“Oh shit,” Marlowe said.
“Shit indeed,” Cody responded. “He was a shit.”
“Her parents weren’t a whole lot better. Can you imagine abandoning a nineteen-year-old who was obviously taken advantage of by a man who was way older…”
“Well, yeah, I can imagine it because it’s what my grandparents did. And they never had anything to do with us either.”
“How did your mom… Sorry. I shouldn’t ask that.”
“Car accident,” he said. “She drove her car off anembankment into the river.” He was quiet for a long moment. “It was probably an accident. Probably.”
“Oh, Cody…”
“She might’ve done it on purpose. She’d been really depressed. But I just… I don’t want to believe that, so I don’t.” He looked at her, the pink morning light shining on his face, making it look like his eyes were just a little brighter than normal. Or maybe they were tears. Just possibly.
“I guess it’s like choosing to carry anger or trying to understand. Nobody gets to decide what we choose to do with the pain they give to us. We get to decide, because we’re the ones that have to cope with it.”
“That’s what I figure. So, I prefer to think that she had an accident, driving home too late. I don’t want to think that she left us behind on purpose. I just don’t.”
“How old were you?”
“Twenty-five. I was grown. Lila… Lila was only seventeen. Such a shitty thing for her to go through.”
“Not just her.”
He stared out at the view, and the corner of his mouth turned upward. “But now this is ours.”
She reached out and put her hand on his thigh. “You did it.”
He took a long sip of his coffee, and for the rest of the time they sat up there, neither of them said another word.
Chapter Sixteen
He hadn’t had time for that little interlude, but God, it had done his body good.
All he could think about was Marlowe, though, and he had to get the ranch in order.
Though it was as in order as it was going to get at this point.
Guests were coming in tomorrow, but the Painted Ridge Dining room was opening up tonight, a soft, grand opening, and Laney had every table filled with a reservation.
Marlowe and her staff would probably be busy seeing to all the last-minute details for the reservations, and he would do well to stay away, he was sure.
But, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
They had left Painted Ridge early yesterday morning and had left this thing between them open-ended.
The reality was, right now, there was no point pretending they weren’t going to find their way back into bed.
They were.
He hadn’t meant to spill his guts quite like that.
Apparently, not having had a real relationship meant thathe was prone to that. He wasn’t sure how much he should share, what he should hold back, and it had felt right to tell her that.
Marlowe was no stranger to family drama. She’d given him a lot of details about her. He had figured it was safe to tell her all of that.
But anytime he talked about his mother’s death, he got a sick feeling in his stomach that he couldn’t shake off.
