Page 48 of Harboring Secrets
“I can. I just don’t like to. But you need a few minutes to get yourself together, and that’s not going to happen here.” I tugged Liam out of the office and through the kitchen. Ethan met us with a concerned expression.
“All good?” he asked.
“Yeah, thanks for letting me hide back there. I’ll tell Shane he owes you a drink. I’m going to get us out of here. Mind if we slip out the back?”
“Go ahead. I hope your day gets better,” Ethan told us as I steered Liam out the back door. He climbed into the passenger seat and I got behind the wheel.
After doing up my seatbelt, I put the key in the ignition and grinned at him. “It’s like riding a bike.”
It was not like riding a bike, but we made it to Mom’s in one piece.
“Where are we?” Liam asked as we got out of the car and headed for the front door.
“You’ll see.” I rang the bell and a minute later the front door swung open. Mom, as always, was covered in flour, her hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun.
“Brodie, what a nice surprise.” Her gaze slid over to Liam and her smile brightened. “And you brought your boyfriend. Come in, come in. I’ll get the coffee on.”
Liam’s hand tightened on mine as I pulled him inside. I shut the door behind us and, after taking our shoes off, we met Mom in the kitchen. She buzzed around the room like a happy little bumblebee, making coffee and plating cookies for us.
“What brings you boys by? Not that I mind. I just wasn’t expecting you for a few more days.” She set the cookies on the table, then stuck her hand out toward Liam. “I’m Patricia, but you can call me Pat, Patty, or Mom.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Brodie has told me all about you. You’re a remarkable woman.”
“Lies.” She rolled her eyes and took a seat at the table across from Liam. “So, you’re the one Brodie met on his travels. He’s told me precious little about you, but that was always his way. He likes to keep things close to his chest.” Mom pushed the plate of cookies closer to Liam. “Snickerdoodles, oatmeal chocolate chip, and lemon drops. Help yourself.”
Liam took a lemon drop and Mom caught my eye, sending me a look of triumph. I’d told her about the lemon bars he’d found and how he ate nearly the whole box himself.
The pleased sound that Liam made would have had me climbing into his lap were we not at my mother’s kitchen table.
“It’s quiet around here,” I said to Mom as Liam reached for another cookie.
“I’ve just got the one girl, and she has classes today. She’s going to finish up her courses and then transfer her credits and go live with her aunt while she finishes up.”
Mom was good about sharing about her girls. She’d never say why they were there or who they were running from, but she often bragged up their accomplishments. Some of them were only there long enough to make arrangements to get even farther away, but Mom had helped more than a few put their lives back together.
“Brodie told me about all the women you help. It’s pretty amazing.”
“I do what I can. My sister had a bad marriage and I do for these girls what I wish I could have done for her.” Mom nudged the plate of cookies closer to Liam. “Help yourself, dear.”
“That must have been hard.” Liam’s voice was tight. “To watch her go through that.”
Mom stood and busied herself getting coffee mugs and cream and sugar. She set them on the table and Liam picked at another cookie, breaking it in half first before taking a bite.
When the coffee had been poured, she sat back down. “Are you boys staying for lunch? I should get the other boys over and we can take advantage of how warm it is today and fire up the barbeque.”
I glanced at Liam and raised my eyebrow in a silent question. Liam shrugged back, but he looked more relaxed, even if the worry and the anger were still etched into his expression. John and Marsha’s reckoning was coming, even if I had to deliver it myself.
“We’ll stay, Mom.” Under the table, I put my hand on Liam’s thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze. Liam put his hand over mine and squeezed back, and more of the angst melted out of his expression.
“Great. I’ll get Shane to swing by the store on his way over. Do you have any allergies or special diets, Liam?”
“No, uh, no allergies. Or special diets.”
“He’ll eat anything, Mom. The street vendors around our hotel in Kalamata knew him by name.Mister Liam, they’d say.MisterLiam, come here and try this. Every time we stepped out of the hotel, or went back to it, they were always happy to see him.” Liam squeezed my hand.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. A subtle vibration followed by several more in quick succession. He fished it out of his pocket and glared at the screen. “It’s John.”
“His late wife’s family have been hard to deal with,” I summed up for Mom, whose curious gaze wasn’t missed.
