Page 18 of The Last Love Song
All thoughts of Megan forgotten, Heather drew in a sharp breath.
“Mom, really.” She wished she’d done the laundry instead of putting herself in the path of…whatever her mother had on her mind.
“He wasn’t the only one giving you the once-over, but I’m not about to count Jeremy Covington’s surreptitious looks since he’s married.”
“Eeww. Mom. Stop.” She sincerely hoped her mother didn’t know what she was talking about. The local quarry owner had been a renegade voter on the town board for a long time, a thorn in her father’s side.
“But the mayor’s interest in you was fun to watch,” her mother continued, unruffled. “Zachary Chance is a more cautious politician than your father ever dreamed of being, and he plays it close to the vest, from what I hear about the townmeetings these days. But my bird’s-eye view gave me a whole new perspective today, and Mr. Chance followed you with his gaze even when he wasn’t scheming to get you into quiet corners of the garden.” She paused, a long silence suggesting she waited for an answer to the question she hadn’t asked.
“He thinks I’d make a good mayor,” Heather found herself saying, revealing more than she meant to just so she didn’t have to discuss the possibility of a mutual attraction between her and Zach.
“He’s in such a hurry to give up his seat?” Turning in the big wingback, her mother adjusted her heavy glasses on her nose. “Or does he think he can still run things if you take over for him?”
“Am I so weak willed that you think he could?” Miffed, she stared her mother down.
“For heaven’s sake, of course not. No daughter of mine is weak willed. But the mayor isa man. Who knowswhathe thinks?”
Heather laughed. Maybe she ought to listen harder for her mother’s moments of levity, after all.
“Right. Well, I got the impression his job is demanding and he’d like to return to it sooner rather than later.” Her other suspicions were too vague to name—that Zach was keeping an eye on her for some reason. “He reminded me that I had the same number of write-in votes as he did when they took the emergency poll after Dad…died.”
She watched her mother closely, and waited for signs of darker emotions—darker beyond what one would expect from any widow who’d loved her husband deeply. Diana Finley hadn’t had an easy time of it in the months after his fatal heart attack. She knew her dad supported her mother emotionally, even if he checked out on the family a fair amount. But Heather hadn’t fully appreciated the depth of her mother’s reliance on him untilthe aftermath. It had taken months to adjust her medicines so she wouldn’t feel too numb to grieve, but to also maintain a safety valve where she didn’t fall into a deep depression.
Her mother’s doctors had done well. Heather wondered if the drug treatments for her own health issues would be half so complicated. Or physically draining on her body. As much as she dreaded the exhaustion and potential side effects of starting treatment, she prayed she made it to that doctor’s appointment in Charlotte before she had another flare-up.
“I think I wrote your name in that blank, Heather.” Her mother bit her lip in a rare moment of uncertainty. “Of course, we all thought Scott would be a good mayor, but he was in no place back then with his marriage already splintering.”
“Thank goodness he and Bethany shored that up.” Her eye went to the window again, but she didn’t see any of her family on the lawn below. A few cars were pulling away, and someone had turned the music up on the outdoor speakers, the country tune audible inside the house. Thankfully, there were only Finley-family homes on the cul-de-sac.
“Yes. Scott and Bethany are happy. Erin and Remy will be honeymooning soon. Mack and Nina have their new restaurant in town.” Diana ticked off her children on her fingers before sizing Heather up with a look. “Now we just need to get you and Amy settled back home.”
“Hmm. Don’t you mean we need to leave Amy in peace and get me a dream recording career?” Heather knew her mother had very little faith in her musical ability, but couldn’t she evenpretendto be excited for herAmerican Voiceaudition?
“I mean afterward, dear.” Putting her head back on the chair, her mom closed her eyes. “Of course, I want my children to accomplish their personal goals first. But sooner or later, I’d like you all close by.”
The five land lots for the five Finley siblings had been laid out since Amy’s birth, their father ensuring the land he’d grown up on remained in the family. The old farm still had plenty of unused acreage, but despite a few offers, their father had kept the property.
“After Amy couldn’t even get on a plane to come to Erin’s wedding?” Heather heard someone coming up the stairs and lowered her voice. “I’d be surprised if she ever makes Heartache her home.”
“Bah,” Mom grumbled, eyes still closed, her fingers lacing and unlacing in her lap as if she couldn’t quite find a comfortable position. “She’s a Finley. She’ll come home.”
The need to argue that point was strong, but the bride’s and groom’s voices were out in the hallway, making her think the better of it.
“Hey, sis.” Erin untwined her arm from Remy’s waist as they stepped into the den. “We’re just saying our last goodbyes.”
Remy leaned a shoulder on the door casing, his eyes hardly leaving his new wife. “I told her if we left last night, we could already be fishing off the dock this morning.”
“Which is why every woman goes on a honeymoon, I’m sure.” Heather wrapped Erin in a hug as she teased her new brother-in-law. She adored him, wishing she’d been around to see Erin fall hard in love.
But she’d been in Austin, hospitalized with a mystery ailment and scared out of her mind. What would her mother have said if she’d called with the news? That she must be lazing around because she didn’t like working?
Mom’s comment about Amy made her all the more grateful she’d kept the incident to herself..
Erin playfully tugged on Remy’s hair. “He’s just kidding me because I’m convinced I’m going to be eaten by an alligator while we’re there.” Her breakfast wardrobe seemed more in line withher normal clothes—a dreamy white poet’s blouse and a blue wraparound skirt with an iron-on transfer of a rococo painting,The Swing. “Apparently his mother’s dock is frequently visited by large reptiles.”
“If you need to leave the swamp, I hear New Orleans is only an hour away.” She was so happy for Erin, just as she’d been happy for Mack when he and Nina had gotten engaged. But sometimes seeing that kind of love hurt when it remained so very absent in her own life. She felt that pang now as she moved from Erin to give Remy a hug goodbye.
“Don’t you give her ideas,cher,” Remy warned her, wrapping her in strong arms and planting a kiss on her cheek. “She’s not getting far from me for the next two weeks.”
