Chapter Fifteen
Back at home Holly’s mom made chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. “Comfort food,” she said, as she ladled the soup in Holly’s bowl.
“This is nice.” Holly couldn’t believe her mom was being so kind. She’d expected a lot of anger and a lecture about actions and consequences. Instead her mom kept hugging her and giving her the sweetest of smiles.
Holly felt tears spring into her eyes. She glanced down at her bowl, then back at her mom who’d taken her seat at the other end of the table.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I missed my curfew again. And I shouldn’t have gone snooping in Beth’s office.”
“The important thing is that you’re okay.”
Her mother’s understanding only made her want to cry harder.
She took a deep breath and swallowed hard.
“I haven’t been very nice to you for a long time.
I was angry because Dad told me you were going to divorce him when he came back from Aconcagua.
Then he died and I felt like it was all your fault. Even though it wasn’t.”
Holly’s mom reached across the table and took her hand.
“Why did you think I was going to divorce your dad?”
“He told me, Mom.”
“Really?”
Holly heard surprise in her mother’s voice, saw sadness in her eyes. Holly thought about her father, her wonderful, adventurous father. He’d been so much fun and had hardly ever set boring rules or limits. But he had not been perfect.
He wasn’t always reliable. For every fun thing they’d done together there were two more he’d promised to do but didn’t.
He wasn’t always honest, either. He’d made lying to her mom a game, winking at Holly as he did it, turning her into a co-conspirator.
Maybe he had sometimes lied to Holly, too?
A revelation hit her then, it was like solving a mystery, gathering clues until you finally saw the big picture.
“It was Dad who wanted the divorce.”
“I don’t want to tarnish your memory of your father. You two had such a tight bond. He loved you so dearly.”
“I know he loved me. But he wasn’t very nice to you sometimes.” And she hadn’t been very nice to her mother, either, Holly realized with a horrible pang of guilt. She jumped up from her chair and went to give her mother a hug.
“I love you, Mom.”
Her mom’s return hug was fierce, an unbreakable bond. In her arms Holly felt safe and protected, understood and loved.
*
At ten o’clock that evening the sky was like a dark blue velvet blanket.
Maureen took a bottle of wine and two glasses out to her deck.
Up in her room Holly was texting with her friends Mads and Adam.
Maureen knew the best way for her daughter to move past the traumatic events of the day was to talk about them with her friends.
She felt the need to talk as well. She’d considered her sisters. Poppy. But there was only one person she really wanted to be with tonight.
The question was, did he still want to be with her?
She texted an invite, then prepared herself to be rejected. A minute passed, then five, with no response. Then she heard a rustling in the hedge that separated her property from her neighbor’s. A hand parted the branches, then out stepped Jake.
“This feels clandestine,” he said. “I like it.”
Maureen had been steeled for disappointment. Now she felt like laughing for joy. She filled the second wine glass and waited for him to sit in the chair next to hers before she passed it to him. “It’s been quite the day. Bet you could use a glass or two of this.”
“You’re right about that.” He clinked his glass against hers. “Here’s to surviving chaos. How’s Holly?”
“Nancy Drew is in her room. Doing pretty well, all things considered.”
“Thank God for that.”
“And thanks to you, too.” Maureen took a sip of wine and thought carefully about what she wanted to say next. “When I couldn’t find Holly, I almost didn’t call you. I thought asking for your help after I’d turned down your proposal was a little too much.”
“But you did call. I’m sorry I didn’t answer right away. I was in a meeting with Harvey.”
She wondered what that meeting had been about. Later, she would ask. Right now she had a more urgent subject in mind.
“As soon as I saw you on the street, I knew you were going to help me. That we would find her,” Maureen said.
Jake took her free hand and squeezed it and let her keep talking.
“And when you charged into that office and punched Max in the gut—” She shook her head. “It was horrific, but also wonderful. Having someone I could count on, someone Holly could count on too. I never knew what that felt like before, Jake.”
“Any man would have done the same,” Jake said.
But Maureen knew this wasn’t true. There was no shortage of people in this world who would let you down. When you found someone honorable and strong and loyal, that was a gift.
If you also loved this person’s company, if you had fun with this person, but also worked well together, if you could laugh and tease one another and stand together in crisis.
Well…you didn’t let that person go.
“You know all the stuff I said to you this morning?”
Jake gave a wary nod.
“Can we strike that from the record? I don’t want to be someone who walks away from love because she’s afraid.”
“Not your style,” Jake agreed, a light suddenly dancing in his eyes.
“So let’s do it, Jake. Let’s get married and tie our fortunes to the Thunder Bar M. We’ll get Holly her own horse—maybe it’ll distract her from following dangerous criminals.”
“Is this your roundabout way of telling me you love me?”
“That was never a question, was it? I do love you, Jake.”
“That’s all I needed to hear.” Jake gaze deeply into her eyes and let her see deeply into his. “Now put down that wine glass and kiss me, Maureen.”
And she did.