I loved this kid. My handsome, charming, loving, loyal son. For the first time in my life, I wished he’d gone out of state to school instead of following in my footsteps and enrolling twenty minutes away in Purchase College, or as Jeremy and everyone else always referred to it, SUNY Purchase, a reference to the State University of New York system. He’d be safer in a tiny dorm room nowhere near here. I had to drop out. I was determined to make sure he stayed in.
“It’s been one of those days.” I should win an understatement award for that one.
“You have a lot of those days recently.”
Little did he know. He actuallydidn’tknow. I hadn’t filled him in about Aubrey’s return. I needed a few minutes to digest the news first. My hand swept over another table as I continued to clean. The work didn’t do anything to calm the panic firing in my head, but my shoulder now ached. Getting older sucked.
“You never told me what the courtroom stuff was about this morning,” he said.
I hadn’t. On purpose. He only knew about the emergency hearing because he was standing next to me when I got the notice. Being inquisitive and overprotective, he then asked a million questions about why I had to attend. I put him off, claiming I was running late.
Not wanting to invite more poking around in topics I needed him to ignore, I kept the explanation short. “An estate thing.”
“But we barely knew Xavier.”
I wasn’t touching that comment. Not today of all days.
Jeremy rambled on. “And we don’t have any family but us.”
My lifelong regret. My choices stranded him with only me. Not giving him a safety net. “Maybe a really nice customer will leave us some cash.”
He snorted. “Seriously, though, are you okay?” The question hung there wrapped in a thin layer of what sounded like alarm.
“The lunch crowd will swoop in soon, dragging a trail of fallen leaves behind them, so no.”Crowdwas an exaggeration, but the place covered the bills and kept four people employed, includingme and Daniela, with Jeremy and another kid stepping in part-time.
Jeremy moved to stand right across from me. “You’ve already cleaned that table.”
“Uh, yeah.” Keep my voice light. That was the goal. Be carefree. At least sound like I was. “The Department of Health requires that sort of thing.”
“Six times?” He stared at the table and the cleaning rag in my hand. “This is weird behavior even for you.”
The bell over the door chimed as a customer walked in.
Not just any customer. Aubrey Tanner.
Oh, come on.
“Hello.” Jeremy wore his usual wide smile in greeting a new customer.
He needed to knock that shit off. He didn’t need to impress this woman.
Being near her again emotionally pummeled me. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get my feet under me. There were questions a reasonable person would ask her. It would be great if a reasonable person showed up and asked them.
Starting a conversation withso, you’re not dead... how did that happen?seemed like a risky call. Not that Aubrey noticed me. Her attention stayed on Jeremy. She didn’t glance around or pretend to be hungry.
Jeremy continued his charm offensive. “We have sandwiches and salads and these bowls—”
“You must be Jeremy.” Aubrey’s voice sounded light. Intrigued. “You’ve certainly changed.”
Well, damn.Except for the ones where I ran around in a grocery store naked with wet hair, most of my stress nightmares started like this.
Jeremy frowned. “Do we know each other?”
“No.” My strangled tone got their attention.
I needed to rein in my galloping heartbeat and tame some of the tension racing through me. Aubrey would sense fear. She was that type... Actually, I had no idea what type she was because I hadn’t seen her in fifteen years, but it was an educated guess.
“She just got back into town,” I said, trying to make the horrifying news sound positive.
