He nodded. Her concern was evident in the furrowing around her mouth. “We’re fine. We just got back a bit later than planned. I would’ve been here yesterday if I could have.”
“As long as you’re safe,” she replied, patting the underside of his jaw. Her hands fell from him to pet Riot, who patiently sat in the space next to her chair. She lowered her brow to the flat of his head and whispered, “I’ve been trying to talk them into letting me keep this one for a couple of nights a week.”
“He’d enjoy that,” Nick noted. He looked up at Ms. Porter.
She folded her lips and gave a slight shake of her head.
While therapy animals were approved after an extensive application process, pets were strictly forbidden for patients of River House. If they made an exception for his mother, they’d have to allow others the same privilege. While his mother hadn’t had a dog of her own since her King Charles spaniel, Hamlet, had passed away two years after Nick’s father, he knew the longing for a companion was there.
Riot stared adoringly at Margot as she fussed and tutted over him. Nick glanced around the room, spotting a new blanket folded neatly at the foot of her bed. Its pattern was authentically Navajo, handcrafted. He’d seen Sassy’s mother’s textile work. This looked similar. “Sassy’s been here.”
“She visited every day you were gone,” Ms. Porter said as she fussed around the room, plumping pillows and hanging Margot’s soft pink robe on the hook by the door to the en suite bathroom.
Nick was grateful. He’d asked Sassy to peek in on his mother. The fact that she’d taken time out of her busy schedule to sit with her every day…
Old feelings worked their way to the surface, warming his chest and winding up through his upper arms. He curled his toes inside his boots when he felt the impact. He rearranged his feet on the floor and rubbed one palm against the other. “Level with me,” he said, lowering his chin. “How’ve you been?”
Margot hesitated, and he knew she was running through all her silent issues in her head. When he’d approached her about moving into River House, she hadn’t been thrilled. It had been like saying goodbye to the house she’d built with his father, a life choice she wasn’t mentally or emotionally ready for. Her physical limitations had forced his hand, however, and while he had no doubt River House was the best place for her, he still carried his guilt around like a change purse of weighted coins. “I can’t complain,” she said quietly, not meeting his eye.
He rubbed the space on his jaw she had caressed moments before. Shecouldcomplain. She just wouldn’t. At the end of the day, they both knew the reality of her situation. Even if some part of her wouldn’t forgive him for failing to save his childhood home or making her transfer to River House, she’d bury her complaints. Nick noted the way her eyes averted from his, bouncing back to Riot, who asked no questions. She went back to petting him, and Nick knew to close the subject.
She waited until Ms. Porter stepped out of the room to speak again. “They don’t know this,” she said in an undertone, “but Sassy snuck Rogue in to see me, too.”
Nick’s lips twitched. That sounded like something Sassy would do. Only she could sneak a gigantic Maine coon into his mother’s room without anyone the wiser just so Margot could spend a few minutes with the animal. “She’s mad at me.”
Her gaze snapped to his. “What have you done, Nicholas?”
“She doesn’t want me going back to work tonight,” he explained. “She thinks it’s too soon.”
“She may be right,” Margot cautioned. “Are you not rested?”
He didn’t know what it meant to rest anymore. Not really. “I was always scheduled to go back to work today,” he pointed out. “It doesn’t matter if I got back later. There’s no giving away my shift at this point.”
“I’m sure something could done if you asked.”
“Mom,” he said, then stopped and breathed carefully. He couldn’t tell her about the extra shifts. Not without her knowing why he’d volunteered for them. They couldn’t lose this spot at River House. He’d do anything to keep that from happening. He owed her that much. “It’s fine. I don’t want you worrying about me.”
“Worrying is every mother’s prerogative, Nicholas.”
He took her hand again. “It’s time you accept the fact that it’s me who worries about you.”
“A mother doesn’t stop being a mother,” she told him. “If I lose our memories together, that won’t stop it, either. You know this. Don’t you?”
It was a bitter pill to swallow. Still, this was an argument he knew he couldn’t win, so he said simply, “The only thing I want you to worry about for the time being is you. Trust me to take care of everything else. Okay?”
She searched his face. When Riot placed his paw on her knee, she diverted to him, pointing to the glass biscuit jar on the edge of the dresser. “I’ve got some treats in there. Grab one, won’t you? This boy deserves at least three before he goes to the activity room.”
Nick debated arguing, pushing her for an answer. But he sensed she didn’t have the fight in her today. One day, his mother would see him as nothing more than a stranger. That day wasn’t today. For that, he dropped the subject, rose from the stool and followed her directions.
Chapter 5
“Soledad,” Sassy called through the doors of her office downstairs into the gift shop. “Have you seen my turquoise bracelet? I thought I left it here on my desk.”
The sound of her second-in-charge’s footsteps rapping up the stairs on a set of toothpick heels made Sassy’s feet cry in sympathy. The tips of Soledad’s straight black hair were touched with electric blue. There was a thin silver ring in her nose and a matched bead above her left eyebrow. Based on appearance alone, people in Dark Canyon often misconstrued her as a troublemaker. Sassy knew Soledad had a heart of gold and a sweet nature.
Sassy had given her the job at the gallery because she was one of the few people in the world who could manage the chaos of Sassy’s mind. Soledad was the method to her madness and a big part of the reason Zephyr Galley was the outstanding success that it was.
“I saw it on your desk, too,” Soledad pointed out. She dropped to her knees. “Did it fall on the floor?”
