Page 91 of Tell Me Something True

“I don’t know what that means.”

“A male who can admit he doesn’t know everything?” Tabitha murmured, then shot a grin at his mom. “Good job, Mama.”

The brunette’s mouth barely twitched, though amusement shone in her eyes.

“It means you’ll have to wait and see,” his mom told Ian. “Go with the flow.”

“I don’t like going with the flow.”

She pulled him to her side, hugging him close, and he leaned his head against her. “I know. How about this? You can teach me this fantastic new card game—tomorrow,” she added when he leaned back excitedly as if ready to go get a deck of cards and start shuffling. “That way, if you’re stuck with only me to hang out with, you and I can play.”

He pondered that for a good minute. “Okay,” he finally said.

“Your enthusiasm for the idea warms my heart,” his mother said dryly. “Now, you need to tell Miss Tabitha good night and go and get showered. Bedtime’s in fifteen minutes.”

His eyes widened. “But you said we could read a chapter of Holes!”

“I said we could read a chapter if we had time.”

“Good night!” he blurted at Tabitha before his mother had even finished talking. Then, he took off, moving faster than Tabitha had seen him move all day.

“’Night,” she called after him, but he was already inside.

There was a loud thump that had her wincing and his mom shutting her eyes on a soft sigh. A moment later, Ian yelled, “I’m okay!”

The women exchanged an amused look.

“You must be Katarina,” Tabitha said.

The brunette gave a slow nod. “Kat.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Kat.” She was gorgeous with shiny black hair that fell thick and straight to her mid back, a golden complexion and dark brown eyes. She looked impossibly cool—both literally and figuratively—in her faded, wide-legged jeans with holes in both knees, ballerina flats and a snug, black square neck top with short sleeves. “Ian’s got the look of you.”

“He’s got enough of me in him to make me not lose my mind,” she acknowledged. “But there’s plenty of Jennings in there, too.”

“I take it from the flatness in your tone, that’s not a good thing?”

The corners of Kat’s mouth curved and Tabitha wanted to pat herself on the back for getting that much of a positive reaction out of the other woman. “It’s not good or bad. It just is.”

“Well,” Tabitha said, smiling even more, “that’s either an incredibly emotionally healthy way to look at it, or a slightly worrisome ability to ignore reality. Either way, it’s working for you. Ian’s a great kid.”

Kat inclined her head which, after a moment, Tabitha realized must be her way of saying thank you.

And that she wasn’t going to admit which coping mechanism she was using.

“He is pretty great. Part of that is due to the Jennings. And no,” she added, “that’s not such a bad thing. Even if it is hard to admit he’s as much theirs as he is mine.”

“In that case, you’re both very lucky. Especially Ian.”

She saw kids daily who were neglected and unloved. Kids who’d never had one person step up to care for them. To put them first.

Kids like her.

Tabitha cleared her throat. “Well, I’d better let you get inside. I’d hate for Ian to miss out on his reading time because I kept you.”

“Don’t you want to know what else Miles said about you?”

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

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