Chapter 12 Lucas
Lucas
Saturday at the casino had been both exhilarating and depressing.
Since then, I’d been having a difficult time sleeping and concentrating on classes and everything else.
It was no longer my dad who had my mind bending in ways that disrupted my life.
It was Mazzie. I worried that Josh would do something to try to force her to see he was the right guy for her.
Maybe I was jealous. Regardless, Erik had found out from a gal he’d dated who worked in student services that Josh Turley was a junior, studying agriculture.
We also learned that he came from a family of big-time cattle ranchers in Cedar Ridge, which I already knew from Mazzie.
As much as it pained me to keep my distance from her, she’d made it a point that she didn’t want to be suffocated.
Not that I was that type of guy. But for fuck’s sake, I was only trying to keep her safe.
Hooking my sunglasses in my golf shirt, I ran into the Orchard Creek Country Club, darted down the hall lined with pictures of wedding events and PGA golfers who’d played the championship course, and slid to stop at the podium where a petite hostess was absorbed on her phone.
“Hi, Laura,” I said, reading her nametag. “I’m looking for my mom, Priscilla Allen. She has blond hair like mine.” I didn’t see my mom among the occupied tables behind the hostess.
My history professor had kept me after class to discuss my failed grade on a quiz and setting me up with a tutor, so I was late in meeting my mom for lunch.
The hostess pointed at the French doors. “She’s out on the terrace.”
I breezed through the club’s refined restaurant that screamed money.
Warm wood tones, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the course, elegant atmosphere, and a list of wines I couldn’t afford.
My mom had suggested this spot because she was scoping out the venue for Chelsea House for Battered Women’s charity event in early December.
They were planning a golf tournament to raise money.
Last year, I’d been involved in helping to set up an auction for dates with Lakemont’s football players.
My mom sat prim and proper, looking as pretty as ever in her flowered sundress, reviewing the menu.
I kissed her on the cheek. “I’m sorry I’m late. I was talking to my history professor.” I dared not tell her I failed a quiz, but she knew I was struggling in history.
“Did he find a tutor for you?” Her hazel eyes sparkled in the daylight.
I slid into a wooden chair adjacent to her. “He thinks so. He wants to vet them first before he sets up a date and time, but I imagine it will be next week.” I didn’t have an opening in my schedule until after the homecoming game this weekend.
“It's a step in the right direction. I would hate to see you lose that scholarship so close to graduation.”
I couldn’t blame Mom for being concerned that I could lose my scholarship.
She couldn’t afford the tuition, and neither could I.
After what my father had done, it had taken my mom years to regain her financial independence.
I’d helped out as much as I could, taking a job at age fourteen cutting lawns and working at the tractor supply store all through high school.
“Senior year is tough.” I sipped the sweet tea in front of me. “But I got this.” I wasn’t about to repeat my senior year. That wouldn’t bode well for my future.
“I’m happy you aren’t working so you can concentrate this year,” she said. “Are you doing okay on money?”
“Yes, ma’am. Ryker is paying the rent, or rather, Franklin is. So I have plenty in my savings for basic necessities.”
Franklin, who served as both Ryker’s family lawyer and my mom’s attorney, had married Ryker’s aunt Kari. Since Ryker’s parents left the house to Kari in their trust, she wanted to move in before she gave birth to their first child.
“Franklin told me he feels guilty for forcing Ryker to move out of his parents’ home.”
“Ryker needed a change. He was too depressed living there,” I said, glancing out at the eighteenth hole.
She placed the cloth napkin on her lap. “Well, I also think that Haven has been good for Ryker. A nice woman can make all the difference. Speaking of—”
“Mom, I know what you’re going to say.” I set my glass down as I watched a golfer lining up to putt his ball. “I’m not ready for a steady relationship with anyone.” Liar. You want Mazzie. But I can’t have a girl who doesn’t want me.
“Son, I do want grandkids one day. That is, before I die.” She reached over and patted my hand, her silver watchband catching the light.
“Mom, I haven’t even graduated college. Is this why you asked me to lunch? To talk about my love life?”
“We’ll get to that in a second.” Pursing her lips, she straightened in her seat.
As my brow rose in confusion, the waitress, Kimmie, came over. “Are you ready to order?”
My mom handed the menu to Kimmie. “I’ll have the chicken Caesar salad with no croutons, please.”
“I’ll have the Hole-in-One Burger, hold the onions.”
Kimmie collected my menu then darted off.
My mom resumed her motherly look. “I called you so we could chat about your father.”
The hunger pains vanished. I’d planned to tell her I’d seen him at the casino gambling. But the days had gotten away from me, and Coach was riding our asses in preparation for homecoming.
She was quiet for a beat before a veil of darkness dropped over her, and that crease between her eyebrows was a clear indication she was mad.
“Why were you at the casino? You know a place like that is off-limits for two very important reasons. It’s a disgusting environment that sucked your father in, and most importantly, are you trying to ruin your football career? ”
I didn’t need to ask her who had ratted on me. But I did. “You talked to Kurtis?”
“He’s worried that you could be in trouble.”
I laughed, albeit it wasn’t nice. “He is now? And did he also tell you he was gambling?”
She wagged her finger at me, leaning in. “Don’t be smart.” Her voice was low as she glanced around, eyeing the few customers eating lunch. “Yes, he came clean. He knew you would rush home and tell me, but you didn’t.”
I slouched under her glare. “Mom, I get you’re upset that I was at the casino, but aren’t you mad about Kurtis? He said he was a changed man.”
“Son, your father has an addiction that will take years to overcome,” she said softly.
“I’m not surprised. But as much as I want to be angry with him, I can’t.
He’s in charge of his actions, not me. Not you.
” She paused to take a breath. “We both can’t control what he will do or not.
However, I still have authority over you, and I don’t want you anywhere near that casino. Do you hear me, Lucas?”
I cowered. “Yes, ma’am.” I would rather have her on my ass than Coach.
“Good. Now tell me about this girl your father helped. Is she the reason you were at the casino? Is she your girlfriend?”
“No, ma’am. She’s a friend, but I was there to give Mazzie a ride home.”
Kimmie brought us our food, giving me a moment to digest everything my mom had said. I lingered on the girlfriend question, which I knew she wouldn’t let go.
After Kimmie sped off, Mom asked again, “Is Mazzie your girlfriend? You know you haven’t had one since Natalia. Or at least haven’t brought a girl home for me to meet.”
My hamburger smelled delicious, but I wasn’t that hungry anymore. “She isn’t.”
“But you like her. I can see it in your eyes.” Leave it to my mother to read me like a book.
“It doesn’t matter. She doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
She reached over the table and clutched my hand. “Well, then she doesn’t know what she’s missing. You would be a great catch for any woman.”
“Can we talk about something else?” I asked, picking up a fry.
Mom cut her chicken into pieces. “Sure. The main reason I asked you to lunch is to tell you that I’ll be filing for divorce.
After a long conversation with your father yesterday, we agreed to cut ties.
He doesn’t want to hurt me anymore, and he knows our marriage would never be the same.
And I won’t take him back, especially in light of him gambling again. ”
My heart sang with glee. She’d come a long way from curling up in bed and being depressed for months to giving him a chance when he got out of prison to finally deciding to end her marriage.
But my gut was telling me it wouldn’t be easy to erase Kurtis from our lives.
His addiction could blow back on us, especially if he got in with the wrong people like the Blackwood family.
“Mom, it’s great to hear that you’re cutting ties, but…” I had to tell her. Otherwise, if something happened to her, I would die. “We need to be cautious. Kurtis could bring us trouble.”
“I’m well aware of that,” she said as if she, too, had thought about his problems becoming ours.
“I’m having a security system installed next week.
But your father assures me he will seek help.
Do I believe him? Not entirely. Again, an addiction like gambling is tough to overcome.
We’ll see what happens.” She stabbed a fork into her lettuce.
“I can’t do much else except move on. And you need to do the same. ”
Silence ensued while we both ate our lunches.
And as I chewed my food, something hit me.
Kurtis might not be a problem if he violated his parole.
I didn’t know the specifics about the law, but I thought parolees couldn’t cross state lines without permission, and if that was true, he’d broken the law just by being at the Louisiana casino.
Still, I felt both proud of her and worried at the same time. But she was right. We couldn’t do much other than live our lives.
Thirty minutes later, after a less tense conversation about the homecoming game this weekend, I kissed my mom on the cheek then headed out. I had errands to run before practice.
I was approaching the main entrance when Mazzie glided out of the administrative offices.
We both stopped in our tracks with deer-in-the-headlights looks.
“Lucas?” her siren voice kick-started my heart. “Are you following me?”
I smirked. “Maybe you’re following me. How have you been?”
I swore she was even prettier today than I’d ever seen her.
Her black hair was elegantly styled on top of her head.
Her makeup was flawlessly applied, though unnecessary, and she wore a skirt that clung to her sweet hips, heels that highlighted her long, tanned legs, and a blouse with a low neckline that offered a hint of what I knew lay beneath.
She giggled then licked her lips, and just like that, every memory of that night crashed into me.
Not the one when I’d upset her and she flew out of my truck like I was the worst person in the world.
But the one when we had the best mind-blowing sex of my life.
It was that night when our problems didn’t surface.
When our pasts hadn’t driven our actions. I wanted a night like that again.
I raked a hand through my hair to occupy my hands. Otherwise, I might do something that would end with her kicking me in the balls like she’d done to that jerk Josh.
“Can we talk?” she asked. “Maybe take a walk down to the gazebo by the lake. If you have time, that is.”
I would drop whatever I was doing to be with her. But I also had to protect my heart. Yet I was curious about what she had to say.
“I have time.”
Once outside, I found myself extending my elbow much like I had at the casino the other night.
She took my arm without hesitation. No flinch, no walls, only her hand sliding over mine like it belonged there.
At that moment, I was beginning to feel that I needed Mazzie more than football.