For a woman who had left the house this morning convinced that there was no way for her to have a future with a man like Jason, a few hours had made an undeniable difference. She had hope now. She could finally see that letting Jason into her heart was not the same as losing a part of herself. For the first time in her life, she could see that love gave people strength. It didn’t rob them of it.
Chapter Fourteen
When his mother called and asked him to lunch, Jason didn’t know what to think. She wasn’t in the habit of meeting him in the city. On top of that, it had been less than forty-eight hours since he’d last seen her. Although he was having a horrible day, with no promise of improvement even if he were to put in sixteen hours straight, something in her tone told him to make the time for her.
“Could we do it here? I’ll have something sent in,” he suggested, reluctant to alter his new routine now that he was finally energized about work.
“I’d rather not,” she said. “This won’t take long, but it is important, and I’d prefer a little privacy. What about that little French restaurant up the street. We won’t be interrupted there, will we?”
Jason sensed she was asking about more than the size of the restaurant’s crowd at noon. Was she truly trying to avoid his father? “No one from here goes there, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I’ll see you there, then.”
Now that Jason was sitting across from her, he felt an ominous sense of foreboding. Lacey Halloran looked uncomfortable. No, Jason thought, studying her more closely. She looked miserable. Though she was dressed cheerfully enough in a becoming rose-colored wool dress with her mane of caramel-colored hair falling in loose waves to her shoulders, there was an air of despair that was unmistakable. There was no hint of the usual sparkle in her blue eyes. He had a hunch that skillful makeup hid dark shadows under those eyes as well.
“Mom,” he began quietly, “what’s bothering you? You aren’t worried about Dana and me, are you?”
She glanced up from the consommé she’d been idly stirring for the past five minutes. For the first time since he’d arrived there was a spark of animation in her eyes. “No, absolutely not. I like her. She has a lot of spirit. I used to be like that once.”
She sounded so melancholy and sad, as if she’d lost something precious and didn’t know how to get it back. Jason felt his stomach knot. He laid a hand on hers. Hers was like ice. “Are you okay?”
She closed her eyes for an instant, and Jason’s worry mounted. When she opened her eyes, that unmistakable sadness was there again.
“I really don’t know how to get into this with you,” she said finally. “I told your father I wanted to be the one to tell you, but now that the time has come, I can’t seem to find the words.”
Jason’s heart thudded. “What is it? Are you ill?”
She shook her head, reaching over to squeeze his hand. “No, it’s nothing like that.”
“Is it Dad, then? He’s okay, isn’t he?”
She drew in a deep breath. “I’ve moved out,” she blurted finally. “Yesterday.”
Jason felt as if she’d slammed a fist into his midsection. If she’d declared that she’d burned the place down, he would have been no more shocked. Even after that awful dinner with his father a few weeks earlier and the tension in his own dining room just two days earlier, he wasn’t prepared for this announcement.
“What?” he said blankly, praying he’d misunderstood. “I don’t understand.”
“I’ve moved out of the house. I just wanted you to know so you wouldn’t go over there looking for me. Not that you drop in unannounced,” she murmured. “Oh, who am I kidding? I was terrified you’d see it in some gossip column. I’m sure there are a few people who won’t be able to wait to share the news of a split in the Halloran clan.”
The prospect of publicity was the least of Jason’s concerns. “Why did you move?” he asked weakly, thinking of all the signs he’d seen that things weren’t right between his parents. He’d blinded himself to them because he didn’t want to believe there was anything seriously wrong. “What did Dad do?”
He tried to imagine his father having an affair and couldn’t. Kevin Halloran was not a philanderer. Jason would have staked his last dime on that. Kevin did spend too many hours at the office. Maybe that was it. His father had turned into a workaholic and his mother was lonely.
Funny how he’d always thought his parents’ marriage so solid, so free from the kinds of problems and pressures that split other families apart. He could see now that they were only human and it shook him more than he could say.
“Your father didn’t do anything, not really. It’s complicated,” she said.
“That’s not good enough, Mom,” he snapped in frustration. At her startled, hurt look, he said, “I’m sorry, but there has to be a reason.”
“I would explain it to you if I could, but I can’t. Not entirely.” She gazed at him apologetically. “I’m sorry to spring this on you now, when you’ve just met someone you really care about. This should be the happiest time in your life. I’m sorry for spoiling it. I would have waited until, I don’t know, after you were engaged, maybe even married, but there’s no telling just when that would happen. I decided postponing the move wouldn’t change anything. The longer it went on, the more I felt as if I were suffocating.”
“I’ll talk to Dad,” he said, ignoring the denial she’d made too easily. “Whatever he’s done, he can fix it.”
Lacey smiled sadly. “No. I’ve told you this is not his fault. Not entirely, anyway. At any rate, it’s between your father
