“I’m coming over. I’ll bring some pastries with me. We need to talk.”
The call ended without Lainie having the opportunity to object. Mom saying “we need to talk” was not a good sign. What had she done to upset her mom?
There was nothing she could do but get up, get dressed, and wait for her mother. Wincing, Lainie stretched. Her arm was sore, and she swallowed some Advil. After starting a pot of coffee, she pulled up the news website to see what her mother had read.
Callen West had the headline story about the Blue Line crash and the shooting. The press-information officer gave out everyone’s names, which surprised Lainie; they normally waited a couple of days. It didn’t bother her. The shooting would be in policy in any city in the country.
What bothered her was the last paragraph of what was supposed to be a news story.
Crystal Benton is currently in the hospital in critical but stable condition. It is notable that Benton is employed by Dallas Vine. Considering Detective Jensen’s history with Vine, this shooting incident deserves scrutiny.
West hated cops, and Lainie was used to barbs being shot in her general direction, but this was a first for him to go directly after her.“It is what it is,”Beck would say.“You can’t fix stupid.”
Her mom arrived with a box of sweet-smelling pastries—cheese Danish and bear claws—Lainie’s favorites.
After a hug, her mom inspected her. “Oh, Lainie, you were shot. Why didn’t you call us and let us know? Why did we have to find out from the news?”
“Mom, it wasn’t serious. I didn’t see any reason to wake up you and Dad. In retrospect, I should have and I’m sorry. So much has been going on lately. I never want you to worry about me and my job.”
Mom gave her the “mom look.”
“What?” Lainie held her hands out. “That was the reason. Please don’t overthink this.”
“It wasn’t because all of our energy lately was for Evie? And maybe you were feeling a little ignored?”
Lainie laughed and grabbed her mom in hug, ignoring the pain in her arm. “No, Mom, not at all. Evie deserves all the attention and more right now. I’m fine with that. I hate being fussed over; you know that.”
Mom hugged her back. “I love all my kids, very, very much. They all deserve my attention.”
She pushed back and looked Lainie in the eye. “Pour me some coffee and let’s eat these sweets.”
Lainie did just that, getting the plates and coffee mugs. They sat at her small kitchen table.
“How is Evie doing today?” Lainie asked.
“She improves every day, physically. Emotionally it’s much harder for her. She wants to visit Stan again.”
Something in her mother’s tone caught Lainie’s ear. “You don’t approve?”
“It’s not up to me to approve or disapprove. It’s a battle. I struggle to forgive him.”
Her mother’s admission surprised her. “I do too. Evie amazes me.”
“It’s difficult for her as well.”
“I didn’t think so. Evie’s a saint.”
“She’s that. Still, it’s a minute-by-minute choice for her, and for all of us. Sometimes I can forgive; sometimes I can’t,” Mom said. “Forgiveness is the right thing, I know that, but I don’t feel it all the time. Evie has the boys to worry about. She doesn’t want them hating their father, and neither do I, for that matter.”
Lainie finished a bear claw and started in on a Danish. Thinking about Stan still made her blood boil. She knew that Evan and Owen loved their dad; they were too young to recognize what a flawed failure of a man he was. Did she really want them crushed by such knowledge?
No, I don’t.
She remembered what Ben had said when she asked him if he was a believer. She’d admitted her failure, and his response had stayed with her.
“We’re all failures at some level. That’s why we need a Savior.”
I don’t want to forgive him.The thought pierced her considering the truth Ben had shared.
