Page 60 of His Heart

“Hi, honey,” she said, stepping inside. She hugged me and I patted her on the back. “I thought for sure I replied to your text and said I’d be stopping by. I had to be in Iowa City this morning for an appointment.”

“Um, I don’t think so,” I said. But that wasn’t surprising. My mom was notoriously terrible at texting. Half the time she didn’t read them until days later, and when she did, she often forgot to reply.

“Hmm. Well, I wanted to come over and see how you’re doing. I figured I’d get here first thing so I didn’t miss you. How was your trip?” She headed for the kitchen, clearly expecting me to follow.

Oh, boy. This was going to be interesting.

“My trip was good.”

“Good morning, Charlie. Oh—” She stopped in the doorway to the kitchen. Charlie and Brooke looked up from their breakfast. Brooke’s eyebrows rose and she shifted in her chair. An amused smile crossed Charlie’s face and he folded his arms. I glared at him. Dick.

My mom was kind of old-fashioned, so finding a girl having breakfast with us—implying she’d slept here—would bother her even if she knew the girl. And here she was, faced with Brooke—a woman she didn’t know, with a black eye and visible bruises—sitting at our kitchen table.

“Mom, this is Brooke,” I said. “Brooke, my mom, Lorraine McKinney.”

Mom’s eyes darted around between the three of us a few times. I think she was trying to figure out if Brooke was here with me, or Charlie.

“Nice to meet you,” Mom said.

“Hi, Mrs. McKinney,” Brooke said. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

Points to Brooke for calling my mom Mrs. McKinney. My parents were both big on formality.

Charlie’s grin widened. “Morning, Mrs. McKinney. Brooke, here, is from Phoenix.”

I glared harder at Charlie. Fucker.

“From Phoenix?” Mom asked. “Are you here for a visit, Brooke?”

Brooke started to answer, but I cut in. “Not exactly, Mom. Can I speak to you out here for a minute?”

I led my mom out to the covered porch and shut the door behind us.

“Sebastian, what on God’s green earth is going on?” she asked.

“I met Brooke in Phoenix,” I said.

“Yes, we’ve established that,” she said. “What is she doing in your house?”

“I’m just giving her a place to stay until she gets settled,” I said. “She needed a fresh start, so I offered to bring her out here. That’s all. She slept in our extra bedroom last night.”

“Sebastian, don’t be vulgar,” she said, as if the mere mention of where she slept was somehow a sexual reference. “You were only out of town for a few days. How did you meet her?”

“She…” I trailed off, because I knew this was going to freak her out. “She was Liam Harper’s fiancée before he died.”

“You mean… the man who…”

“Yes, Mom,” I said. “The organ donor who saved my life.”

“You brought his fiancée back with you?” she asked, her voice rising. “What were you thinking?”

“Look, it’s a long story,” I said. “She needed some help, and this felt like the right thing to do.”

“I’ll say she needs help,” Mom said. “She has a black eye, Sebastian.”

“Yes, I know.”

Mom’s brow furrowed, her worry lines creasing. “Honey, this is reckless. You can’t just bring some strange girl home with you. Especially thatgirl.”

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