The Family Gathering (Sullivan's Crossing #3)(67)

Tom was dealing with a lot more than Jackson going off to finish college, so when his son walked into the kitchen at about nine on a Saturday night, it all came to mind. “Hey, you’re home!” Tom said. “No date tonight?”

“Shelly is having girls’ night,” he said. “I just dropped her at Brooke’s, where several girls have gathered to do secret things.”

“When you’re a little older, maybe she’ll tell you what they do,” Tom suggested with a grin.

“I don’t think I want to know,” Jackson said. “I only care about secret things she feels like doing with me.”

“Feel like a beer with your old man? Out by the fire?”

“You’re not going to lecture me about sex again, are you?”

“I’ll try not to,” he said, grabbing a beer for his son. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you. About Lola.”

“Everything is all right with Lola, isn’t it?” Jackson asked.

“Yeah, Lola is great. Isn’t she great?” Tom asked as they walked outside. He stooped to light the fire. Pinecones, which were plentiful, made great starters.

Jackson laughed at him. “Yeah, she is. What’s up?”

“Well, Jackson, we’ve been talking about getting married. But between us we seem to have a lot of kids...”

“Mostly grown,” Jackson said. “We’re not going to stop you from getting married.”

“We’d like to live in the same house.”

“Dad, I’m not going to be here much longer. Nikki’s looking to move to a dorm with a couple of girls as soon as they can afford it. We can stack in here when we’re all home. Can’t we? Cole and Trace cool with that?”

“Lola’s talking to them.”

“This is easy. Double up Nikki and Brenda—it won’t be for that long. Nikki’s mostly gone all the time, anyway. I’ll share a room with Zach, as soon as I can find a footlocker with a combination lock so he doesn’t just help himself to everything... Cole and Trace should be able to share a room—isn’t Trace heading out into the world pretty soon, anyway? And Cole’s at the community college. Isn’t he looking at universities for a degree? Most of us just need a place to flop sometimes...”

“It’s nice to know you don’t have any issues with me and Lola living together. But there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Okay.”

“About your mom,” he said. Then he ran a hand over the back of his sweaty neck and muttered, “Damn.” Tom took a breath. “Listen, this could go down hard. Your mom didn’t have what we’d call a conventional lifestyle.”

Jackson just lifted his eyebrows, beer in hand, waiting.

“It was a long time after we were divorced, of course. I don’t know why I said of course. I honestly don’t know how long. She has a job but she also has a second job. She calls herself an escort. She entertains men.”

“Oh?” Jackson said.

“She’s a good person,” Tom said. “I found out a couple of years ago because she got in a little trouble. She might call herself an escort but the police called her something else. Cal was her lawyer—that’s what his experience is, criminal defense. I don’t think of your mom as a bad person and I don’t want you to, either. But I also don’t want you to find out like I did and—”

“Dad, I know.”

“Know what?” Tom said.

“I know what she does. I don’t like it. I don’t think it’s safe and I can’t let myself think about it, but I already know and she’s always going to be my mother.”

“How do you know?” Tom asked.

“She told us, me and Nikki. She was afraid you were going to tell us and she said your version would make her sound dirty, like some cheap hooker. And she’s not.”

“Apparently she’s not in any way cheap,” Tom muttered.

“They could make a movie out of her,” Jackson said. “She’s like the happy housewife with this sideline. She said she was dating a few men, just a few, and they weren’t local. Businessmen, she said. Then, when she kept explaining, she described it as ‘seeing’ a few men. Nikki was a little nuts at first.”

“I never noticed anything,” Tom said.

“I know. Mom is single and beautiful and she’s really like the nicest person I know. One of these days she’s going to settle on one rich old bastard with a big bank account and a bad cough because if there’s one thing my mother likes it’s to live like she’s got money. And that’s what she’s doing. If she wasn’t getting paid for it, she’d be just your regular independent woman, doing as she pleases.”

Tom stared at Jackson in amazement. “So you’re okay with it?”

“Oh, hell, no, I hate it,” Jackson said. “But Nikki was ready to go nuts so I had to think fast before the whole town knew. So I asked a lot of questions to calm Nikki down—I asked her if she was safe, if she was hanging out with bad people, if she was out on the street, if there was any chance of her going to jail or getting hurt. That kind of stuff. Mom tried saying she’s given up that activity but I called bullshit on that. I just wanted to know what kind of people she’s hanging out with. I think she’s got clients she calls friends and she’s known them all a long time.” Jackson shook his head. “She’s grown up, not hurting anyone and she’s gonna live like she wants. But Nikki and Mom aren’t close now. Nikki can’t help it—it makes her angry and embarrassed. But I convinced her she doesn’t have to broadcast it, especially because of the younger kids. Face it—nothing we can do about it.”