If you moved back, you could give Clint another shot, the little voice piped up and my back straightened.
Nope. That was not happening. It was great seeing Clint, but the way things had ended with us, they were done. I still didn’t know why he took me to dinner at his buddy’s place, but my best guess was to keep them from harping on his heroics. As much as I wanted to say he used me, that wasn’t true. Being with him was almost like old times, but likely because neither one of us was going to rehash the past.
“Gah! Stop it, Raegan,” I muttered.
“You say something, honeybunch?” Mom asked from the living room.
“No, Mom. Just talking to myself.”
“As long as you don’t talk back, it’s all good,” she called.
I sighed.
Could I put Mom through another heart-wrenching conversation this week? Again, nope. I would wait to talk to her tomorrow.
Tanya’s familiar knock came from the kitchen side door, which surprised me. I opened the door to her and Jared bee-lined to Mom as usual.
“No need to get me a drink, Rae. I brought my own latte. It’s been one of those mornings.”
I nodded, and she strode into the living room to put Marcus down, who I noticed was sleeping soundly.
She came back in and put her mug in the microwave for a warm-up. I thought about having a cup of coffee myself, but I wasn’t thirsty as much as I was starving.
Days after Wynnie’s celebration of life and the gathering here at the house, we still had enough food to feed the Orlando Magic and the opposing team. At the pantry, I spied a bag of unopened kettle-cooked potato chips and I remembered a tub of Dean’s French Onion dip in the fridge. I loved that stuff but rarely bought it.
I put the chips on the kitchen table. “You want any chips and dip, Tanya?”
“Ooh! Absolutely!”
“What are Jared and I? Chopped liver?” Mom asked.
I shook my head, not that Mom could see it from the living room. “I’ll let Tanya decide what Jared eats, and you’re on a low-sodium, low-cholesterol diet.”
“No cholesterol in those chips or that dip, Raegan Anne.”
I turned the unopened bag of chips over. “I’ll be damned,” I mumbled.
Tanya grabbed the dip and took the top off, shaking her head. “I find it strange as hell someone opened the dip but didn’t bother with the chips.”
I shot her a disbelieving look. “Bronwyn worked part-time at a gym, and most of her friends were fit as fiddles. I can’t believe anybody brought dip, let alone a bag of chips.”
Tanya grinned. “Who do you think brought the chips and dip?” She pointed to herself. “This girl! There’s comfort food. Then there’s comfort junk food. Both are important, but as far as I’m concerned the right junk food is even more important in a stressful situation.”
I wheezed with laughter. “You are one crazy lady, Tanya.”
Her chin dipped as she grinned at me. “And don’t you forget it!”
I popped a chip loaded with dip into my mouth, and she leaned toward me. “Your mother’s right. There’s no cholesterol, and the saturated fat isn’t that bad. The salt might be an issue, but let her live a little, woman.”
I nodded, grabbed a paper plate, and took some out to Mom.
The surprised look on her face didn’t keep her from speaking. “It’s a minor miracle. The warden’s letting us live large, Jared.”
“Don’t push it, Mom.”
Back in the kitchen, Tanya watched me, and I knew she wanted to talk about something. I just didn’t know what.
Since I didn’t feel like chatting, I kept shoving chips in my mouth.
“You know who didn’t come by the house after the service?”
I sighed. “There were plenty of people at the service, Tanya. It stands to reason not all of them could swing by the house afterward. And really, some of them may not have been invited or didn’t—”
“Clint. He didn’t show up afterward, and I found it weird he spoke to Penny but did his damndest to avoid you. Especially since he took you out almost two weeks ago. What gives?”
She spoke with a pushy tone, but I wasn’t giving into her pushiness. I had learned my lessons about pushy people.
“He has a job, Tanya. It’s not a crime he didn’t drop by the house. Hell, he’s here so often, it’s not like Mom doesn’t know how much he cares.”
Her lips pushed out into a duck-pout, but she pulled them back in quickly. “You’re right. I just don’t understand. Why wouldn’t you try to tap that?”
“Because she already did, doofus!” Mom yelled.
My elbow on the table, I put my head in my hand.
“You did,” Tanya whispered, sitting down next to me.
I sat up straight. “It was a long time ago, Tanya.”
“Sounds juicy, and you never did tell me the long story when I was here the other day. Spill it, lady!”
“He was gonna—,” Mom started, but I spoke over her.
“I’ll tell her, Mom!”
“Be sure you do,” she muttered.
I shook my head, but Tanya was grinning like a loon. It felt like the story of me and Clint took an hour to rehash, but when I finished only twenty minutes had elapsed. However, from the slack-jawed expression on Tanya’s face, I probably should’ve left a few things out.
“He was gonna propose that weekend?” she shrieked.
I shrugged. “Seemed so, otherwise he was a crazy man to walk around New York City with a diamond ring in his pocket.”
“No doubt,” she muttered, dunking a chip in the dip.
While she chewed, her eyes narrowed at me and I wondered if I could run to the bathroom because I knew I didn’t want to hear what she had to say next.
“Done with the dip, Tanya?”
She swallowed before she arched an eyebrow at me. “Not if that’s your ruse to get away from me. Truly. How did you not come running back? I’ve seen the way that man carries himself. I’m married, but I ain’t
