Page 44 of Red Mountain Burning
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Mary knockedon the door at eight. Brooks had totally forgotten she was coming. He and Adriana had put Zack to bed and were watching a documentary about penguins in the living room.
“Who could that be?” Adriana asked.
Brooks paused the television hanging on the wall and set down the remote. “I, ugh, I forgot to tell you.” He pulled his feet off the coffee table and stood up from the couch. “It’s my mom. Shay told her about the baby monitor thing.”
“No.” Adriana’s cheeks hardened with anger. “I’m not dealing with her right now. Please don’t let her in.”
“She only wants to apologize.”
Adriana sighed, letting her eyes close.
“Let’s just get it over with,” Brooks pleaded.
“Fine.” She cast the blanket that had been covering her to the arm of the couch.
Brooks pulled open the door to find his mom, sad and small, waiting on the porch. “Hey, Mom. Come on in.”
With hesitant steps, Mary opened up her arms. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
Brooks hugged her and said into her ear, “I didn’t know what to do.”
“You should have told me,” she whispered back. “Then I could have at least tried to make it right.”
As he let her go, he said, “Some other stuff is going on too.”
Mary looked at him inquisitively.
“Just come in.”
Adriana turned to them as Brooks and Mary entered the living room. Not that Brooks could blame her, but Adriana didn’t bother getting up.
Holding onto the silk scarf around her neck, Mary launched into what sounded like an apology she’d been rehearsing all day. “I’m just scared about losing Brooks, Adriana. The things I said…had nothing to do with you. Truly. I hope you can understand. As a mother, I’m just being protective. I was absent Brooks’s entire life, and being up here feels like a second chance.”
Mary sat in the chair by the window. “We’ve finally connected, and the idea of losing him again is just heartbreaking. But I had no right to start making assumptions. I think you’re a wonderful woman and a great mother, and I know Brooks loves having you in his life.” She stopped, like she’d suddenly run out of words.
Adriana sat up straighter on the couch and fingered the bandage covering Brooks’s stitched wound. “I have no intention of prying him from Red Mountain if this is where he wants to be.”
“You wouldn’t be prying me,” Brooks said. “I…” He didn’t know what else to say. How absurd to think he wouldn’t follow her to Florida. When it came down to it, a decision to be with the woman he loved or staying to ferment Red Mountain grapes shouldn’t be a difficult choice at all.
Then why did it weigh so heavily on his shoulders?
It was a wasted thought anyway. Michael wasn’t getting out of prison any time soon. Though she hadn’t come out and said it yet, why would Adriana leave now? Because the winters were cold? Surely, he was more important than the outside temperature.
“Mary,” Adriana said, “no offense, but you have no idea how I feel about your son. Don’t put your guilt on me like I have anything to do with it.”
“Whoa, honey,” Brooks said. “Please, let’s just…” He looked at his mom. “Adriana’s ex-husband almost killed someone in prison last night.”
Mary’s mouth fell open. “Oh my God.”
“We just found out,” he said.
Mary sat up and clasped her hands together. “You should have called me. Here I was, coming over to apologize because of my big mouth…” She shook her head.
“It’s okay, Mom,” he said, the designation still funny on his tongue. “I forgot you were coming over.”
Mary blew out a blast of air and stood. “I’ll get out of your hair. Please let me know if there’s anything we can do. Again, Adriana, I’m beyond sorry. You have every right to be angry with me.”
