Only Yours (Fool's Gold #5)(27)

“You know what I mean. You and Reese have gone through so much in the past couple of years. I want you to be sure.”

“I am.” He set down his coffee and leaned against the counter. “Lorraine isn’t coming back. I know that. Staying in that same house is hard on both Reese and me. Too many ghosts. I want to start over—it’ll be good for both of us. Where better than here? The town is great. Reese already has friends here from all our visits. We have family. I want to be here, Mom.”

“Okay. If you’re sure.”

“I am.”

She took another sip. “I’m sorry about Lorraine.”

“No, you’re not.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry you’re hurt.”

“That I’ll believe.”

Denise had hated being one of those mothers-in-law who never approved of the woman their son married, but she’d been unable to help disliking Lorraine from the second she’d met her. Clichéd or not, the woman wasn’t good enough for her son. She was beautiful but cold. Denise remembered wondering why someone so ambitious and determined had married a guy who wanted to be a math teacher.

Their marriage had been tumultuous from the first day, with Lorraine walking out several times. Eighteen months ago she’d announced she wanted a divorce. She’d left again, but that time she hadn’t come back.

While Denise felt terrible for Kent, the person she most ached for was Reese. Lorraine rarely saw her son and had missed his birthday a few months before. Talk about a selfish…

“You sure you don’t mind me staying here?” Kent interrupted her line of thinking.

“It’s a big house. I’ll enjoy having the company. I’m more worried about you.”

He grinned. “A guy in his thirties, living with his mother? I’ll be a chick magnet.”

“I think you will be. When you’re ready.”

The smile faded. “I’m not. I thought I’d found what you and Dad had. I thought she was the one. Maybe for me she was, but it doesn’t really matter. She’s gone.”

Denise wanted to tell him not to give up. That he was too young and there was too much life to be lived. But she learned a long time ago that it was better to hint and nudge than outright direct her children’s lives.

“All that can wait,” she said, while thinking that once he was here and settled, she would find a way to introduce him to a few women around his age. There were plenty in town. “First you have your final interview.”

“Speaking of which, I’d better get going.” He crossed the kitchen and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Mom. You’re the best.”

“I’ll believe that when you get me a plaque.”

Kent left. Denise walked to the window and looked out at her backyard, remembering how life had been different when Ralph was alive. Better. Before him, there had been Max, whom she’d also loved. She’d been very lucky, she reminded herself. Even now, as she kept her secrets, she couldn’t ask for much more than she’d been given.

About a half hour later, a very sleepy Reese wandered into the kitchen. He wore a T-shirt over loose pj bottoms and his hair was sticking up all over.

“Hey, you,” Denise said fondly, walking over and hugging him. “How are you feeling?”

“Better. My face doesn’t hurt at all, just like Dr. Bradley said.”

“That’s good news.”

Reese hugged her back, then slumped at the table. Denise crossed to the refrigerator and pulled out a pitcher of orange juice.

“I can make waffles for breakfast,” she told him as she poured. “What do you think?”

He grinned. “That would be great.” He took the glass she offered and thanked her. “Grandma, do you know there are lots of kids at the hospital?”

“Yes.” She collected ingredients. “There’s a whole floor for children. It’s called pediatrics.”

“I guess I knew that.” Reese frowned. “Kids get sick, too, but it was weird to see them there. A lot of them are really, really sick and have to stay there a long time. If they have cancer or something.” He reached for his glass. “One of the nurses told me.”

Denise felt an instant protective need to shield him from life’s unpleasantness, then reminded herself that learning about other people’s hardships often helped a child to understand compassion.

“It must be very hard for them and their families,” she said.

He nodded. “Plus it’s summer and they can’t be outside playing.” He put the glass back on the table. “Do you think I could visit a couple of the kids? Ones who don’t have any friends close by? Maybe we could play a computer game or something.”

Pride filled her. Not only in Reese, but in Kent for getting it right with his son. “I’ll talk to your aunt Montana. She takes therapy dogs to the hospital regularly. She’ll know who to ask.”

“Sweet.”

He grinned at her and at that moment, he reminded her so much of her boys when they were his age. Kent might have hideous taste in women, but he was a wonderful father. At least his ex-wife hadn’t been able to take that away from him.

THE FOOL’S GOLD LIBRARY had been built around 1940. It had been a WPA project, complete with carved columns and twenty-foot murals. Montana loved the library. She loved the sweeping stairs leading to huge carved double doors, the stained glass windows, and the ever-present scent of old dusty books.