Page 75 of Things Good Girls Don't Do (Rock Canyon, Idaho 1)

He remembered her then, an older woman who always smelled like fresh-baked cookies and cinnamon. “Yeah, I’m so sorry, Mrs. Dowry, how are you?”

Patting his arm, she said, “Oh, I’m okay. Moved to Phoenix to live with my daughter twenty years ago to help her with her babies, and now I’m the one who needs help getting around since I had my hip replaced. These old bones just don’t move like they used to.”

“I’m so sorry, can I get you something?”

She shook her head and handed him an envelope from her purse. “This is for you, but I figure she probably told you everything already?”

“About my dad?” She nodded. “Yes, she told me.”

“Hmph. Always told her she had more looks than brains, the way she behaved, but the girl had her demons. One thing I never doubted, though, was how much she loved you,” Mrs. Dowry said.

His laugh was tinged with bitterness. “Yeah, well, I wish I could say that, but I had my doubts.”

Smiling sadly, she said, “I know you did. I could see it and it broke my heart, but you gotta know she wasn’t being cruel, just dumber than a box of bricks. But she took care of you, got you into that art class, paid for—”

He broke in. “No, my sixth-grade teacher pulled strings to get me into art.”

She shook her head. “No, baby, your teacher called your mother to tell her that she should get you into private lessons because the seventh-grade art teacher had said no. Your mama went down to that school with your sketchbook, and she battled it out with him until he agreed to let you in.”

Chase was speechless. “I didn’t think she knew I could draw.”

“’Course she did,” she said with a snort. “She used to brag about you. Used to tell everyone down at the diner how great you were. Even framed and hung your first signed comic up on the wall.”

“And her boss let her?”

Mrs. Dowry’s mouth dropped open. “Boy, don’t you know anything? Your mama bought that diner nine years ago. Buzz and she own it. They fixed it up and redid the whole look. She really didn’t tell you?”

He shook his head. He remembered his mother borrowing money from him years ago, but she had said it was for her car. She’d paid it back fairly quick, and he hadn’t questioned it. “I never knew.”

She reached out and patted his hand. “You should go have a look-see. I have a feeling you’re gonna be really surprised.”

THE NEXT DAY, Chase took a drive out of town to check out his mother’s diner. He pulled up to the little yellow building and the huge neon sign above and couldn’t take his eyes off it.

Sunshine’s Diner.

He got out and walked inside, staring at the cream walls. There was a wall with rainbow letters that read COLORING CONTEST, and below that clusters of crayon-colored suns and rainbows hung cheerily. On the rest of the walls, framed pictures and artwork hung perfectly. There was the framed copy of Destructo Boy, with his bold signature across the bottom. There were several more framed pictures of him at Comic Con, and a cheesy one of him holding up Destructo Boy with a crazy grin on his face, showcasing his greatest achievement. He moved down the wall and found one of his mother and him on his graduation day, smiling for the camera like they were happy and close. Like they knew each other.

But he had no idea who this woman was. His mother had ignored him, barely cared for him. The woman who had owned this diner had taken pride in her son.

Next to the graduation picture was one of Buzz and her on their wedding day, looking happy and in love in front of a little chapel. His mom had definitely been lucky when she’d found Buzz. He was a good man.

And the last picture on the wall was one of his mom and him when he was a kid, coloring with crayons at the kitchen table. His hair was lighter, in a bowl cut, and he was missing his front teeth. His mother knelt next to him in a waitress uniform, her brown hair poufy, but her eyes were on him and her face was soft, her smile warm.

It was the same look he’d seen on Katie’s face when she looked at him.

“Can I get you something . . . hey, you’re Lorie’s boy.” Chase turned to the round waitress with too much makeup and a happy smile. “Well, don’t that beat all. Oh—” she lost her smile —“I was so sorry about your mama. She was a real good woman and a great boss. Buzz wanted to close down for the funeral, but we all said, ‘Now, Lorie would come back to haunt us if we didn’t stay open to customers.’ So we drew straws to see about who would go and stay.”

Chase was stunned by all of it. He reached out to the woman and gave her a hug. “Thank you.”

She patted his back and offered, “Let me make you a Sunshine breakfast omelet, and afterward you can try a slice of your mama’s blackberry cobbler.”

He sat at the counter. Under the glass top, his mother had scattered pictures he’d sketched as a kid. Dragons, suns, and even pictures of people they knew lay beneath the protective glass. He ran his hand over the counter lovingly and said, “I’d like that.”

KATIE WAS WASHING Kirsten Winter’s hair when she heard Chase’s name.

“I am all for him leaving town. The man is a lowlife, getting into fights and then hurting poor Katie, although I am glad to see her back to normal. I was worried about her for a while there.”

Mrs. Andrews and her friend were sitting in Holly and the other stylist, Danielle’s chairs, just talking to each other like the women around them didn’t exist. Like Katie wasn’t a few feet away, listening to every word.

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