Page 98 of Fierce-Baker

He lifted his arm, dropped it over her shoulder and tugged her in closer.

“Jolene stopped in to see me right after I hung up with my mother. It was obvious what she was doing there, but she took one look at my face and decided on another route.”

“She was an ear for you to talk to?” she asked, her voice gone all tender and sappy.

“She was. I didn’t expect that. She was really sweet about it. Told me some things that mothers are fearful of.”

“You told her what happened on your call?” she asked, her voice full of more shock than a downed power line.

“Not in detail. Just that it was some family drama. She knows a thing or two about that.”

“That she most likely creates,” she said, sending out a short laugh.

“I said that. But, she was giving me a free pass.”

“I’ll get to that in a second. What did she tell you mothers are fearful of?”

“The usual things. Your children being hurt, sick, unhappy, alone. I get that. But the last part was that they do and say things out of love and caring but then worry it will upset and push their children away. There is always that fear that what they are trying to do is taken out of context.”

“I think she’s right,” she said. “Not that I’ve had much to worry about just yet with Micah, but you felt it. When I disciplinehim and he cries, it hurts me just as much. But I know I’ve got to do it.”

“We’ve all gotten in trouble and survived just fine.”

“That’s right,” she said. “I remind myself of that too when he has to sit in timeout, or he doesn’t get to play as long as he wished, or he wants something else for dinner.”

“I think Jolene was just trying to get me to see that maybe what my mother has done wasn’t meant to hurt us but to protect her. Or the place it’s coming from is a good spot. But what Jolene doesn’t realize is that most of the drama has nothing to do with Brittany or me, it’s my parents with each other.”

“It doesn’t mean it’s still not coming from a place of love.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that my mother loves my father. She says he loves her, but how do you love someone and treat them that poorly?”

“I don’t think you do,” she said. “I don’t know them though.”

“You don’t need to know them to believe what I do. It’s not right in any form to treat someone you love that callously.”

“It’s not. So right now, you’re not talking to her?”

“We’ll go a few weeks, I’m sure. She’ll call Brittany if she hasn’t already. I expect to hear from my sister soon. Sorry if she calls tonight.”

“Don’t be sorry. I guess being an only child, I don’t have to worry about those things, but it doesn’t make it any better either. There also isn’t anyone else to bond with when your parents get on your nerves.”

“There is that.”

Her hand ran over his thigh, rubbing it gently. “I’m sorry you had a bad day.”

“It wasn’t really bad. Just that blip. And back to Jolene, because we got sidetracked. She knows about us now.”

She scooted back and looked at his face. Saw the smirk in his brown eyes, along with the humor.

Her hand lifted, smoothing his hair back into place where the wind had messed it up earlier.

Or maybe it was just an excuse to touch him. To linger.

“What does she know, exactly?”

“That we’re seeing each other,” he said. “I didn’t have to spell it out. She figured it out.” He filled her in on the conversation with Mason there as backup. “Do you have a problem with it?”

“If I did, it wouldn’t matter now,” she said with a small smile.