Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
She hid behind sarcasm so often. “I’m sure your mom has some pretty deep roots, too.”
“Yeah,” she replied. “They’re all buried deep, and there’s no room for movement.”
The problems with her mom seemed to be one of the reasons she wouldn’t consider staying in town. “Did you always fight this way with her? Even when you were young?”
“Oh, no. When I was a kid she was . . . she was the one who made things fun. She would take us places with her. Dumb places like the grocery store or to Miss Marcelle’s to get her hair done. When she had to work on the weekends, we would go with her, and she and some of the other single moms would turn the breakroom into a playroom. They would bring sheets and pillows and we would make these big forts.” She was quiet for a moment. “Then the manager found out and we weren’t allowed to go with her anymore. Of course, they didn’t stop making her work weekends. Instead they made her find and pay for a babysitter. Then Sienna was old enough and we stayed alone in that trailer.”
He’d never once had that problem as a child. There was always someone dedicated to making sure he had something to do, somewhere to be, that he was safe. “I’m sorry about that. It sounds like she was in a bad place.”
“And she wanted me and Sienna in that bad place, too.” She sat up again, though this time she didn’t bother covering herself. “I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to get me to feel sorry for my mom.”
She was so beautiful, and his instinct was to drown in her. He could get her under him again, and they didn’t have to talk about anything except the things that made her smile. But that wouldn’t start to solve her problems, and keeping Jayna close suddenly seemed like the most important thing in his life. “I’m feeling out your relationship with her because it seems important.”
“It’s not. I haven’t been close to my mom for years.”
“But when you got in trouble, you called her.”
She sighed, her shoulders coming down. “I called my sister. I needed a place to stay but she doesn’t have an extra room. She’s only got the two bedrooms, and the girls are in one. I would have been on the couch. My mom’s was a compromise.”
“Did she know that? Did she know you didn’t want to come home?”
“Probably. It’s not like she met me with a party or anything. We barely talked and then she kicked me out.”
He sat up, getting closer to her. How long had it been since he sat in bed with a woman and talked, their intimacy a warmth that blanketed them both? It had never felt like this. “Do you want a relationship with her?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. It’s hard.”
If she was on the fence, then he had a chance to help mend that rift. “Then you need to talk to her. I think one of the reasons my mother is meddling in my life right now is that she spent all those years taking care of my father and now she’s not sure what to do with herself. She’s not in a place where she can concentrate on herself, so she focuses on me and my brother, and not always in a good way. And she doesn’t understand why I get upset. Maybe that’s what’s happening with your mom, too. She worked hard all her life for you and Sienna, and she feels like you don’t appreciate who she is.”
She was quiet for a moment.
“Do you, Jayna?”
“Of course I appreciate what she sacrificed for us. But I shouldn’t have to prove that by not using the gifts I was given. She wanted me to join her at the plant she’s worked at for most of my life. She set up an interview when I was a senior. She knew I was applying to colleges, but she didn’t think I would be able to afford it, so she arranged a job for me. When I refused to go to the interview, she was furious.”
“That was presumptuous of her, but I’m sure she thought she was being helpful.”
“No, she thought she could trap me.”
“She thought she could keep you,” he corrected. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but you should put yourself in her shoes. She watched you grow up and pass her by. That had to be hard.”
“I’ll think about it if you’ll think about talking to your brother.”
“It’s a completely different situation.”
“I don’t see how. We both have family members who’ve hurt us. You think I should give mine a second chance,” she pointed out.
“Paul’s had a hundred chances.” His chest suddenly felt tight. He didn’t want to talk about Paul. He wasn’t sure what Jayna knew about his brother, but if he could avoid the worst parts of it, he would.