The Friendship List(97)

Coop was her baby, her little guy, her son. They’d been on each other’s team since he’d been born. They had a good life and didn’t need someone messing with that.

Only she knew Coop would see the situation differently. Of course he wanted to get to know his father, and she had to let that happen. She had to trust he would be okay.

“Mom?” Her son stared at her. “Mom, do you want me to stay home instead?”

Yes. Yes, a thousand times. Except she couldn’t say that or even think it. This was her son and she wanted him to have the world—even if that world included his father. Just as important, if she put up a fuss about him visiting his father, she would undo all the work she’d done to convince him she would be fine when he went away to college.

“Stay?” She forced a laugh. “Oh, please. I want you to go. You’ll have a great time. I just thought it was at the end of the month. I guess I got the dates wrong. Two weeks will give you more time to see the area and hang out with your half sisters.”

He didn’t look convinced. “I can tell my dad—”

She cut him off with a shake of her head. “The only thing you’re going to tell him is to pick you up at the airport. You’ll have a great time. Take lots of pictures and then when you get home, you can tell me everything.”

The lies got easier as she spoke them.

“Get me the flight info, so I can be available to drive you to the airport,” she said.

“Luka’s going to take me.”

An easy statement that hit her like an uppercut to the jaw. “That’s nice,” she managed. “Okay, I need to get back to work. When I get home, let’s go through your clothes and figure out if we need to hit the outlet mall for anything.”

Coop hugged her. “Thanks, Mom.”

He released her and bounded out of the store, leaving her with a neat display of apricots and a shattered heart.

Telling herself everything was going to be all right didn’t help at all. She unpacked a few cases of honey, then took her break. As she sat on a bench out by the picnic area, she told herself she was overreacting. She wasn’t going to lose her son. So what if Jeremy was rich and in the movie business—she and Coop were tight.

Except he hadn’t told her about Luka and Lissa and he’d kept the date of his departure from her until four days before he was leaving. Was he being a teenager or pulling back?

Uncertainty gripped her, making her stomach churn. She hurt all over and wanted to talk to a friend. But this wasn’t Unity’s area of expertise and while Ellen wanted to text Keith, she wasn’t comfortable reaching out to him. They hadn’t spoken in nearly a week—not since she’d gone to see him and they’d fought.

Not that she knew what they’d fought about. Keith was mad at her—that much she knew for sure. But she had no idea what about. How had things gotten so bad so fast? On the trip, they’d been happy and together and now... She just didn’t know.

It was too much, she thought, feeling cold despite the near ninety-degree temperature. Fighting with Keith and having Coop go visit his dad. She didn’t like any of it.

While she couldn’t stop her son, she wondered if she could do anything about Keith. Only without knowing the problem, she didn’t know how to fix it. Had the sex thing really changed everything so much? And if so, why? What was she missing? What wasn’t he telling her? And even if they couldn’t ever make love again—a thought she found incredibly depressing—she didn’t want to lose her friend. Not for anything. Because without Keith, nothing was going to be right.

  Lela pointed to several patches of plants. Thaddeus dutifully dug them out, thinking they didn’t look all that different from the ones that were left behind. Not that he knew the difference between a weed and a geranium.

“This is the easiest weeding I’ve ever done,” she said, sitting next to him on the grass. “You should come help me in the garden more often.”

“Don’t you have a service that takes care of the yard?”

“Yes, but I like taking care of the flower beds. It’s a beautiful day.”

It was. Summer had arrived in Seattle, bringing warm temperatures and blue skies. Tourists flocked to the city, filling the museums and restaurants. Cruise ships on their way to Alaska could be seen at the port. As a rule, Thaddeus liked summer—just not today. Actually summer was fine. He was the problem, rather than the season.

“So, why are you sitting here in my garden at eleven in the morning on a Tuesday?” she asked, collapsing back on the grass and staring up at the sky.

The change in topic nearly gave him whiplash. Before he could stop himself, he said, “I’m in love with Unity.”

He immediately wanted to call the words back. Lela’s eyes widened as she stared at him.

“You’re in love with her?”

He swore silently, but knew there was no distracting her from what he hadn’t meant to admit out loud. “I don’t want to be. As your daughter would say, it sucks to be me.”

“Why? Unity’s great. And being in love—” She reached for his hand and squeezed it. “The mighty have fallen.”

“The mighty are about to get their asses kicked.”

“Why would you say that?”

He stared at the grass. “She’s not ready. She’s still in love with her late husband. I don’t know why she’s been going out with me. Maybe to test the waters, maybe because she thought it would work out. Either way, I can see she’s not ready to let go.”