"Yes, ma'am."

Mom sniffed and kissed me on the head. "I'll be right back.

You stay here, okay?"

That was the very first time Mom and I lay in bed together watching Doris Day. It took me a while to understand what Dad's special friend was and why my mother looked the way she did that night. But when it all dawned on me, I secretly resented my father and worried that one day we wouldn't all be a family anymore. I kept the secret, though, telling no one, not even Kalen.

In adulthood, I realized that Mom had somehow found it in her heart to forgive him. I eventually did, too, in secret.

101.

Chapter 15.

Cat on a hot tin roof.

"You have to take them, Roger."

We weren't out of the parking lot, and my dad was already b.i.t.c.hing about having to take more pills. I was glad that I was behind the wheel, and I could use the excuse that I needed to concentrate on driving if he tried to get me to take his side.

"Dad, you have to stay healthy," Kalen said. "You remember why, don't you?"

That silenced the argument.

"Are you gonna name him after me?" Dad asked.

"It very well could be a girl," Mom said. "You need to prepare yourself for that."

Dad huffed. "Todd has two brothers. Boys are predominant on his side, so it's gonna be a boy." When Mom opened her mouth to argue, he piped up. "Don't get my blood pressure up, Jill, you know what the doctor said, 'easy does it.'"

"And I suppose you're going to play that card every chance you get," Mom shot back.

Dad laughed. "Are you kidding me? That's my ace in the hole."

Mom mumbled off something that sounded to me like she wanted to stuff him into a hole.

When we got to their house, Mom and Dad sat down to discuss the new diet, Kalen took a nap, and I took a walk down to the beach and called Hailey. She was still at the office but took time out to talk to me.

102.

*"I'm glad you called. I was wondering how things were going," she said cheerfully.

"Dad's being a bit uncooperative about taking his new meds,"

I said.

"Sounds like he had a touch of distemper. Put the pill in the back of his throat and clamp his mouth closed, then rub his neck until he swallows. That's what I do with Fuzzy."

I laughed at the mental image.

"I referred someone here at work to Marvin today, so I called him and gave a heads-up. You'd have thought I'd given him a million dollars. He invited me out to have a few drinks with his friends tonight."

My heart nearly stopped. I wondered if those "friends"

included Alicia. "Don't you have to work tomorrow? Marvin and his buddies are night birds."

Something in my tone must have given away my discomfort with the idea. "Well yeah, I wasn't going to make a late night of it though," Hailey said uneasily.

I didn't want to come off sounding jealous, but I knew that Alicia would be all over Hailey the minute she caught sight of her.

"One of his friends...she's...she kind of comes on strong. I feel like I should warn you."

"You know this by experience?" she asked in a playful tone.

"Unfortunately."

"What's her name?"

"Alicia."

"I'll keep an eye out for her then."

"Better keep a bat handy, too. You'll need it." I wasn't joking.

"Does that mean you think she may find me attractive?"

Hailey asked.

"You're extremely attractive." I put emphasis on the word attractive. "But Alicia is the type of woman that would find a tree stump alluring."

She lowered her voice. "You find me attractive?"

"Isn't it obvious? I kissed you the other night in case you don't remember."

10.

*Her sigh sent shivers down my spine. "I haven't forgotten.

You...umm...changed the subject the other night when I asked you if you found a spark."

I kicked at the sand and blurted out what I thought before I lost my nerve. "You should know by now that it's you that I feel the spark with. The real question is if you feel it with me."

"I needed to hear you say it," Hailey said barely above a whisper. "I feel it, too. I'm just... Hi, Kelly, come in and have a seat. I'll be finished here in a sec." Hailey's tone switched to business. "Shannon, I hate to cut this short, but I have someone in my office. We'll set up a meeting when you get back in town."

"I look forward to it," I said in the same businesslike tone.

"I'd like you to text me when you get in tonight, so I'll know you made it home safely. And yes, I know you can't argue with me on this point, because you have someone in your office, so just do as I ask."

"I will consider your proposal. Thank you for calling," Hailey said politely before ending the call.

I snapped the phone closed with a smile, then frowned when I thought about Hailey going out with Marvin and his friends.

I wondered if my name would come up in conversation since I was a mutual friend and if Alicia would say anything about my encounter with her. I also wondered what Hailey had planned to say before she was cut off. All of it made me uneasy.

I had no appet.i.te at dinner. In my mind's eye, I could only see Hailey on the dance floor with Alicia, and I wanted to go home.

Mom, Dad, and Kalen were engrossed in conversation about what room would be best as the nursery and fencing the backyard now that they'd have a little one running loose. No one noticed that I only picked at my food.

After dinner, Dad settled into his recliner while Kalen stretched out on the couch. Mom and I cleaned the kitchen. Then we took our coffee to the patio. "Mom, can I ask you a personal question?"

She looked over at me and raised her brow.

"Why did you stay with him?" I asked softly.

104.

*She seemed surprised at first. "I thought you'd forgotten about that night."

I wished I had.

After a long sigh, she said, "At first, it was that I didn't want to break up our home. I was a housewife with no education and two girls barely in school. That's why when you two started high school, I went to beauty school," she said with a sad smile. "I waited until y'all went off to college to confront him."

"What did he say?"

"He was shocked that I'd known all that time and never said anything. He begged my forgiveness and swore it was only once."

Mom set her cup on the table and folded her hands in her lap. "I have no idea if that was the truth, but I chose to accept it as so."

I couldn't imagine living all those years coping silently with the betrayal. "Why?"

"I loved him and I couldn't make myself stop," she said as if it were as simple as that. "After I told him that I knew, he's spent all these years trying to make it up to me. I'm not saying the affair was a blessing in disguise, but our relationship has been wonderful ever since. I wonder if it'd been as good otherwise."

"When I think about the women I've been involved with, I don't think I could've forgiven any of them for that."

Mom tilted her head and looked at me intently. "I know you loved the women you were serious with, but I've wondered if you were ever truly in love."

"I was content. It was nice to have someone to share things with," I admitted as I toyed with my cup. "I know love isn't really like it's depicted in movies and books, but that's what I want."

Mom laughed. "Yes, they never show or tell you what happens after the happy couple rides off into the sunset. But someone has to do the laundry, take out the trash, and pay the bills."

"I know it sounds pathetic, but at this stage in my life, even those ch.o.r.es sound romantic," I said with a smile. "If the one I was doing the ch.o.r.es for made my heart skip a beat whenever she walked into the room."

"Does Hailey make your heart skip a beat?" Mom asked.

"From the second I saw her."

10.

*"What makes her so different from the others?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. There's just a connection, and as silly as it sounds, I feel like we're supposed to be together."

"I'm curious to know what Kalen thinks about her," Mom said.I winced, knowing exactly what Kalen thought and would no doubt tell Mom. "She doesn't like her."

Mom's brows rose. "Really?"

"Hailey is divorced," I said. "She had an affair with a woman."

Mom stared at me for a moment. "Well, that's kind of hard to comment on after what we just discussed your father."

"She has deep regrets about it," I said, debating whether or not to say anything about the online issue. As open-minded as Mom was, she'd probably side with Kalen if she knew about Hailey's deception. Frankly, I would've reacted the same way Kalen had if she told me the same things about someone she was interested in.

A niggling doubt and fear settled over me then.

10.

Chapter 16.