Hidden Summit (Virgin River #17)(35)

Had Conner relocated to Virgin River for some reason other than this particular one, his parents would have enjoyed this kind of place. But he was living a whole new life in a whole new world, and he found himself hoping Leslie’s parents would like the new him.

Leslie jumped in the shower, then pulled on some jeans. With her hair still wet and wildly curly, she grabbed a cup of coffee and went in search of her parents. She found her mother sitting on the back porch enjoying a lovely late-April morning. Candace had changed into slacks, and Robert was nowhere in sight.

“Where’s Dad?” Leslie asked, joining her mother.

“He wanted to walk around the town a little bit. Leslie, I apologize again. How naive of me—I knew you had a young man in your life....”

“Don’t give it a thought.”

“Well, we’re so foolish. We might’ve come all this way and found you weren’t even at home! I promise, I’ll think ahead in the future.”

“I was home and everything is fine.”

“Conner went home to shower,” Candace said. “Does that mean he doesn’t exactly live here with you?”

Leslie laughed. “He doesn’t at all! Conner has a very small cabin by the river and I’ve never even seen it. His stay in Virgin River could be even more temporary than mine.”

“And what brings him here?”

“He has an old friend who found him a job with Paul after the contractor he worked for in Colorado Springs filed bankruptcy and shut down. But Conner has a sister who’s still back in Colorado Springs. She’s a young widow with a couple of little boys. Conner has mentioned more than once that he misses them, that he wants to be closer. They’re his only family.”

“He’s close to his family.”

“He is. And from what I hear from Paul, he’s a very talented finisher and carpenter. Great with cabinetry, stone countertops and such. No matter where he goes, he’ll land on his feet with work.”

“And the two of you?” Candace asked. “Is it serious?”

“In a way,” Leslie said with a little lift of one shoulder. “As you can tell, we’re very close, but we’re realistic. I came here to rebuild my confidence, and Conner is here to work until he can either go back home or find a place that’s right for himself, his sister and the kids. Our paths might only converge for a while. But he is such a good man, Mom. And I am so happy I met him.”

“And your confidence?”

She chuckled softly. “This is the best totally accidental move I’ve ever made. Not even two full months and I have friends, a great job, a good man in my life and I have a much better feeling about myself. Mom, I didn’t realize how Greg’s expectations of me hammered my self-esteem until I broke away from Grants Pass entirely! We were supposed to both be playing on the Greg Adams team, getting him all the things he wanted in business, in the city. And then he expected me to be the perfect ex-wife and wanted me to continue to play on his team. In fact, if he had things his way, it would be a bigger, stronger team—one including his new wife and their baby!”

“Phhhttt,” Candace said in disgust. “He was always like that. He was such a pain in my ass while we planned the wedding, I wanted to knock his block off!”

“He was?” Leslie asked.

“Oh, Lord! As if it was all about showcasing him!”

Leslie wrinkled up her forehead as she tried to remember the details.

“You know,” Candace went on. “We had to run about five suggested venues by him before we found one that was good enough for him! Your father finally asked him if he was picking up the tab, because his family certainly wasn’t stepping up—they don’t have a pot to piss in!”

“Mother, I’ve never heard such language from you! I mean, I can swear like a truck driver but you’re usually—”

“Greg Adams doesn’t bring out my best behavior,” Candace said with a definite curl of the lip.

“But, Mom, you were one of many people who said I should let go, move on!”

“Yes, sweetheart. And do you know how hard it was not to say you caught a break when he walked out on you?”

Leslie choked. “I thought you loved Greg!”

“Leslie,” Candace said, leaning toward her daughter, “you loved Greg. Therefore I couldn’t say anything negative about him.”

“Not even when he cheated on me and left me for another woman?”

“You still loved him. You were in terrible pain. How could I say you were crazy to love that weasel in the first place? Saying something like that makes you look foolish, and you are not foolish. At least not about most things. I have to be honest, I always thought you saw more in Greg Adams than there was.”

Stunned, Leslie took a moment to absorb this. “You did?”

“He was never good enough for you.”

Oh, God, life was strange, Leslie thought. All that time she’d had the feeling she wasn’t good enough for him, it was the other way around? But that was her mother—mothers always felt that way. “You should have said something....”

“I couldn’t. Marriage rule.”

“Huh?” Leslie asked.

“You know. I can call my husband an idiot and ass**le but no one else can. It’s a rule. It’s almost a law.”