, I tried to parse through all the emotions in my body, but I was spinning my own wheels. I was so out of it that I didn’t notice a familiar car in the parking lot.
Nor did I notice the woman waiting at my hotel door.
“There you are,” she said. “I thought I’d have to wait here forever.”
I jumped, finally pulling myself out of my thoughts. “Mom? What are you doing here?”
“Is it not obvious?” She held out her hand and began counting off reasons. “I’ve known you’re off. Your friend, Clyde, knows you’re off. You call out of work, which you never do, and then you’re not at your hotel, which is where you told Clyde you would be. Do I need more?”
I winced. “No, but this is a long drive for you.”
“And I have my own room, but I’m not leaving until I know what the hell is happening.” She crossed her arms. Her hair had grayed over the years, but it was in the same ponytail it always had been. I rarely got to see her since I moved to Nashville, and it was nice to have her in front of me.
Her worry would quickly be replaced by anger, though.
“Come in,” I said. “We have a lot to talk about.”
When I let her in and she turned to me, I could see the dark circles under her eyes. She’d beenveryworried.
I wasn’t about to make it any better.
Running a hand over my face, I thought about all the times she told me to be safe. All the times she told me I couldn’t let this happen. It was tempting to hide it from her, but Mom knew me best. She was my oldest friend, the person I looked to when I messed up.
“Someone’s pregnant.”
At first, her jaw dropped, but then her whole face hardened as I braced for her to unleash on me.
“By you?” I winced and nodded. “Dammit. I told you this would—” She stopped herself, but I wasn’t sure why. “This is what you’ve been upset about for months? Wait a minute, youknew formonthsand didn’t tell me?” Mom’s voice was shrill, and I knew anyone in our vicinity would hear us.
I put up my hands in defense. “No, no! I just found out yesterday! The other part was ... Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it? This is bigger.”
“No kidding, Dean. A baby?You?” She paced around the room. “Of all the things,” she muttered to herself, “it had to be a baby?”
“What, because I can’t handle that or something?” I said it before I could stop myself. I didn’t get defensive with Mom. Normally, she was right.
But not this time.
Her eyes went wide at my harsh tone. “I didn’t say that.”
“But you’re thinking it.”
“Well, based on your actions, yes. It’s what I have to go off of.”
That sent me back to the Treasure Trove when Grace had insinuated something similar.
“Goddammit,” I muttered. “Seriously?”
“Even you can admit they’ve not been great.”
“Wha—I’m not a bad person, Mom.”