Page 55 of Just One Kiss

Guilt moved through her mother's eyes. "Well, I was busy yesterday, but I'm here now." She paused. "I'd like to meet him."

"I told you, he's sleeping."

"He certainly takes a lot of naps."

"He's four. Do you want to come back later?"

"Maybe I should just wait."

"You want to wait?" she asked in surprise. "It could be a while. I'm sure you have other things to do. Why don't you go home, and I'll call you when he wakes up?"

"I'd rather stay."

"Well, I can't entertain you. I have to make three dozen cookies before tomorrow."

Her mom's green eyes lit up. "I can help with that. I'm great at baking."

She actually wouldn't mind her mom's help. "All right. But we're not going to talk about Jake."

"I can't make that promise. When I see something wrong, I have to say something."

"Since when?"

"It's part of being honest and staying well. If I keep things inside, they only get worse. You can't keep secrets and stay sober."

Her mom's words came straight out of her Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and while she wanted to say her mom had never really been that honest about anything, there was no point. Katherine Stark had a blind spot when it came to her own deficiencies. But she was trying, and she was sober. That was the most important thing.

"If we're going to be completely honest," she said. "Then you need to explain why you never told me Jake came by to see me after our horrible breakup."

Her mom's shrug was unapologetic. "I was protecting you. I saw how hurt you were, Hannah, and when he came by to apologize, I was afraid you'd take him back. Is that what you're doing now? Are you giving him a second chance?"

"I don't know," she said. "I haven't decided yet."

Her mother bit down on her bottom lip as if she was forcing herself not to say anything, which was fine with her.

"Okay," her mom continued. "We won't talk about Jake. What's happening with Kelly?"

She wanted to talk about Kelly even less. "The police are looking for her, but they haven't found her yet. That's really all I know." She didn't want to get into the boyfriend or what had happened at the campground. It would only upset her mom, and she didn't need her mother to fall apart on top of everything else. "Let's go into the kitchen. I need to get started on the cookies."

"I can't believe they put you in charge of cookies. You were always so impatient with baking," her mom said, as she followed her into the kitchen. "You never wanted to wait for the cookies to bake. Every time I turned around, you were sneaking raw cookie dough."

She smiled at the memory. "That is true. It was so good."

"And so bad for you with the raw eggs."

"Well, I survived," she said lightly, knowing she'd survived things far worse than raw egg cookie dough. "But tomorrow the cookies definitely need to be baked."

"Then it's a good thing I came by."

She didn't know yet if it was a good thing or not, but she was going to find out soon.

* * *

Jake drove across town fighting off waves of anger. The contempt in Katherine Stark's voice still grated on his nerves.

After the life she'd led, the terrible mother she'd been—how dare she judge him for one bad mistake? If she hadn't been such a complete and total burden on Hannah for the last decade, maybe he could admire her sticking up for her daughter. But it just felt hypocritical.

Unfortunately, her attitude toward him had also been another reminder of what a stupid ass he'd been. He didn't care what she thought of him now, but he didn't want her messing up the tentative truce between Hannah and him. But there was nothing he could do about it.

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