Page 13 of Their Greatest Strength

“I don’t want it. It was a mistake to try and take it, and I’m sorry,” I apologize, hoping it will help extinguish the embarrassment I feel.

He pulls his hat off his head and runs long fingers through his hair. “Can I drive you home?”

And show him where I live? Not a chance.

“No.”

“So, you’re just leaving now?”

I’m out of the living room by the time I hear him coming up behind me. The door is still open, and for a moment, I grow jealous at the knowledge. The fact this neighbourhood is safe enough that Jamie isn’t the least bit worried about not double-checking that he locked it the moment he got home feels . . . unfair.

I’ve been woken up to the sound of my doorknob being jiggled from the outside too many times not to check the lock a minimum of ten times before going to bed every night.

“I shouldn’t have been here in the first place. I’m sorry again,” I mutter before slipping outside.

The air is still warm, but the breeze has cooled slightly. It’s silent on the street as I rush down the porch steps and wrap my arms around my front.

“You chose this house out of all the others in this neighbourhood,” Jamie calls from behind me. “Why do you think that was?”

I don’t risk looking back and instead pass the tall hedges before answering him.

“It was the only place with an open door.”

5

JAMIE

“I thinkI fell in love last night.”

Mom almost drops the coffee pot in her lap. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

I shift my weight on the patio chair and sigh against the homemade cookie I’m hovering near my mouth. “I think I fell in love with my robber.”

“Yourrobber?” she echoes. The coffee pot clunks on the table before blue eyes the same shade as mine narrow into slits. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack, Jamieson?”

“No, Ma. I’m just being honest, and I don’t have anyone else to tell this to.”

“Perhaps your brother? I was absolutely not prepared for that. Not from you.”

She sits across from me, her stare gentling when I don’t backpedal. I’d have grown defensive if there was any part of me that thought she was wrong for being so surprised.

I doubt this is what she was expecting us to be talking about during one of our morning coffee dates. I’ve been so busy the past week with training that this is the first time I could make the trip over to my parents’ place. They’ll be at my game Saturday,but there’s never much time to chat then. Especially about topics like this.

“Maybe love is stretching it a bit,” I admit.

“A bit or a lot?”

“Whatever is halfway between those options.”

“Oh, Jamie,” she says with a sigh.

I take the coffee pot and fill my mug to the rim before taking a long pull of the bitter liquid. My tongue burns while I decide to dump even more word vomit onto her.

“When I said robber, I didn’t mean it literally. She was more like a bandit in training.”

Mom props her cheek in her tiny palm. She was always a dainty woman, but as she’s aged, she’s shrunk even smaller. The platinum-blonde hair I’ve seen on her head since my childhood is still intact, without even a strand of gray appearing. It wouldn’t surprise me if she’s been dyeing it in secret all these years and lying about it.

“Continue, then. I fear I won’t be able to move on with my day without knowing all the details.”

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