The Newcomer (Thunder Point #2)(29)

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I was so surprised to see her, I forgot to ask. But I’m sure she’ll contact me again.”

“Are you letting her back with us?” Eve asked. “Are you?”

Mac was shocked by the question. He shook his head and frowned. “No,” he said, confused. “Eve, my marriage with your mother ended ten years ago, years before our divorce was final. I haven’t said this to you kids, but I know you realize it—I love Gina. We’ve been best friends for years and I trust her and care about her. And I love her. That doesn’t mean we’re getting married or moving in together or changing our families right now—but it’s a fact. And no other woman, not even my ex-wife, is going to change that.” He shook his head. “She will always be your mother, but she hasn’t been my wife in a very long time—so no, I am not inviting her to come home to us.”

“When she calls you again, tell her I want to see her,” Eve said angrily.

Everyone turned shocked faces toward her.

“That’s all. I want to see her. That’s all.” And then Eve got up from the table and left the kitchen. Momentarily her bedroom door slammed. There was silence around the table.

“Is she pretty?” Dee Dee finally asked, her voice a little smaller than usual.

They had pictures. There weren’t any pictures of Cee Jay displayed in their house, but the kids each had an album of photos taken during early childhood, pictures they could look at if they wanted to. That was Lou’s doing. Remarkable, given Lou was probably even more angry at Cee Jay than Mac was, if that was possible. But no one could make Cee Jay disappear and the kids were curious, naturally. For years Eve was obsessed with why her mother had left her but the younger kids just wanted to know who she was.

“She’s very pretty,” Mac said. “That’s probably where you kids got your good looks. She looks like the pictures you have. Hasn’t changed a day.”

“I want to see her, too,” Dee Dee said.

“So do I,” Ryan said. “Think she’d maybe come to a soccer game?”

“I don’t know, son. I guess anything is possible. But I think it’s pretty likely she’s just visiting around here. I wouldn’t count on her staying long. To be honest, I don’t know what her plans are. I’ve never known. I think she’ll get in touch with me again, but I don’t know for sure.”

“Were we too much? Is that why she went away?” Ryan asked.

They’d been over this a hundred times. That question always came out of the blue at odd times. The answer was always the same. “Everything was too much, son. I worked all the time, there wasn’t enough money, the house was falling apart, your mom was so young and lonely and felt cheated by life. We argued too much. It was just too hard for her, I guess. And I’ve asked myself a thousand times what I could have done to make it better. Easier. And I don’t know.”

“I wish’t I could just see what she looks like for real,” Dee Dee said.

Mac reached across the table and squeezed his baby girl’s hand. “I hope she calls, punkin. I’ll sure tell her you want to see her.”

Dee Dee grinned. “I’m going to practice piano,” she said, scraping back her chair and heading for the basement stairs.

“Can I get on the computer?” Ryan wanted to know.

“I’ll be checking your Facebook stuff, so no funny business,” Lou said.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he replied, following his younger sister to the basement. All the kid stuff was down there.

And then they were alone, Lou and Mac.

“Eve’s pissed,” Mac said. “I should go talk to her....”

“No,” Lou said, shaking her head. “Not so fast. Let her simmer, I’ll talk to her in an hour or two. And the younger ones? They took in your shocking news, blew it off after a minute and headed for their favorite toys.” She shook her head and laughed. “To them, Cee Jay is a myth. Kids. Don’t try to guess what they’ll do next—it’s exhausting. Are you going back to work?”

“For at least a couple of hours. I’ll try to come home early.”

“I’ll handle Eve. This is a huge event in her young life,” Lou said. “I’m sure Eve didn’t think she’d ever see her mother again.”

“Right,” he said. “And we’d better hide all the sharp objects.”

“It’s very selfish of me, but I’m glad she’s angry,” Lou said. “I think I had a panic attack at the grocery store, afraid Cee Jay would take the kids away from us. I bought everything I could fit in a cart in about three minutes.”

“She’s not going to take the kids away from us,” Mac said. “Worst case, she’ll see them. No, that’s not the worst case—worst case is she’ll hurt them emotionally. Build up their hopes, let them down, reject them all over again. I’m going to try to head that off if I can.”

“How?” Lou asked.

“Hell if I know.”

Seven

Gina was beginning to relate to Ashley—she had been gripping her phone ever since Mac walked out of the diner that morning, followed by Cee Jay. In her most rational musings she saw him dealing with the many questions his kids must have had about their mother. Ryan and Dee Dee couldn’t even remember her, but Mac had told her how traumatized Eve had been, still was on some days. In her most irrational fantasies, Cee Jay was moving her beautiful wardrobe into Mac’s house, into his closet, curling up with him while the children welcomed her with tears of joy.