Page 533 of Summer Heat
“Thank you. I wouldn’t have picked it for myself, but I have an army of help, so it’s not too bad. One thing my husband was good at was making money, I’ll give him that.”
A lamp shaped like a bear glowed dimly in the bedroom, illuminating the two sleeping boys, side by side on a double bed. In sleep, the resemblance between them was not so marked, and Tamara realized once again that it was as much a matter of expression and carriage as physical similarities.
“I just want to give him a kiss good-night,” she whispered.
Louise nodded. Tamara moved quietly over the floor, sidestepping stuffed animals and balls and a plethora of toy cars. Bending over, she pressed a light kiss to Cody’s head.
He stirred awake instantly. “I don’t want to go home!” he protested. “We’re having strawberries for breakfast”
“Shh, you’ll wake Curtis.” She stroked his hair. “You don’t have to go home. I just came to give you a kiss good-night.”
“Okay. Grandma heard my prayers.”
“Good.” She gave him another soft kiss. “See you in the morning, slugger.
“Night.” He was already back to sleep before she left the room.
“He’s the sweetest child,” Louise said. “We had a great time.”
“Thank you.” She felt better about leaving him now that she’d seen how happy he was. She knew Louise Forrest’s generous, loving reputation, and she’d known Tyler for a long time, but it was still strange to let her boy out of her sight—even if it was into the hands of his own blood grandmother. “I’m glad it worked out.”
“You know he’s starting to read, don’t you?”
Tamara smiled proudly. “Yes. He’s very bright.”
“My Lance read early like that. It was one of the reasons he got in trouble so much when he was in school. They couldn’t keep the child busy enough.”
A fist struck Tamara’s stomach. Louise was fishing. If she hadn’t figured it all out, she wasn’t far from the truth. As calmly as possible, she replied, “I’ll have to remember that.”
“Where’s his daddy? You divorced?”
Tamara chose her words very carefully. She did not want to lie to this woman. “He hasn’t been around for a long time.”
“I see. That can’t be easy. Cody told us you go to school and I know you work at the Wild Moose.”
“Yes. But I don’t mind, really.”
“We don’t, do we, not for the children.” Louise paused to look at Tamara. “I dropped out of college when Jake came along. I can’t say I never regretted it, but I did finally get my degree, just four years ago.”
“That’s wonderful!”
Louise shrugged. “It was for me. It was the end of my marriage, but I think I made the right choice.” She frowned, pursing her lips. “Seems to me I remember you—Flynn. Was it your mother who ran the cleaning service?”
“Yes.” Tamara let out a breath at the abrupt change of subject.
“Well, of course. She did my house for quite some time. Used to brag about you all the time. You got scholarships left and right—weren’t you studying at CU?”
Tamara looked down. “I didn’t finish.”
Louise said nothing. Her blue eyes, so much like her son’s, seemed to penetrate deeply into Tamara’s heart, to see the truth behind the simple words. Tamara felt ashamed for the resentment she still sometimes nursed over the loss of that dream, and felt it was written all over her face. She never, ever regretted Cody, but it was hard not to mind having to pay with her own life for someone else’s mistakes.
And yet, now, she would fight to the death to keep her son. She would wait tables the rest of her life to see him grow up strong and happy.
“Things have a way of working out for the best if you don’t give up,” Louise said at last.
Life had taught Tamara that was not true in the slightest sense, but she wanted to believe it was true for Cody, that finally the cycle of poverty and single-parent fami
lies would be broken. “I hope so,” she said fervently. “I want a better life for him.”
