Page 2 of Courageous Demands

“Uh, that’s why?!”

“What if some young woman wants to come home with you?”

“Then I’m gonna have a great time, lock my freakin’ doors, and she’s gonna see my tattoo… plus a lot more of me, Ma. Now, again, what is going on?” he blurted out, looking at his mother, whose shoulders dropped, indicating that she knew she’d been caught red-handed.

“Well, I was talking to Ruthie and…”

“Ma, I swear, you and that woman work faster at spreading gossip than…”

“We don’t gossip!” she snapped, interrupting him. “We are concerned, loving citizens of Ember Creek.”

“Gossips,” he retorted flatly, smiling at his mother – who rolled her eyes and perched on the end table, looking at him.

“Guess what I heard from Ruthie?”

“I’m scared to guess…”

“Ruthie won one of the photo shoots and one of the dates for the charity auction, but guess who else won?”

Alec stood there, looking at his mother, and didn’t have the heart to tell her that was old news. He’d heard about it the other day, and for a moment, he’d been afraid he was the recipient. There would be no living down a very public picture of his mom’s best friend taking a cuddly photo with him.

“I can’t imagine,” he muttered.

“Willow Rushman.”

Those two words, that name, hung knowingly in the silence between them as the oxygen was sucked out of the room. Willow, the girl that had broken his heart years ago, dumped him at graduation because she was leaving for college and ‘wanted to experience life’… a.k.a ‘party’. She had cut him off, cut all ties, and he had successfully avoided her for almost two years since her return to Ember Creek.

“Are you kidding me?” he said flatly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Not really. Is that why you are here fluffing and straightening up things to get the scoop from me?”

“Of course not. I’m your mother, and I wanted to say hello.”

“Hello,” he said glibly and pointed to his towel. “I was in the shower.”

“I noticed. Ruthie is coming over for dinner, and I didn’t know if you wanted to join us to get the scoop on what’s going on in town or what Willow has been up to. You know, I’ve always liked that sweet girl and…”

“Ma – no. Stop. I’m not interested.”

“But you were once…”

“A long time ago and we both grew up. She went her way, and I went mine. Two diverging roads, two separate people, and the two shall not ever twine, okay?” he said flatly in a sarcastic voice.

“Well, I think you should get to ‘twine-ing,’ young man. I’m going to be sixty this year, and you are dawdling.”

“I’m not dawdling – trust me. I ‘twine’ every chance I get.”

“You do?”

“I’m not having this discussion with my mother.”

“Your mother should be a grandmother by now, and yes, we are having this discussion.”

“No, we aren’t, and now that I know Willow won the auction – I’m gonna make sure and swap with someone else if she thinks that this is going to be easy to cozy up to me again. Not gonna happen. Nope. Never.”

“You miss her, don’t you?”

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