Page 130 of A Lesson for Laurel

“Never,” she said. “You and me, we had a different upbringing than most. If there is one person who can understand what you’re saying, it’s me. Rachelle had a problem with your parents, didn’t she?”

“She thought my parents died,” he said.

“What?” she asked. “You lied to her?”

“No,” he said. “I didn’t. She assumed it. I said that I was raised by my aunt and uncle and that my parents weren’t around much. That they weren’t parent material and had addiction issues. She never wanted to talk about it. Nicole told me once that she’d overheard Rachelle telling someone my parents had died when I was younger and that my aunt and uncle raised me.”

“That is horrible. Why would she do that?”

“My guess is she was embarrassed over it. I wasn’t, not sure why she was.”

“Come on, Easton. Of course you were embarrassed over it. Every kid would be. I was with my mother not wanting me. But then I learned that it doesn’t matter what people who don’t love me think.”

“You’re right,” he said. “You taught me that. I should only be concerned about what you think.”

“No,” she said. “You shouldn’t.”

He frowned. “That makes no sense.”

“Listen. I love you, but we aren’t going to agree on everything and I don’t expect that. But I respect you enough that you have your reasons for feeling your way about things just like I hope you respect me enough to understand I might feel a certain way that you wouldn’t.”

“I didn’t think of it that way. Philip’s parents didn’t like your background, right?”

“Not even close. I’m not sure what his mother told people. I didn’t care. Philip never seemed to care that my aunt raised me.”

“Geez, he had one good trait,” he said sarcastically.

“I guess,” she said. “But it might be he told me that because I’d commented once when he started to talk about it. He didn’t like conflict all that much.”

Easton laughed. “Not surprising.”

“So what is going to happen next?” she asked. “With your father?”

“He’s in a cell is my guess. He has no money for bail. Being there will sober him up some I think. Or hope. They will get him into rehab in a day or so and he’ll stay in jail until that is arranged. Could be a week.”

“Will you go see him?” she asked.

“No. I’m never going to forgive him for what he did. Or forget. If he wants me to be in his life, he has a long way to go to prove things. It’s not like he even said he wanted to make amends with me. Just that he wanted to clean up.”

“That’s the first step,” she said.

“It is,” he said. “But that means nothing to me. I feel bad for Abe though. It’s his house that was broken into.”

“I’m sure your cousin will be fine. Is he upset about pressing charges?”

“No,” he said. “He texted me a few times and then came over to talk before you got here. He’ll stand by any decision I make, and once I make it, that’s it. I never second-guess anything.”

“Never?” she asked.

He pulled her close. “No. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but once I make that decision, it’s done.”

“Then I’m glad you decided to love me,” she said.

“Me too,” he said. “Let’s go out to dinner. No reason to sit here and you don’t need to cook and I don’t want to. We’ve got the day off tomorrow for the holiday and I want to lie in bed with you all morning.”

“Just lie there?” she asked, standing up and putting her hand out.

“Well, maybe more than that,” he said.

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