Page 20 of Vodka and Chocolate Drops

Amber let out a chuckle. She doubted talking with Mrs. Peaks would change the man’s behavior.

They had reached her mother’s house, and Gloria let them in, dropping her keys in a dish by the door. She sat on a folding chair, slipping off her shoes so she could massage the balls of her feet, just as she’d done after every shift while Amber was growing up.

“Why didn’t you become a stylist after hairdressing school?”

Her mother’s thumbs stopped working circles into her soles as she glanced up.

“Hairdressing wasn’t for me,” she said simply.

“How come?”

She gave a shrug, placing her foot back on the floor. “It just wasn’t.”

So much for being able to see hidden meanings in her mother’s expression. Gloria was as good at poker faces as Scott was.

Either that or there really was nothing behind the hairdressing school rumor.

Her mother went silent, hooking a thumb under her chin, pondering something. “Mary Alice’s incident got me thinking. There are things I want you to know, now that you’re an adult.”

“What incident? What things?” Amber struggled to catch up with this new line of conversation. They were close to something. She could feel it.

“Her lump.”

Mary Alice had believed she was dying a few months ago, and had begun writing relatives’ names on pieces of tape, sticking them on various items around her home so they could be handed down after she was gone--much to her husband’s consternation. It turned out she’d had just a small malignant tumor that had been safely removed. She was fine now, but that period of not knowing and assuming the worst had been unsettling for more than just Mary Alice. John had said he’d had a run on residents wanting to update their last wills and testaments, and it seemed as though Gloria had been affected, too.

“If you have sex toys or raunchy magazines, you can just go ahead and dispose of those before I have to deal with them.”

Her mother breathed heavily through her nose. “Amber, be serious. You’ve been asking about your family history. Do you want to know or not?”

“Yes, sorry.” Now she was worried that Gloria was sick and there were some bad genes kicking around that knocked Thompsons off prematurely. That and what secrets her mother might reveal. Suddenly Amber didn’t feel ready.

“I’ve been thinking about telling you this for some time. I don’t know if it’s a great time for you, given everything going on with Russell, but either way, you’re an adult now and I think you deserve to know.”

Amber had to remind herself to breathe, to not blurt out something stupid. Something big was coming down the secrets pipe. Bigger than the name of her father.

“But please know that what I’m about to tell you is confidential. Only four other people know and two of them are dead.”

“Um, is this an issue of national security?”

So much for being able to keep her mouth shut, but this was feeling really, really heavy.

Her mother gave her a stern look. “Your grandparents, Amber. Don’t be ridiculous. And the secret didn’t kill them.”

“Sorry. It just sounded like a line from a movie, not our life. I’ll shut up and listen. I promise.”

“I didn’t go to hairdressing school.”

“Okay.”

“I… I got pregnant in high school.”

Her mother had been in her early twenties when she’d had Amber. Which meant… secret baby.

Holy poop. Secret baby!

“I gave her up for adoption.”

Amber hadn’t seen that one coming. She needed to sit down.

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