Soaring (Magdalene #2)(61)

“We’ll go out to dinner and a movie tomorrow too,” I kept going. “Then, on Sunday, I found this place that does really amazing outdoor furniture. It’s not close, about an hour and a half drive, but that’s where we’re going.”

I put a ball of dough on the sheet and looked their way to see they hadn’t moved. Olympia was watching my hands. Auden was watching me.

I didn’t stop talking.

“I know that the weather is going to turn here soon so I probably shouldn’t worry about the deck until next year.” I grinned. “But I haven’t had weather in a long time. I’m looking forward to it. And knowing what it was like in Boston and Lexington, I know by the time summer rolls around again I’ll want to be ready to enjoy that deck right away.”

My kids said nothing.

I still didn’t quit talking.

“So that’s it. Those are our plans for this weekend. Sound good?”

“Did Dad shout at you?” Auden asked tersely.

I froze at his question, except my eyes slid to my daughter to see she was shuffling her feet and rolling her lips.

She’d told her brother what she’d heard.

I looked back to Auden, not even knowing how to begin to handle this.

“Yes, honey,” I answered honestly.

His jaw went hard and his Adam’s apple bobbed before he bit out, “He came here and got in your face.”

Even though I suspected (though I hoped not), that Martine and Conrad would throw me under the bus and did (often), that was not me.

So I didn’t do that.

“I believe we’re all aware that prior to me arriving in Magdalene, I gave your dad reason to be angry with me,” I reminded him softly.

“You were here by yourself?” Auden asked belligerently.

“Well, yes, sweets. I didn’t know anyone back—”

“You were here by yourself,” he repeated, a statement this time, his tone angry.

I turned fully to them, doughy hands and all.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Are you eating?” Auden asked confrontationally, a change in subject that made my head twitch.

“I’m sorry?”

“You’re too skinny,” he informed me irately. “Why aren’t you eating?”

“I…” I shook my head. “I lost some weight but—”

“You’re super-skinny, Mom,” he bit out.

God.

He called me Mom.

He hadn’t said my name in so long, it hurt.

Killed.

I didn’t burst into happy tears.

I told him, “I was busy when I got here, honey. I lost track of what I was eating. I know I lost some weight, but I’m eating again. Promise.”

After I said this, Olympia shifted a bit to her brother’s side and asked like she was making an accusation, “Are you dating?”

I stared at my girl.

How could she know that?

She must have seen more of the interaction with Boston, Mickey and me than I thought.

“Well…yes,” I answered carefully.

My daughter had not shared that tidbit with her brother. I knew it when his eyes got wide before his brows snapped together. “You’re dating?”

Now how did I handle this?

When that question hit my brain, it struck me that my children were living with their father and his new wife and they’d been doing it for years, so they knew very well how divorced parents moved on.

They also weren’t kid-kids anymore. They were old enough to know at least some of the ways of the world, especially those their father already taught them.

“Yes, I’m dating,” I declared. “And it’s healthy,” I went on. “It’s part of getting on with my life and building a life, enjoying it and maybe, someday, finding some happiness for me.”

“Are you dating that guy?” Pippa asked and I looked to her, worried she meant Boston Stone as she’d seen me with him and clearly seen me accept a date with him.

To confirm what she meant so she had a straight answer, I queried, “What guy?”

“The old, hot firefighter guy,” she answered.

Mickey.

Funny she thought he was old. He seemed criminally vital to me.

I shook my head. “No, Pippa, I’m not dating him. He’s…a friend.”

“You’re not dating him?” she pushed.

“No, honey, I’m not.”

“He’s into you,” she declared.

I blinked.

“Jeez, Pip, shut up, will you? Auden muttered and ended on, “Sick.”

She looked to her brother. “You weren’t there. This slimy guy was hitting on Mom and he swooped in and got in his face. It wasn’t sick. He’s old but he’s hot and that definitely was hot. And he wouldn’t even let Mom put her groceries in the car, that’s how into her he is. And he practically got in a smackdown with that slimy dude when he tried to put Mom’s groceries in her car.” She drew in a deep breath and shared, “And he was the one who saw Dad shouting at Mom.”

Clearly, my girl had been on the sidewalk a whole lot longer than I suspected.

Auden’s eyes cut to me. “Did this guy see Dad shouting at you?”

“He kind of…saved me,” I told them.