“Good Lord, no. You raised a sensible young lady. It didn’t take her long to realize she may have overreacted. Something she’s determined to set straight herself. It’s commendable.”
“Whatever it is you said to her; thank you. Maybe I should give Gray—”
“Let them figure it out,” Enzo interrupts. “They’re both adults, they can handle it.”
“He’s right,” Mrs. Chapman agrees. “And while I have you here, could I have the bill, please?”
“Actually,” her breakfast companion offers. “I’ll take the bill.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Mrs. Chapman protests, her spine suddenly ramrod straight as she visibly bristles.
“Watch me. You’re not paying for me, Madeline. End of story,” Enzo declares firmly, putting his words into action when he produces a billfold and pulls out a few bills, handing them to me. “Keep the change.”
“Well, I never…” she continues to sputter, but I notice it’s not quite as convincing.
Enzo grins wide and reaches across the table the moment I clear their dishes, covering her hand with his.
“Tell you what; next time you can buy me breakfast. But only if you let me buy you dinner the night before.”
“Enzo!”
Chuckling and slightly mortified at the surplus of information, I rush to settle their bill.
Gray
I’ve barely started on the transmission flush when I hear Kyle call me over the sounds of the Eagles coming from the radio.
“Yeah?”
As soon as I straighten I see Paige, shuffling a little nervously in the open bay door, a Styrofoam box in her hands. I’m surprised to see her here, given her reaction earlier. Kyle is lingering close by, his eyes honed in on Robin’s pretty daughter.
“Yo, Kyle!” I call out, getting his attention as I wipe my hands on a rag. “Don’t you have work to do?”
Even at this distance, I can see a blush color his cheeks as he quickly returns to the car he was working on. Smart kid.
“Hey.”
“Hi,” she mutters when I approach. “I brought you breakfast. As an apology. I’m…I wasn’t…I overreacted. It’s just Mom hasn’t had—”
I hold up my hand to stop her.
“I get it, girl. It’s all good.”
Surprisingly I find I mean it. That easy.
“But I was rude, then I yelled at Mom until Mrs. Chapman explained a few things…” I’m starting to realize there’s no way I’m going to stop the flow, so I’ll just wait her out. “…And then I saw you’d left. I felt so bad for making a scene, and being rude to you the whole time, and I’m so sorry.”
“You done?” I finally ask.
“Yup,” she says, nodding. “Totally done.”
“Good.” I grab the container from her hands and start walking to the office.
Halfway there I check over my shoulder to find her still standing in the same spot.
“Well, come on,” I call out. “You can get to know me over breakfast. I’m fucking starving.”
A smile tugs at her mouth as she hustles to catch up with me.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Robin
I want to cry but I don’t.
I’ll save it for later, when I don’t have my daughter sitting beside me as I drive her to Lansing to catch her flight back to Newark.
She’s struggling, she told me as much last night, no longer sure what she’s doing in New Jersey. Josh—that little prick—turns out to have had a lot to do with her wanting to settle there after she graduated last year. Had I known it was over a boy I’d have cautioned her, which I’m sure she knew when she decided to keep his existence a secret until I visited in September.
I hate she’s hurting, but in hindsight I’m glad she went with him to see his family over Christmas. Being around them had brought out Josh’s true colors, and luckily, my girl had enough self-worth to remove herself from that situation. Doesn’t mean it’s not painful, that much is clear from the drawn and pale girl sitting beside me.
Last night she announced she didn’t want to go back to her apartment or her job. As tempting as it was to tell her to stay home, I don’t want this to be another decision made because of that guy. I wanted to be her friend but knew I had to be her mother. So I reminded her she had a responsibility to her employer, an apartment she couldn’t simply abandon, and friends she couldn’t just drop.
In the end, she’d agreed and would give herself a month or two to really consider what she wanted.
The parent in me is happy with that decision, but my mother’s heart is heavy.
“When is Gram coming home again?” she asks, when we see the first traffic sign for the airport.
“Not sure of the exact date, but I believe she said the third week of March.” I glance over and catch her chewing on her bottom lip, something she tends to do when she’s thinking hard. “Why?” I prompt her.
Her eyes flash to me.
“I just wonder if I decide to come back before she’s supposed to return, whether I could maybe use her place until I find something of my own.”
“I’m sure she won’t mind, but why don’t you just come home?”
There’s a bit of a pause before she answers.
“No offense, Mom, but you have a boyfriend. I don’t want to cramp your style any more than I need to.”
“You’re not cramping my style and besides, my ‘boyfriend’ has a place too.”
She snorts. “I can’t see you frequenting the Dirty Dog, Mom.”
“Did he say something to you?”
I immediately have my bristles up. Nobody’s shared with me any details of what they talked about when Paige dropped off her peace offering with him yesterday, but I assumed they’d worked things out. Maybe I was wrong.
“No. Geeze, Mom. You should know him better than that.”
Put in my place by my child. She’s right, I should realize there’s no way the man I’ve gotten to know over the past months would say anything that could hurt my girl or me.
“You’re right. I should.”
Fifteen minutes later, I pull up in the drop-off zone at departures.
“Are you sure
