Somehow, they had to find a way to raise the baby together. And he’d made it clear that he needed a little distanceto figure out how to do that. A little distance would probably be good for her, too.
All Thursday and Friday they avoided each other. During meals, they tried not to look at each other while pretending in front of Dillon and Shane that everything was just fine.
It was awful.
She should have been relieved Saturday morning when Josh and Shane packed up to go. But all she felt was bone-deep sadness as she watched the crew cab driving away.
Half an hour later, she got a text from Lenore.Surprise! My son wants to hang out with your son. Thoughts?
Riley called her.
Lenore picked up and started talking. “Hey. So when Shane said he wanted to have Dillon over, I asked him, ‘Didn’t you just leave Dillon’s house?’ And Shane says, ‘Yeah, but can he come over today?’ What can I do? I’m one of those mothers who just gives her kid whatever he wants if at all possible. So…how about it? Can Dillon come over—say, for a couple of hours, anyway? Maybe a little longer. Till two?”
Riley marveled. Somehow she was actually starting to like Lenore. “Just a minute,” she said. “Let me check.”
“Go for it.”
Riley muted the phone and turned to Dillon, who was sitting at the table eating apple slices. “Shane and Lenore have invited you over. Would you like to go?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, then,” she said to Lenore. “I’ll drop him off in an hour and pick him up at two.”
“Perfect. See you…”
An hour later, when Riley dropped of Dillon, he immediatelywent off with Shane leaving Riley with Lenore, who said, “I see your ankle is much better…”
“Yeah, it’s healing up just great.”
“So glad to hear that. Shane says he and his dad won’t be staying at your place anymore…”
“That’s right. I’m able to manage well on my own now.”
Lenore bit her lip. Riley dreaded whatever might come out of her mouth next.
But Lenore didn’t go there. “Listen. If you need anything, all you have to do is call.”
“Thank you,” Riley replied.
“Any time. I mean that.”
They shared a mutually hesitant smile, and that was it. With a wave and a sigh of relief, Riley left.
On the way back to her house, she stopped at Big Country Grocery and loaded up her cart. At home, she put everything away. By then, her ankle was aching a little.
But she needed to keep busy, keep herself from wondering what Josh was doing now…
She put on her ankle sleeve for a little support, straightened up the kitchen and vacuumed the living room. When that was done, she still had an hour left before she had to pick up Dillon.
She could have done a bit of catchup in her home office. There was always hotel business to attend to.
But she sat down on the sofa just for a minute and then didn’t want to get up. She kept thinking of Josh, missing him terribly, wondering what was wrong with her to have sent him away. But then, she knew what was wrong with her. She’d lost too much. And those losses had made her unwilling to take a chance on loving again.
The doorbell rang.
Josh, she thought.
Because maybe he’d changed his mind and decided he could go on as they had been, after all…
