“So that means he left, went out to buy you a rose, then came back to give it to you. And he left you a note that is even making me all fluttery, and I’m not the romance kind.”
Rena nodded.
“I want to be you,” Nicky gushed. “If my boyfriend would do anything that nice for me, I’d be his willing maid, cook, and love slave for life.” She sighed. “I don’t get love notes, but I settle for the occasional foot rub, some decent sex, and the ‘no, that dress does not make you look fat’ lie when I ask him.” At the girls’ commiserating looks, she added, “He’s got a job and is good to my kids.”
Stella nodded. “A keeper.”
“But, well…” Rena needed advice. “I came across as kind of needy.”
“Kind of?” Stella snorted.
Rena glared at her before adding, “And while he was sweet and nice and supportive, he didn’t say he wanted to bemyMr. Right. Just that if I was patient I’d find him. What if he just wants sex?”
They all looked at her.
“Of course he wants sex,” Stella said slowly, as if explaining to someone not so bright.
Tommie frowned. “That’s a bad thing? Hey, if you don’t want him, I’ll take him.”
“No, no.” Rena sighed. “I just mean I want more, and he’s confusing me.”
“He’s a man, that’s what they do,” Stella said bluntly. “Instead of just coming out and saying”—she added in a deep voice with a bad German accent—“‘Rena, you are the love of my life, ya, ya, be my wife and have my many giant babies,’ he tells you you’re pretty and is encouraging without being obvious about wanting more than a date. Yeah, he’s a guy. He definitely wants sex. But what else, who knows?”
The others nodded.
“But a date is a positive step in the right direction if you want a relationship,” Tommie said. “I mean, he could have stuck around and pressured you into sex. See what he does Friday night. You are going out with him, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. So, like he said, be patient. Let him fuck up on his own. Don’t rush him there.”
“So encouraging, Tommie,” Stella said dryly.
“I try.”
Rena left last, locking up behind her, and paused when a sleek little sports car pulled into the back lot. Away from the street.
Oh, hell.
A cherry-red Mustang rolled next to her. The window slid down, and a familiar face smiled up at her. Nothing good ever came from that smile. “That’s right. You’re going to follow me home or I’ll kick your ass into next week. It’s time you stopped avoiding me. Time we talked.”
Rena swallowed down her nerves, forced a smile, and said, “Yes, Mom.”
Six
Rena trailed her mother home, more than glad her mom hadn’t actually followed through on moving in when Del had moved out. That would have been a disaster. Instead, Caroline Jackson had kept her nice little cottage in South Seattle, close to the VA hospital where she worked as a nurse.
Growing up with Caroline for a mother had been…interesting. Caroline was loving, sweet, and generous. She loved nothing more than showering Rena with kisses, always telling Rena she could do anything she set her mind to. Caroline had shown by example, having put herself through nursing school and working hard to raise her daughter without much help. Though Caroline had never considered family help.
Rena had always had proper support and a loving family. Of course, Aunt Bridget had passed when Rena was just a baby, so Uncle Liam had stepped in in a big way. Rena often wondered if her search for the perfect man had been colored by her affection for her uncle—by all accounts a diamond in the rough. All through her childhood, Rena had heard her mother talk about Uncle Liam a lot. The man swore, wore threadbare clothes with pride, and worked to keep food on the table and his hoodlum children from jail.
He’d done a stellar job, because Del and J.T. were awesome people who’d become super successful in life and in love.
Rena’s own mom, on the other hand…
Rena dragged her feet as she left her car in her mother’s driveway and accepted her mom’s hug. It wasn’t that Rena didn’t love her mother. She truly did. She appreciated her mother’s efforts to raise her right. What she didn’t love were her mother’s many—
“Oh, good. Dave, honey,” Caroline said to the man who’d opened her front door. “Come on out and meet my baby girl. Rena, this is Dave. My boyfriend.”
