Page 15 of Second Chance

10

Your Turn

[Denton]

“Well, that went well,” Dolores mocks from behind the Formica countertop. My back remained to her as I spun on the stool the second Mati entered the diner. I’d like to say I had a sixth sense about her presence despite all these years, but I didn’t. The low whistle and oh shit of my sister told me Mati had arrived. She’d previously warned me Mati was a regular—every Thursday evening. A volleyball coach, I remember her telling me. I chuckle at the thought. She loved the sport and was darn good at it. She went all-conference, hoping to take her team to State until she broke her ankle. Scholarship revoked. She intended to go to Northeastern anyway. Heard she dropped out when she was pregnant.

I sigh with the memories and spin to face my sister again. I can’t shake the image of Mati. She’s even more gorgeous in person. Pretty, freckle-faced Mati with hair the color of a brilliant fall-turned tree and eyes a deep bark brown, looks the same, only…gorgeous. Without even being near me, the scent of pomegranate filters through my nose, like a distance memory. Her hair is longer than when we were teens. Her body is curvier but her face not so round. I recall the outline of her shape—solid, athletic, strong—and my fingers tingle as if it were yesterday and not twenty-seven years ago. The Mati I remember was fierce. The woman I just saw looked like she’d seen a ghost.

“That was horrible,” I mutter, picking up my coffee mug and taking another dreg. The stuff is better than I remember. I stare at my sister. Two years older than me with blue-black hair, it’s obviously a dye job. However, the darker color does nothing for her age. She’s forty-seven, with excellent bone structure in her face, but the crow’s feet around her eyes give away her age. We don’t look much like siblings. She just told me to call her Lores. I think it has to do with the motorcycle man in her life, but I haven’t pried too much. I’m not changing her name.

“Did you see how she looked at me?”

“She looked shell-shocked.”

“She looked like she was going to get sick.”

“Who you talkin’ about? Mati?” A pretty blonde asks as she rounds the counter, her stomach protruding, arriving a few seconds before her. She’s due soon from the looks of it.

“Hollilyn, this is my brother Denton. He went to school with Mati.” The blonde stops behind the counter, her brow shooting up.

“Well, wasn’t she lucky?” She winks at me, and I’d be certain she was flirting if it wasn’t for the pregnant belly.

“Hollilyn dates Mati’s son, Jax.” Dolores rolls her eyes at the explanation. Is that what the kids call it nowadays when they’re pregnant out of wedlock? The scowl on Hollilyn’s face tells me she doesn’t care for the explanation.

“Don’t mind Mati. That look on her face is only temporary. When Jax told her about this…” She rubs her stomach. “…she had the same expression. Then she broke into tears.” Hollilyn smiles. Dolores rolls her eyes again.

“I’m sure they were tears of bliss,” Dolores mutters. I’m sensing there’s a story here.

“Anyway, Mati’s bark is worse than her bite,” Hollilyn adds as if I don’t have a history with the woman. I remember the girl who held me in her arms on her twin bed, rubbing over my head and kissing the bruises, soothing me like the child I was. She took her bite to her parents, who couldn’t help me. Who would believe the mayor would do such a thing to his child?

“Denton?” Dolores questions, seeing I’m lost in my head.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m not here for her. I’m here for Mom.” I haven’t even been to the house yet. Dolores knows it will be difficult to go back. I took a room at Conrad Lodge a few miles away.

“She’s at Magnolia’s.” This is news to me.

“Why isn’t she at the house?”

Dolores stares at me like I have two heads.

“The house was given to the state after Dad died. The new mayor lives there as the house was dubbed the ‘mayor’s house’ by the state. Anyway, I think Charlie wanted to be close to his parents.”

“Charlie?” I question.

“Charlie Harrington, mayor of the city.”

I blink, holding my coffee mid-air. When did little Charlie become the mayor?

“My God, Denton, do you listen to anything I tell you?” Dolores’s blue eyes open wide.

I do, it’s just…I never let it stick in my head.

“When did he become mayor?” I ask, ignoring my sister’s tone.

“It’s a long story. He’s in his third term, I think. His daughter is ten, and he plans to run for state representative.”

Whoa. He has a daughter? And I never knew he aspired to be a politician. A little rich coming from a kid whose family ran an illegal brewery for most of their history. Then again, I never knew Chris would be a lawyer. Recalling Mati’s face, I wonder if I remember anything correctly.