Page 74 of Finally Moore

“Oh,” he says in understanding. “That must mean it’ll be easy for you guys to visit again.”

Kasey and Trisha share a look and smile. “That’s the plan.”

“Virginia Peterson?” A man stops and stares at my mom, her maiden name a question on his tongue. It takes me a second to recognize him outside his grease-stained blue overalls.

My mom studies him for a moment before recognition brings a smile to her face. “Christopher Biggs?” She stands. “Is that you?”

“As I live and breathe. What brings you around these parts? I seem to recall your parting farewell and pointed vow to neverstep foot in this shitholeagain.” While he says it with a smirk, I get the sense the statement strikes a chord with him.

“Oh, I’m here visiting my daughter.”

“Daughter?” he parrots, and Mom points to me. “Wow, I can’t believe… I thought you looked familiar, but I guess I never put two and two together. I’ll be damned.” He scratches his head.

“And you? I assume you have a litter running around here somewhere,” she asks him.

“Nope, never settled down.”

“Oh…” She seems surprised.

“Yeah, I thought I found the one. But she had the sort of stars in her eyes that I could never compete with.”

“Chris, your order’s up,” someone calls from the counter.

“Well, Ginny, it was a pleasure seeing you. But I better grab those and get to work. My boss can be a real hard-ass if I’m late.”

Scott laughs, because thathard-assis his big brother, Robbie.

“It was nice seeing you too,” Mom says.

“Yeah, try not to be a stranger,” Chris tells her, and Mom blushes at the invitation. “Scarlett, Scott, pleasure as always.”

“Mom,” I whisper. “What was that about?”

“Oh, nothing.” She waves me off as she takes her seat.

“Didn’t look like nothing from where I’m sitting,” Trisha chimes in.

“Girls,” Mom scolds. “Drop it, please.”

We do, but only because our breakfast is getting cold.

“Hey, Scott.” Gia appears at our table, with a handheld phone pressed to her chest. “I’m sorry to bother you, but there’s an Amanda on the phone for you. She says it’s urgent.”

“Oh, sure. Excuse me, everyone. I’ll be right back.” He stands and I barely overhear him say, “I’m going to take the call in the office.” He grabs the handheld from Gia and walks to the back.

I know I shouldn’t… that I should trust him. But my stomach ties into a knot and forces me to excuse myself from the table and follow him. Everyone is so preoccupied with their meals they don’t even notice. I press my ear to the door and can just make out the muffled exchange taking place on the other side.

“Amanda… I’ve been hoping you’d call… Oh sure, what’s going on?...” Scott says, and I hold my breath as I listen. “Really! That’s great… No, really, it’s perfect timing actually…”

It doesn’t take long for me to realize I’ve heard enough.God, I’m so stupid. Of course, he was just using me to kill time while he waited forher. My family is getting ready to leave, so honestly, it’s best this happened now. I’d say everything will just go back to normal, but let’s face it, that can never happen.

Chapter thirty-one

Scott

“Amanda,”Isayassoon as I enter the office. It’s crazy. I’ve been waiting for her to reach out to me. I’m just surprised at how drastically my reason for wanting to hear from her has changed.

“I’m so sorry to bother you at work, but your profile was deleted off the app, and I couldn’t find your cell. So I figured I’d try you here.”

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