“Ugh … he’s going for the younger body. Don’t fret. You’re nothing to balk at.”
Pressing my lips together, I widened my eyes. “That’s … an interesting compliment.”
She simpered. “It’s age appropriate. Middle age is the death of excellence. Our highest hopes are mediocre. It’s when ‘good enough’ is the high bar. ‘Nothing to balk at’ and ‘not the ugliest, not the flabbiest’ … they’re all age appropriate. Definite compliments. So if a guy has sex with you, and he says, ‘It wasn’t the worst,’ I think you have to accept that as a compliment. Just the fact that a thirty-year-old guy, that looks like him, wants to put his dick inside of you and move it around is really a huge accomplishment. I’m quite envious.”
“Move it around?” I snickered. “I think you’d be a fantastic sub for sex-ed too. Man puts thingy in woman’s front hole, moves it around, and voila! Baby nine months later.”
“Who’s having a baby?” Myra traipsed into the living room, bringing me a cup of tea.
“Thank you.” I wrapped my hands around the hot mug and inhaled the cinnamon and plum aroma as she eased onto the opposite end of the sofa.
“Nobody’s having a baby. We were just talking about men and women. About getting older. About relationships,” Amie said.
“When your dad died, everyone said I should remarry. Remember?”
Amie nodded at her mom.
Myra released a heavy exhale. “But I didn’t want to train another man. I was done having children. You were grown and gone. The house was quiet, but not awkwardly quiet. Your father used to come into the house while I’d be in the middle of a TV show—stand directly between me and the TV— to tell me about a carburetor he was working on in the garage or why it took him so long to replace the brakes on the neighbor’s vehicle. He’d also do it if I was in the middle of a good book. But … if I had nothing preoccupying me, like during dinner or around bedtime, he had nothing to say. So many times I felt like he was just stealing all the good oxygen in the room.”
I grinned at Myra’s honesty while Amie coughed a laugh. “Wow, Mom. Stealing all the good oxygen? That’s harsh.”
Myra lifted a single shoulder. “The truth usually is. That’s why most people lie so much. The world was built on truth, but it runs on lies. Over time, we bend the lies to make them true, to make ourselves feel less guilty about our honest feelings. I loved your dad, but I also hated him for making it so hard to love him some days. Does that make sense?”
“Yes.” My reply shot out without a second’s warning. And that was when I knew … I saw it in Myra’s eyes. The silent acknowledgment, the hint of sympathy.
Six.
Six people knew.
Amie had told her mom the truth about me and Craig. I wasn’t mad. I was envious of Amie living so close to her mom—of them being so close. I didn’t have a bad relationship with my mom, but it wasn’t a best-friend kind of relationship.
“What do I do?” I changed the subject, giving my attention to Amie again.
“About Kael?”
I nodded.
If she told everyone it was her mistake … the food poisoning was from something else she ate and Kael shared a different—more accurate—truth, it could have tarnished her reputation in Epperly. If I told the truth, it still would have made her look bad for agreeing to do it for me.
“Sleep on it. We’ll talk tomorrow.” Amie shot me a reassuring smile.
“What if he’s at that little get-together telling everyone the truth?”
She shook her head. “I doubt it.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s a nice guy.” Her nose wrinkled, finishing her thought without saying the words. And we screwed him over today.Just after two in the morning, the doorbell rang, startling me and sending my heart into its usual who-died arrhythmia. Tying the sash to my robe, I hurried down the stairs and opened the door.
“I believe she belongs to you,” Kael said as he stood in front of me with a passed-out Bella cradled in his arms. She had vomit down the front of her shirt.
I never imagined the day would come that seeing my underaged daughter drunk and having to be carried to the door would be a huge relief, but as I eyed the rise and fall of her soiled chest, I felt nothing but gratitude.
“Um …” I stepped closer as I was going to take her from him.
“What are you doing?” He frowned at the notion. “Move.”
I stepped aside and followed him up the stairs. He laid her in her bed and headed right back downstairs without giving me a second glance. I kissed Bella’s forehead. “Be right back.”
She barely mumbled.
“Wait!” I called after Kael as he opened the front door to leave. He turned and tucked his hands into the pockets of his jacket as his truck idled in the driveway behind him.