Celie turns to Cam and extends her hand. “You must be Cameron Wild. I’ve wanted to meet you for a while now, to thank you for helping Vannah out with that horrible thug. I’m Celie, the best McMann sister.”
“Celie’s the closest to me in age,” I say to Cam. “She also has the biggest ego.”
Cam’s eyes twinkle as he shakes Celie’s hand. “How are you, Celie?”
“I’m great. How do you like playing for the Cannons?” she asks him.
“I like my new team,” he says with a wink at me.
“Oh, yeah?” Celie’s smile broadens.
Cam’s dark eyes fill with amusement, and Celie bursts into giggles as I glare at her.
Molly waves at Cam from her seat, and I quickly introduce him to Pru and Mama. Nadine calls out a hello to Cam through the speakerphone, and we all take our seats on the second couch.
Hal’s a different lawyer than the man we used for Mama’s divorce papers. He’s older and more patient. He’s quite old, in fact.
“How old is Hal?” I whisper to Celie.
“Shh,” she says back. “He’s a friend of Pru’s great-uncle.”
“That doesn’t inspire confidence.”
I turn to look at Mama again, who can’t stop shaking. She thought her husband could protect her and keep her safe the way her own father couldn’t. Grandpa was a philandering gambler with money and women, and he spent what little he saved at the bars. Grandma worked two jobs to keep the family together.“Mama has Daddy issues,” Nadine always liked to say. “But who of us doesn’t, right?”
Mama picks up the papers again. Hal gently points to the line where she needs to sign. Mama sniffs and Hal quickly takes the papers back, and then Mama reaches for a tissue instead.Oh, Lord.This could go on forever. I fight the urge to scream. And then—
Cam reaches over and touches my hand.
He doesn’t linger or hold onto me. He just gently brushes my hand with his strong, calloused one.
Meanwhile, Mama’s still waffling with the damn pen in her hand.
And I can’t take the indecision a second longer. I stand up and walk over to the desk.
“I know it’s hard, Mama,” I say. “But holding onto him with the house isn’t really working. He’s getting remarried, after all.”
Mama nods. “Yes. You’re right. He is getting married.” She reaches for the papers again.
“Sometimes he’s just not the right man, Mama,” Nadine says through the phone. “And that’s okay. Sometimes it’s just not right.”
Mama looks at the phone as if she can see Nadine in it. Maybe she’s thinking of Nadine’s own divorce all those years ago and how Nadine cried for weeks while she talked about what a failure she felt like. Then, she met Brad and she realized what a good decision that divorce was.
Molly gets up and comes over. “It was a long time ago, Mama. It’s been six years and counting.”
Mama looks at Molly. “Six years,” she says with a wry smile. “That is a long time, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Molly agrees.
I hear Celie whisper something about the brandy, but I shake my head. I’m afraid at this point it will become a distraction.
Mama gazes into space like she’s looking into the past. “Your father could be so good to us. Remember how he was always the first one any of us would call when there was a problem?”
We all nod. It’s true. Our father was great in a crisis.
“But of course, there were a lot of bad times with that man. Too many of them to count,” Mama says with a heavy sigh.
I look at my mother’s worn face. My father’s moods were so intense, and that made everything feel dangerous.
