Soaring (Magdalene #2)(192)

He snapped his mouth shut.

“He doesn’t like what he sees,” I told him truthfully. “And this is not meant to be a blow, just a wakeup call, but I’m getting the sense he does like what he sees in Mickey.”

Conrad’s jaw got hard again and he looked to the window.

He knew Auden had gone to the firehouse. He might even know that Auden looked up to Mickey.

And he didn’t like it.

“You should know what you saved my mom from,” I repeated our son’s words of the day before and I saw his flinch even in profile. “That’s what Auden said to Mickey right in front of you. How that couldn’t sink in, I have no clue. But you have to sort yourself out, Conrad. If you need whatever you get from these women, do it privately so our kids don’t see. Trust me, I know the harm it can cause when you show your children you’re weak. Learn from me. But don’t learn too late and don’t take too long. They’re coming to realize that the devastation that was wrought in our lives was not down to my antics but was all about you. You’re a surgeon. You know when there’s a bleed that you need to stem that bleed before you do anything. Your relationship with your children is bleeding. Stem the bleed.”

He continued to stare out the window and I watched him do it.

When he kept doing it, I took a sip of my iced tea, replaced it and gazed around the restaurant.

This went on for some time so I decided to put an end to it.

“I want good things for our children, Con. So I’m happy you’re staying in Maine because they love you and it’s tough on them to travel in order to be with one of their parents. They’re both in high school now, which brings us to the unfortunate time in our lives of having to prepare to lose them soon. So we should do everything in our power to make the waning time we have with them the best it can be. For them. To that end, I’ll do what I can to make the relationship we have left work in order to make things easy on our kids.”

Finally, he looked at me. “That would be appreciated.”

I nodded.

“I’ll do what I can as well,” he carried on.

“That would be good,” I said softly.

He hooked his coffee cup, took a sip, put it back and addressed my fork, “This man you’re seeing, he spends time with the kids, you’ve introduced them to his kids.” He lifted his gaze to me. “I take it that means you’re considering a future with him?”

“This man is called Mickey and yes. We both are,” I declared.

“He’s a fireman, Amelia,” he told me.

I tried not to react negatively. It wasn’t scathing but it was condescending.

“He’s a contractor and roofer, Conrad. And he’s starting his own company.”

He kept sharing things I knew. “You’re the Calway heiress.”

“And he’s one of four of the Maine Fresh Maritime heirs.”

Conrad’s eyebrows shot up.

He was impressed.

How that was a measure of a man when he knew Mickey had nothing to do with the company outside being an heir, I couldn’t fathom. But to Conrad, it was.

Yes.

Boring.

“He went his own way. He’s his own man,” I informed him. “But even if he didn’t come from serious money, he’d still be perfect for me.”

“Your parents might not agree,” he retorted.

“I’m forty-seven, Conrad. I’m well beyond caring what my parents think of my decisions. I know what’s right for me.”

He took another sip of coffee.

I took one of iced tea.

“Perhaps we should discuss the situation of Pippa bullying,” he suggested.

I relaxed.

That was his business. Mickey was too, considering Mickey spent time with his children. But he’d given me no choice with Martine (or this Tammy) so it also wasn’t. He had to trust I’d choose well.

But I gave him the brief info he needed on Mickey because I was a grown up and I wanted this to work.

Now, we could discuss our daughter.

Which we did. Surprisingly, he agreed with my reaction and the plan going forward, that being barring all connection with Polly. We also both agreed to carry forward with Auden’s two weeks of being grounded from his car. I felt my son had learned his lesson but I didn’t feel that backing down on a punishment earned was the appropriate message to send. Conrad felt the same.

We had lunch. It was tense and not enjoyable.

But we managed it.

I only ate half my meal.

Conrad paid and he was polite enough to walk me to the door.

We parted ways on the sidewalk.

I made my way to my Rover alone, got in, started it up to get the heat going, grabbed my phone and called Mickey.

“Hey,” he greeted.

“Hey back,” I replied.

“You done with him?”

“Yes.”

“It go okay?”

“For me and Conrad, it went swimmingly. It was still not an hour packed with fun.”

Mickey chuckled.

I enjoyed listening to it for a few seconds before I shared, “He’s decided not to move to Texas, Mickey.”

He spoke my thoughts. “Good for the kids, sucks for you.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled and turned our conversation to brighter horizons. “Lawr’s here. Your kids are with Rhiannon. Any chance you’d be able to go out to dinner with us tonight?”