A relieved breath escaped him when he realized she was seriously thinking about what El had had to say, and he shot her look he hoped she recognized as being grateful.“What do you think, Mama?Do you know somebody who’d be willing to help out?It’s not like you’re an invalid.You just need somebody there to make sure that, if you have a panic attack, you have the help you need to get through it.”
Cindy sounded pensive, but not in a bad way, as she replied, “Let me think about it.Andre’s girl might be interested.And she’s a good girl, started off wrong, but this might be what she needs to get back on her feet.”
He sighed.“Isn’t she the one with the baby?That’s not…”
“Let me stop you right there, boy.”
Another sigh escaped him—it happened a lot when dealing with Cindy.She tried his patience and then some.“Whatever, just pick somebody.I can’t do my job when I’m terrified that you’re having a panic attack.Doesn’t help that I know you’re refusing to take your medicine as well.”
El tutted.“My, Cindy, youarea bad girl.”
Rather than piss her off, El’s reprimand seemed to amuse Cindy.Well, that was if her laughter was anything to go by.
“Seems to me like it’s time for a visit,” El was saying.He flared his eyes in rejection, but she just smiled at him.It was a smile that told him she was about to completely disregard everything he had to say on the matter.
The logistics alone would be a nightmare, but he got the feeling that didn’t matter worth a damn to her.And though it would mean a hell of a lot of work, he was grateful.He hadn’t seen his mom in too long, and El was about to make that happen because when El got that look on her face, shit was about to get real, he knew.
He listened to his mate and his mother chat for the next five minutes as he moved around his room, tidying his weights away.He was surplus to requirements in that particular conversation, he knew, so made himself scarce.As Shawn tidied up, he realized it was the first time El had spoken to her as his woman, a fact Cindy would never be aware of.
She was liberal in many ways, but not when it came down to things like this.Four men sharing one woman would never compute in her mind, but it saddened him that she would never know he was settled in that way.
Not unless she went through a complete personality change that is.Something he doubted.In four decades, she hadn’t changed all that much.He doubted as she grew older a miracle would happen.
When El put the phone down, he shot her a rueful grin.“Thank you for that.”
She shot him an amused glance.“You’re welcome, but thanks aren’t necessary.Before she became my mother-in-law, she was a friend.And you’ve always been a friend, Shawn.I know how much you worry about her, and I also know how stubborn she is.”
“I’ll get Auntie Joni onto her about this.If she thinks she’s helping some rough kid from the wrong side of the tracks then that’ll probably spur her on.It will be best all round if she did.I really don’t want her to feel forced into this.”
“Even if she is?”El said with a wry smile.
“Well, she doesn’t have to know that.”
She reached up onto tiptoe and pressed her lips to his.“I’m just glad I could help.”
He let out a breath.“We both know you did more than just help.She was going to say no.”
“Maybe.”She handed him his phone, then sat back on the edge of his desk.“You going to give me her number now?Never did understand why you kept it from me.”
He wriggled his shoulders.“Trying to maintain control.”
“Over what?Her?”
He snorted.“My mamma ain’t controlled by nobody.”
Her grin appeared then.“You always sound so country when you talk to her.”
“That’s cuz I am,” he teased, thickening the accent to that of his roots.He’d been born in bayou country, deep in the heart of Cajun land.There was no escaping his heritage as his voice alone declared it to one and all, but he tempered it when he wasn’t home.Nobody would understand him otherwise.
She grinned harder but there was a confused frown on her brow as she asked, “I don’t get it then.What control were you trying to maintain?”
“You and I could never be anything before this all happened, El.I wasn’t made for you.I’m still not that sure if I am now.”
Her eyes widened.“You and I both know that’s bullshit, Shawn.”
He grimaced.“Not really.”
She stalked over to him in a way that was distinctly predatory.Prodding him in the chest with a prostate finger, she grumbled, “Really.You’re as vital to me as they are, Shawn.And I’ve loved you for nearly all the time I’ve known you.”
