Someone will tell someone, and then my mom will be wondering why I didn’t tell her first. Anastasia will never let me hear the end of it.
So, I remove my baseball cap and run a hand through my hair.
“Oh, this is serious,” my mom jokes. “When the baseball cap comes off, I know to brace myself.”
“I found Tessa.” It’s the first time I’ve spoken those words out loud. When I’d gotten to the hospital with her in my arms, everything had been little more than a blur of movement where I hadn’t even had the chance to fully comprehend what was happening.
When I turn to my mom and see the tortured expression on her face, I know it’s because she’s worried I’m about to say that I found Tessa’s body. That what we always feared was the truth.
“What?” Her voice is barely above a whisper. Face pale, she stares back at me with wide eyes. “Is she?—”
“She’s alive. I guess it’s more accurate to say she found me. Sorry, should have led with that.” Leaning back against the couch, I toy with the bill of my hat. “She showed up on the boat last night, injured. She’s at the hospital now.”
My mom shoots up from her chair. “Then we need to go. Now. Is she okay? Where has she been? Why did you wait all this time to tell me? The books could have waited!”
And here’s the part that will break her heart. “She kicked me out of her hospital room. She doesn’t want to see me.”
Linda Knox’s gaze narrows on me again. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Call Rose, then. She was there. Saw the whole thing.” The bite in my words is directed at the wrong person, so I take a deep breath to calm myself. “It’s fine, Mom. Tessa doesn’t want me there, so I won’t be there. It’s as simple as that.”
My mom continues to study me. “Zane Knox, I have never known you to give up. Not once.”
“I didn’t give up. She kicked me out.”
“Who knows what that poor girl has been through?”
Woman now, I want to correct her. The girl Tessa had been is long gone, just like the boy I’d been has left, too. Life changed us. Molded us into two strangers.
“She’s family. And we need to be there for her,” my mother insists.
“I tried. The worst thing I can do right now is force my company on her. She needs to heal, and if I need to stay away for that, then that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
“We weren’t a good fit.” That’s what she told me. Whether I believe it to be the truth or not, I have to respect her wishes. I loved her once, and that love is worth at least that much still.
“Fair enough.” Mom offers me an understanding smile, but instead of taking her seat again, she crosses over to grab her purse and keys from the counter.
“Where are you going?”
“She kicked you out of her room, Zane. Not me. I’m going to go see our girl. I’ll let you know what happens.”
Fear that Tessa will break my mom’s heart washes over me, and I lunge to my feet to try to stop her. “Mom, that’s not a good?—”
“I know she may not be the same person she was, but I am. And I won’t let her lie there alone. She has no one else. So, I’m going to be there.”
“Mom—”
“Sweetie, I’m not letting this go. Now, you’d better go and make sure Anastasia knows so that your sister doesn’t hear it from someone else. She deserves to know, too.”
Knowing I’ve lost this battle, I nod. “I’ll lock up on my way out.”
“Good.” She crosses over and reaches up to pull me down for a hug. After planting a kiss on my cheek, Mom strolls out of her house, joy lacing every step.
Will Tessa welcome her?
Or will she also turn her back on the woman who tried to save her more than once?
Chapter 4
