At Peace (The 'Burg #2)(125)

Bea had never forgotten. She was sensitive but it was also that bad.

“I understand,” I told her.

“I figured you’d be… you’d… everyone would want a piece of you. I wanted to wait until later so we could spend some time. Dad and I, we’re gonna come down, stay the weekend, is that okay?”

My heart leapt then sank.

“Oh Bea, the girls are at the lake. I wanted them to have something fun and normal.”

“Next weekend then,” she said instantly.

I nodded. “Yes, I’d like that and the girls’ll love it.”

“Good,” she replied softly then she hesitated and said, too casually, “Pam called.”

Oh shit!

My head came up and my eyes saw the man walking out with more carpet.

“Bea –” I started.

She cut me off. “Says his name is Joe.”

“Oh Bea, it isn’t –”

“She liked him.”

Fuck!

My mouth got tight, so tight I stayed silent. Then again, I didn’t know what to say.

Bea went on. “Said he’s real good with the girls, sweet to you. Big man, she said, a man you don’t mess with.”

“Bea, let me –”

Her whisper interrupted me. “I’m glad, honey.” I closed my eyes and she continued. “Dad and me, we’ve been worried, you down there all alone. We know you wouldn’t tell us, worry us, if it was still happening. What Pam said about this Joe, well, me and Dad, we’re both glad.”

I didn’t speak because what could I say?

“Will we meet him when we’re there?”

No they would not.

“He’s out of town a lot,” I told her, hoping he would be and willing to buy him a ticket to Timbuktu, drug him and put him on a plane if he wasn’t.

“How does he look after you and the girls if he’s out of town?” she asked, her voice rising a bit, she was getting scared.

“There’s a guy across the street, a cop, a lot like Tim, good man. They take turns looking out for us,” I assured her.

“That’s good,” she replied, her voice settling.

The man with the carpet had disappeared into Joe’s house but I saw an SUV on the street, I focused on it and my breath caught in my throat.

Mike.

“Bea, I think I have to go,” I said into the phone, not wanting to, wanting to talk to her. I hadn’t had a good talk with my mother-in-law in ages and now, with Sam dying, it was the kind of time she was at her best. She might be timid and sensitive, but she was a great mother-in-law, a better Mom, a stellar Grandma and a good friend.

“That’s okay,” she told me. “We’ll make a reservation in that hotel by the highway.”

“You can stay here, have Kate’s bed,” I told her as I watched Mike pull into my drive. “She’ll bunk with Keira.”

“Oh, we couldn’t.”

“You did when you were here before.”

She was silent while I watched Mike get out of his car, his eyes on my house and then I felt that sock in my gut when I saw he was angry, very, very angry.

Then Bea said silently in my ear, “That was before Joe.”

I blinked, unable to keep track of Mike, Mike being inexplicably angry, Joe’s carpet removal, Joe’s truck in his drive and Bea.

“What?” I asked.

“He might not like –”

“You’re stayin’ here.”

“We’ll wait to meet Joe.”

“It isn’t like that.”

“That’s not what Pam says.”

“But –”

Mike was walking to the front door and my heart was skipping a beat.

“I’ll make him my chocolate cream pie, win him over,” Bea decided.

Yeah, like chocolate cream pie could win Joe over. My cupcakes, pancakes and risotto hadn’t made a dent in his armor. Bea’s chocolate cream pie was the bomb but Joe Callahan was unwinnable.

“Bea –”

My doorbell rang and it sounded loud, louder than it ever sounded, too loud and I jumped.

“You’ve gotta go,” Bea told me.

“I –”

“See you soon, honey.”

I was walking to the door as I said, “Bea –”

“Give my babies squeezes.”

I sighed then I hit the alarm code in the panel by the door.

“Give Dad a squeeze.”

“Of course, honey. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I hit the button on the phone for off, unlocked the door and opened it to face my next drama.

And drama it was, for I’d forgotten I was wearing Joe’s shirt.

This was bad, I knew it because Mike’s eyes went from top to toe and his face went from angry to enraged.

“Mike –”

He cut me off too, by putting his hand in my belly, pushing me into the house, keeping his hand there even after he stepped in and closed the door.

Then he dropped his hand and stared down at me.

“Mike –”

I cut myself off when his hand came up, palm out and facing me and I waited. He dropped his hand, looked away and a muscle in his jaw jerked.