Читать книгу Trinity Falls - Regina Hart - Страница 10

CHAPTER 3

Ean locked the front door, using the menial task to steady his mind. What was his mother doing in the arms of his former high school math teacher and football coach?

He leaned against the door and faced his parent. “What’s going on?”

“Ean.” Doreen spoke haltingly. “Leo and I . . . are in a relationship.”

His gaze flew to his former coach as the man stood beside his mother on the other side of the family room’s thick, dark pink sofa. He was older. But then, it had been more than fourteen years since he’d quarterbacked Coach George’s football team at Heritage High School.

Ean’s gaze challenged his mother to take back her words. “You’ve been dating Coach George?”

Leonard answered for her. “We’ve been seeing each other for some time now.”

“Please, Leo.” Doreen touched his shoulder. “Let me handle this. There’s no need for you to be here.”

“I won’t let you face this alone.” Leonard took her hand from his shoulder and held on to it.

Ean wanted to drag the other man away from his mother. He fisted his hands to control the impulse.

His coach couldn’t be more different from his father. Whereas Paul Fever had been tall, lean and an introvert, Leonard George was average height, bulky and a clown.

“How long has this been going on?” Ean worked the words through his tense jaw.

Doreen held her son’s eyes. “For a couple of months now.”

Months? “Dad’s only been gone a couple of months.”

His mother’s features softened. “It’s been a little longer than that, Ean.”

His father had died Friday, February 8. It was now Monday, October 14, less than nine months later.

Ean swallowed hard to dislodge the lump of grief from his throat. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d started dating?”

Why hadn’t you told me my father was dying?

Doreen’s gaze dropped to the thick rose carpet. She seemed to brace herself before looking at Ean again. “I thought it was too soon to tell you about my relationship with Leo. And, since you were in New York, I didn’t think there was a rush to address it.”

Was that also the reason she hadn’t told him his father had cancer? Because he’d been in New York?

Ean struggled with his feelings, chief among them resentment. “My decision to return to Trinity Falls must have sent you into a panic.”

Why are you dating so soon after Dad’s death? Why did you choose my former coach?

Ean’s thoughts came to a skidding halt. He couldn’t handle them. Maybe his mother was right about it being too soon to talk about this.

“We did want to tell you.” Leonard’s voice further agitated Ean.

Doreen continued. “When you told me you were coming home, I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how.”

“We weren’t deliberately trying to hide anything from you,” Leonard added.

Ean’s temper snapped. “This is a private conversation between my mother and me. I’d appreciate it if you’d stop talking.”

Leonard’s eyebrows rose. “But this—”

Doreen put her hand on Leonard’s shoulder again. “It’s all right, Leo. I’ll call you later.”

Ean held Leonard’s gaze, willing his former coach to leave. He couldn’t stand to see or hear the other man right now.

“All right.” Leonard kissed Doreen’s hand before circling the sofa.

Ean flinched.

As he crossed to the front door, the high school coach inclined his head toward Ean. Ean didn’t respond. He pulled the door open for the older man and waited for Leonard to walk through.

Ean locked the front door again before facing his mother. “What was he doing here so early?”

“He didn’t spend the night, if that’s what you’re asking.” Doreen went to the kitchen. “He usually stops by on his way to school.”

Why didn’t you look at me when you answered?

Ean followed his mother. “So if I’d stayed in New York, I still wouldn’t know about you and Coach George?”

“Have you told me about every woman you’ve dated?”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“I’m not a grieving widow.”

Doreen poured a cup of coffee. “Don’t judge me, Ean. I’m your mother, not some witness on the stand.”

“I’m not judging you.” He rubbed his eyes with a thumb and two fingers. “I’m trying to understand why you kept your relationship with Coach George a secret from me.”

“I didn’t want to have this conversation.” She leaned back against the kitchen counter with her coffee mug in hand. “I didn’t want you to make me feel guilty about my feelings. I didn’t want you to see me differently.”

“But you are different, Mom.” Ean started to feel chilled in his damp jogging clothes. Or maybe it was from the awareness that his mother had changed. “I came home because I didn’t want you to be lonely and sad with Dad gone. Obviously, I was worried for nothing.”

Ean spun on his heels. He left the kitchen to shower and change, but the question kept playing in his mind. What other secrets were left for him to discover in this town?

Ean wasn’t the only one awake in his mother’s house at six o’clock the next morning. He followed the light from the foot of the stairway to the kitchen and discovered his mother sitting at the table. She was drinking coffee and reading the daily newspaper, The Trinity Falls Monitor.

Doreen’s still-dark hair swung in thick waves above her shoulders. She was dressed in a lightweight pinkish sweater and dark blue jeans. When had his mother started wearing jeans?

They’d settled into a brittle truce yesterday after their argument about Leonard George. He wasn’t happy his mother had a boyfriend—he wouldn’t explain why—but he was hoping they could put the unpleasantness behind them and start over today.

Ean halted in the doorway. “Why are you up so early?”

Doreen’s smile seemed forced. Her warm brown eyes were wary. “I have to get to work.”

Ean froze. “You have a job? Since when?”

She lowered the Monitor. “I told you I worked in a bakery. It’s been almost six months now.”

Ean rested a shoulder against the doorjamb. “I thought all you did was bake.”

“It’s a bit more than that.”

“How much more?”

She glanced at him, then looked away. “I run that section of the business.”

Ean processed that information. His mother had a boyfriend and a job. What other secrets would he have to pry from her?

He rubbed the nape of his neck. “I thought you only spent a couple of hours a week there. Why didn’t you tell me it was a full-time job?”

Doreen folded the newspaper. “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. I don’t need the money. But this job is fun. And it gets me out of the house.”

“It’s a big deal to me, Mom.” Just as his father’s illness had been a big deal to him. But his mother hadn’t told him about that, either. Not until it was too late. Ean shut off those thoughts. “Tell me about your job. Where’s the bakery? What do you do?”

Her face glowed with pride and pleasure. “Megan added a bakery and meal counter to Head in the Clouds Books. She changed the name to Books and Bakery about six months ago.”

Ean frowned. “Megan? You mean little Meggie McCloud?”

Doreen sobered. “Don’t call her that. She doesn’t like that nickname.”

“Ramona called her that all the time.”

Doreen’s expression didn’t change. “Her name’s Megan.”

“OK.” Ean shrugged. “How did you get the job there?”

Doreen’s features brightened again. “Megan asked me to run the bakery. She said I could make a lot of money selling my cookies and brownies.”

Ean patted his stomach. “She’s right.”

“Well, as I said, I don’t need the money. But I’m having a lot of fun.” She stood and carried her coffee cup to the dishwasher. “I’m socializing again. And I’ve been experimenting with recipes.”

“I wish you’d told me the truth about your job, Mom.”

Doreen crossed to him. She cupped the right side of his face with her palm and kissed his left cheek. “You know now.” She stepped back. “I’ll be home by four o’clock.”

“That late?” Ean struggled with disappointment. “I just got home. I’d hoped we could spend at least today together.”

“We can spend the evening together.” Doreen walked past him and continued out of the kitchen. She stopped to collect her purple purse from the dining room’s corner table. “And I take Sundays and Mondays off. We’ll have more time together then.”

“What should I do until you get home?” Ean trailed his mother to the coat closet. He sounded five years old.

“Finish unpacking. Get settled in. Look up your friends. You’ll think of something.”

Ean looked down at his gray jersey and black running pants. They still were fresh and dry since he hadn’t gone jogging yet. “Can I come with you?”

Doreen paused in the act of slipping into her coat. “What about your exercise?”

He didn’t care that he sounded like a child. But he was concerned the chasm forming between them after yesterday’s argument would grow if they spent today apart.

“I’ll run later.” Ean settled his hands on his hips. “Do you serve breakfast?”

Doreen opened her mouth twice before words followed. “Yes. We serve breakfast, lunch and pastries.”

“Great.” Ean reached past his mother for his jacket. “I’ll order breakfast and see where you work. Besides, it’ll be good to see Megan again.”

His mother seemed flustered. “Well, all right. If you’re sure that’s what you want to do.”

He kissed her cheek. “Think of today as ‘Bring Your Kid to Work Day.’”