Page 39 of Sneak Attack

“Heard you work with animals now. You like that?”

Huh. So that was a surprise. Still waiting for the bomb to drop, I answered carefully. “I love it. Not at all what I thought I’d do, but I found comfort with them. Peace and simplicity.”

“I suppose you earned some time with that. Glad you finally found it. Not many people do.”

That prickle at the back of my neck spread to my shoulders, down my arms, and I was prepared for a number of things for her to bring up. Hilary. Marley. Definitely Cole.

“Your ma called me the other day.”

Not prepared for that. At all. I choked over a sip of wine and wiped it off my lap. “Excuse me?”

She turned her head so she was facing me. “We kept in touch, you know. Or maybe you didn’t.”

“No…I, um, well, no I didn’t.”

“She’s a good lady, your mom.”

She was. The best. Which was why avoiding talking to her hurt but talking to her hurt worse. “I know that.”

“Misses you something fierce. Has for years now.”

This had to end. I’d already been hit with a one-two punch about Cole earlier. I didn’t need my parents brought into this. Not today of all days.

You were always mine.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Or them.”

She stared out toward her own house through the trees, not even visible in the dark.

“They love you, you know. Still do. Always. A parent’s love, well it never ends, just grows deeper.” She kept talking like she didn’t hear me, although Mama B could hear gossip going on in town from all the way out here if she was so inclined. “Although can I tell you something that you can love even more than your own kids? Grandkids. A whole different way, but man, every time I see Jasper, I think my heart might explode with happiness.”

Her smile told her truth. It was brilliant, bright enough to light the entire porch if the electricity went out.

I thought back to the boy I saw on the streets the day I rolled into town. The boy I saw at the game, sitting next to his mom with Kate smiling on from behind them.

“He’s cute. Seems sweet.” Looked like his dad and made my heart hurt because there was a time I wanted that to be me.

You’ve always been mine.

The words slammed into my chest making me suck in a breath. Why…why did he have to say that?

And why did Mama B need to come over and rub my nose in what Cole had that I never would and say it directly into my face with a sweet smile on hers.

“He is. Jasper’s the best thing that happened to this family in a long while, especially Cole. He was hurting, too you know, after all that happened. And I dare say he wasn’t quite right again, had lost his purpose and his focus until that boy was put in his arms. Means the world to him. Absolutely everything.”

Damn her and her sweetness. Every word she spoke hit me like a barb to the chest.

“And that Selma, you know her. Been trying to lock him down ever since. Probably shouldn’t tell you that, gossip and all…” she trailed off, glanced toward the street with her glass at her lips while she took a leisure pull, acting like she hadn’t just thrown a bomb the size of Texas into my lap.

Been trying to lock him down…

They weren’t together. She’d let me believe that. Heck, the photos of them led everyone to believe that.

And that hug at the game…

Been trying to lock him down ever since….

“I’m sure she’s a good mom.”

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