“You too. You are welcome here anytime, Cary. Whenever you’re in town.”
Shiloh’s stomach clenched painfully.
Her mom walked past the table and then stopped. “Is that hummingbird cake?”
“Junie and I made it.”
“Okay, well...” Her mom leaned over and cut a slice of cake, plopping it onto her palm. “I will take a piece, but I’m still going to bed. Good night, good night.”
“Good night,” they both said.
She disappeared into her room.
Cary leaned forward to pick up his mug from the table. He kept his hand on Shiloh’s shoulder while he took a drink.
“Do you want me to heat that up for you?” she asked.
“No. Stay here with me.” He poured more cold tea into the mug and handed it to her. Shiloh took it and drank some. Cary picked up his plate—there was still a lot of cake on it—and sat back, finally letting go of Shiloh but still settling against her.
He held his fork out to her with a bite of cake.
Shiloh met his eyes over his hand. He looked pretty wrung out, honestly. But he still looked like he liked her. She took the bite, covering her mouth. “Do you have to get home?” she asked, even though the last thing she wanted was for him to leave.
“No,” Cary said, “I have to eat this entire cake.”
Shiloh smiled. She watched him eat a few more bites of cake, shaking her head when he offered her more. “So...” She tried to think of something practical to say. Something conversational. “You’ll be able to manage your mom’s bills now?”
“Most of them.” Cary cleared his throat. He nodded. “Yeah.”
“Will the rest of your family be mad?”
“Not in a way I’ll have to deal with. They count on me to bail Mom out.” He glanced up from the cake, frowning. “My older sister, Jenny, thinks I’m trying to get the house—I don’t care about that house. Though Iamgoing to sell it the minute Mom needs long-term care. So maybe Jenny’s right about me.”
“I’ve always wanted siblings,” Shiloh said, “but I guess Mom and I at least have clarity. We know it’s just the two of us.”
He eyed her. “You seem like you’re making it work.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, “better than I would have expected. We got a lot of our fighting out of the way when I was pregnant with Junie.”
“Why then?”
Shiloh kept her voice down. “Because I was terrified of becoming just like her!”
Cary shook his head. “That was never going to happen. I knew you were going to be a great mom.”
“How?You just called me manic and incessant.”
“I said ‘relentless.’ And I knew, because you don’t shirk. You like being in charge of things.”
“You should talk, Cary.”
He shrugged, like he was fine with owning that. “When’d you move back here?”
“Two and a half years ago,” Shiloh said.
“Wow. Gus must have been...”
“Two months old.”
