Page 182 of Come Back to Me

“What? It’s true. I had a massive crush on her when I was fourteen.”

“I did as well,” Tee confirms with a giggle.

That surprises her, but Elena still snickers. “I remember that too. Tee, you’d get all flustered when we worked on the musicals together. Then, whenever you came to the house, Cody, you’d flush right to the roots of your hair. God, when did those times fade away...?” The hitch in her voice triggers a thorough investigation of the rug on the floor.

Tee clears her throat. “Did Dad ever?—”

I grab her hand to stymy the question, but it’s too late.

Elena snorts. “He’s too much of a prig to cheat on your mother. Scared of losing face in town. Didn’t stop him from drooling though.”

“Gross.”

Bast coughs. “Do you remember what you told me about Clay, Mom?”

“Clay? My Clay?”

“YourClay, Elena?” I ask softly.

“Oh, yes. Mine. I loved him so much.” A dreamy cast overtakes her features, softening her eyes with the memories of her feelings for my uncle. “I think he loved me too. No, I’m sure he did. But you can never tell with men, can you, Tee?”

“No, you damn well can’t,” she grumbles, though I shoot her a pointed look because, hell, I came out and said it first!

She sniffs at me.

“It wasn’t until John—” Bast’s dad. “—almost lost me that he told me he loved me. Married for eighteen years and that was the first time.” She shakes her head. “I only stayed because he did, mind you. And because he started showering after he came home from work. I told him his feet stank, but he never used to listen. Now, he’s as clean as a daisy, isn’t he, Bast?”

“Yes, Mom. He is,” is my friend’s dutiful reply.

“Do you shower, Bast?” Tee taunts.

His lips twist. “Yes. Mom never lets any of us hear the end of it if we don’t.”

“Rightfully so,” is Elena’s stout retort. “I’m not making it hard on my future daughters-in-law. If John’s mother, that old bitch, had told him to shower after work, then I wouldn’t have had to. Do you know how many arguments we had over something as simple as that? Andshecould have fixed it!”

“You’re so right, Mrs. Frobisher,” Tee chimes in.

“It’s Elena, dear. We’re far too old for all that nonsense.” A glint appears in her eye. “I was about your age when I fell for Clay.”

“You were having an affair with him for so long?”

She nods, then flicks a look at her son. “I’m sorry, love.”

“It’s fine, Mom.”

“It isn’t, but I was very unhappy with your father. Clay changed that.” She frowns at her blanket. “I think he’d have married me, but he was so scared of what Clyde would do. He said that whatever he had, Clyde wanted. And he was right, wasn’t he?

“One moment, we’re trying to sneak off to Saskatoon. The next, he’s dead and I’m attending his funeral as a neighbor. Not as the woman he loved. I didn’t even get to pick the music for the service.

“I used to hope that Bast was his, but no. It never happened. Clay was so careful. He used to fear... said any wife of his would be in danger. I’m half-certain that’s why he took up with me. Despite the fact I was messing around on John. They were such good friends.”

“I know,” I rasp.

It’s half the reason Theo and Colt are best buds and Bast and I are close—Clay used to bring us around here. Was that for two pals to hang out, or was it to facilitate Clay and Elena’s affair?

I was too young, too naïve, and too dumb back then to register any signs of them hooking up. I wish I could remember—it’d corroborate this. The whole relationship could, after all, be a fantasy her illness crafted to mess with us.

“You really think my dad did it?”

---