Was that how Jacqueline had felt, too? Had she walked awaybecause, like Casey today, she hadn’t been compelled to stay? Some part ofCasey had always wondered if they’d given up too soon on a great love. Butmaybe Jacqueline had never felt that way. Maybe their fights over her schedule,their finances, even Elle, had just been a convenient reason to end what wasn’tgoing to work anyway.
Chapter Thirteen
Casey flipped through the on-screen guide on the television,searching for her next block of mindless entertainment. She settled on a showabout people who move into ridiculously small homes. She might likethat—downsizing, de-cluttering. But then she’d have to have a separate studio.She glanced at the door to her current workspace. No, she liked it only steps away.Maybe she should just go through the rest of the house and throw away somejunk. She’d planned to do that when she and Nina moved but now had lost some ofher motivation.
She’d lost the drive to do a lot of things in the three weekssince she and Nina broke up. Other than work, she tended to go a bit hermitafter a split. She’d still visited Teddy several times a week, but only duringthe day when she knew she’d be the only one. He’d worked up to walking aroundthe block with her and seemed to be doing much better physically, though shestill worried about his moments of confusion.
When Sean came home one of the weekends, she put on a good frontand didn’t think he’d suspected a thing. He was used to Nina being absent whenhe was around, and they didn’t talk much about her. In fact, she’d discovered,her friends and family didn’t ask about Nina, and if she simply didn’tvolunteer anything, they weren’t curious.
Nina had come and picked up her stuff. They’d made anotherattempt at conversation that turned into an argument. When Casey had reallyexamined their relationship, she realized they’d been headed toward thisimpasse for some time. She supposed she’d rather they have figured it out nowbefore they moved in together.
She hadn’t seen Jacqueline at all. They still hadn’t talked aboutthe kiss and probably wouldn’t, since so much time had passed. If she didn’tsee her before then, Jacqueline would be here for Kendra’s party next week. Sheglanced around the house, noting the changes she’d made after Jacqueline movedout. How did she feel when she came back here?
Maybe she should do some of that de-cluttering before she had ahouse full of guests next week. Maybe she’d do that tomorrow. She eyed a photoof her and Nina taken on their trip to Boston and decided that’s where she’dstart. She grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl in her lap. Today, she’dtake a much-needed day off.
She’d barely moved from her spot two hours later when the frontdoor opened. Sean loped into the room and stopped, obviously not expecting herto be there. Or perhaps he just didn’t think she’d be wrapped in a blanket,vegging out on a Saturday evening.
“Hey. I figured you’d be out with Nina.” He flopped down on thecouch next to her.
“Not tonight.”
He nodded, then bit his lower lip like he did when he was tryingto figure something out. “Everything okay with you two?”
Casey shook her head. “We broke up.”
“Oh, Mom, I’m sorry.”
She glanced at him. “You never liked her.”
“Eh, maybe not.” He gave her the puppy-dog eyes that alwayscoaxed a reaction from her when he was a kid, and then his expression turnedserious. “But you haven’t liked all of my girlfriends. And I want you to behappy.”
“But you knew it wouldn’t be with her.” She flipped one side ofher blanket over his legs and passed him the popcorn bowl, encouraging him tosettle in with her.
“I suspected.”
“How?”
“She’s too much like Mama.”
“What does that mean?”
He shrugged. “She wanted you to support her, not financially, butat home. Like everything you do should come second to her.”
“Mama’s not like that,” she said, more for his benefit thanbecause it was true. She didn’t want him to have a bad impression ofJacqueline. She might have given up a part of herself for Jacqueline, but she’ddone it willingly at the time.
“That’s why you’re changing your schedule to look after Poppa.”
“I do that because I love him.” His words touched a wound stillfresh from her confrontation with Nina.
“I know. He’s like your second father.” His casualacknowledgement of her connection to Teddy almost tipped her over the emotionaledge she’d been riding lately. “Nah. I just mean, you’ve been putting everyoneelse first all your life—Mama, me, Elle, the boys.”
Her heart clenched at the mention of the sibling boys, ages sixand eight, she’d fostered a few years after she and Jacqueline broke up. Theywere eventually placed with their maternal grandmother, who’d been resistingraising her daughter’s kids because she thought she was too old. But shecouldn’t handle seeing them in foster care, so she took them in. Casey kept intouch with their grandmother and received periodic updates and photos as theboys aged. She’d shared the photos with Sean so he’d feel less disconnectedfrom the brothers he’d bonded with.
“It’s about time you got to come first. And now that I’m out ofthe house—”
“You don’t look very out of the house.” She nudged him with herknee. “You didn’t tell me you were coming home this weekend. Did you bring meyour laundry?”
“I mean, while I’m here…” He glanced guiltily toward the door,where he’d dropped his duffle bag. He lifted his hands palm up and shrugged.
She touched his shoulder, turning their conversation serious oncemore. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Nina and I weren’t meant to be.”
“She didn’t deserve you anyway.”
She smiled. “When did my baby boy grow up?”
He bent his head in a halfhearted attempt to avoid her rufflinghis hair.
“In fact, you’re so grown up, you should do your own laundry thisweekend.”
He burrowed closer into the couch, pulled more of the blanket offher, and nodded at the television. “After this episode.”
*
Jacqueline knocked on the door of Casey’s house thirty minutesbefore the guests were scheduled to arrive. The white SUV in the driveway borethe logo of
