Chapter 6 #3
“I’m going to take care of that right now.
” He pulled out his cell phone and tried to remember his mom’s number.
His head was hurting so bad because he was so pissed that he could barely see straight.
As he was dialing her number, no longer trusting the speed dial for it, he was pissed off that it took her so long to answer.
“What have you been doing? When I call, I expect you to answer me.”
He knew the moment the words were out of his mouth that he’d made a fatal error on things. Just as he was going to tell his mom that he was sorry, she hung up on him. It was no less than he deserved. Looking at Trinity, she was staring at him with her mouth open.
“That’s going to cost you.” He nodded and sat down. “I think you’re going to be paying for that little outburst for a long time.”
“She didn’t answer right away.” Trinity snorted. “Oh, what do you know? You don’t even have a mother.”
Again, he knew he’d gone too far. As soon as he stood up to apologize to her, she told him to get out of her room. When he didn’t move, she picked up the phone and threw it at him. If not for his quick reflexes, she would have hit him in the face.
“Get out of here right now. And don’t you dare return.” He said that he’d not meant what he said. “You told me once that you don’t lie, so I believe you meant every word. Get out before I call security and have you removed.”
No amount of begging her to forgive him worked on her until she finally rang for the nurse.
What scared him so much was that she never raised her voice, only talking to him with her teeth clenched together.
If she’d had anything in her mouth, she would have bitten it in two; she was so pissed.
Going out of her room, he stood there for several minutes while he heard her sobbing.
He’d done that. His bad mood had done that to her, and he had no one to blame but himself.
Walking down the hall, his cell phone went off twice.
He knew it was one of his brothers, and he didn’t blame them for calling to ask what the hell he’d done.
As the elevator closed around him, all he could think of was how he’d pissed off two women in one hour and that both of them meant the world to him.
Thinking about what he’d been hiding from himself for so long, that he’d fallen in love with Trinity and had never said the words to her.
Now he had blown that chance by being himself.
A prick. Then it occurred to him what he’d just said to himself. He was in love with Trinity.
Going to his home, Mom wasn’t around, so he went to his room. He was going to have a pity party for himself, but Abbott was there waiting for him. Just as soon as he asked him what he’d been thinking, Bastain said that he didn’t know and deserved whatever happened to him.
“You made Mom cry. And hard. I was here with her when you called, and I heard what you said to her. What the fuck is wrong with you?” He asked him about selling the funeral home.
“Yes, I’m selling it. That’s what I came here to talk to you two about.
I talked it over with some friends, and they listened to me when I was talking about it. ”
“Trinity.” He nodded. “She told me that I never listened to you. Did you try to tell me about it before?”
“You have a lot on your plate right now. What with moving and the court stuff going on. I knew that when I tried to talk to you.” He said that he should have been there for him.
“It’s all right. Trin didn’t do anything but listen to me, and that’s all I needed.
Someone to just not have an opinion about it, but would be a sounding board for me. It was nice.”
She’d not lied to him, was all he could think about. She’d told him the truth and put him in his place all at the same time. He started for his mom’s room when Abbott stopped him. He told him that she wasn’t here but in her garden.
“I’ll go and talk to her.” Abbott said that would be the best thing. “I know that I shouldn’t have said that to her. I don’t know where my head was.”
“Not on your shoulders where it should have been.” His mom came up the rest of the stairs and glared at him. “What do you mean, talking to me like that? I’ve never once had anyone speak to me that way, and I’ve been around a good many years.”
“I was pissed off.” She said she could tell. “Not at you. But…I was going to say I was mad at Trinity, but that’s not it either. I was ashamed that she knew things that I didn’t, and I wanted to lash out at someone. I might have been better off if I’d left my phone in the car.”
“What did you do to her that pissed her off at you?” He laughed.
Only his mom would think that it was his fault.
Or maybe they all would have. They liked her, she’d told him.
And it was, really his fault. “I knew you’d gone to see her, but when I tried to call her, the nurse told me that her phone was broken.
I’m assuming you had something to do with that as well. ”
“She threw it at me.” Mom laughed. Then, when she tried to stop it by coughing. It didn’t work. “She ordered me out of her room and said that if I come back, she’s going to call security on me. I know that I was mean to her, but she has a hell of a temper.”
“Good for her.” Mom started down the stairs, and he followed.
Abbott did as well, telling him about how he’d gotten a buyer right away and was excited about buying him a house that he could cook in.
“You’ll love having your own place again, Abbott.
I know that I do. Provided that I don’t have to kick your brother to the curb. What else did she have to say?”
“I’m not allowed to go in to see her at all.
I might have mentioned that my brothers nor you would be coming too.
I don’t think that made her any happier with me.
” She said that it didn’t her either. “I’ve never seen anyone so mad before.
But she didn’t raise her voice either. Debra would have been shouting to the heavens about how I treated her. All she did was kick me out.”
“Don’t expect your brothers not to go see her.” He said that he figured that out on the way home. “Me either. I’ll go and see her when I want. And when she gets out of the hospital, she’s going to need someone to stay with her, and I’ll do that too. Regardless of what you have to say.”
“I think we can manage her here. Though she might burn the house down to spite me, we’ll make room for her here so that she can get around in the larger rooms.” He still felt terrible for treating her the way that he had, and he was going to make up for it.
Even if she tossed a chair at him, he was going to be down on his hands and knees until she forgave him. His mom, too.
It had taken him all of the last hour to realize that he’d fallen in love with the woman.
She and he had never even touched one another, yet all he could think about was having her in his arms. She wasn’t at all like Debra, not even other women that he knew.
And he’d bet anything that if he were to ask her to sign a prenup, she’d tell him no. That she didn’t want his money anyway.
Smiling to himself, he tried to think of something to get back in her good graces.
So far, all he could think about was him down on his hands and knees like before.
He’d do that too if he thought that it would make a difference.
She was all that he wanted in a wife, and the sooner he proved it to her, the better he’d be.
“I have to get her to like me again.” Mom told him that it might take some doing. “I know. I’ll take any help that you can give me. I think…I know that I’ve fallen in love with her, and she more than likely doesn’t want anything to do with me, but I’m going to try. With your help.”
“Oh, son, I’ll do what I can.” She laughed a little. “Try very hard to keep your mouth shut, and we might be able to make this work for the two of you.”
“I’ll try.” He would too with all his might.
Going up to his room later, he was happy that at least he had a house for her.
She might tell him it’s too big, but he was happy to have gotten something so special for the three of them.
Because he knew as surely as he was standing there that Trinity would want his mom in the same house as she was in.
Sitting on the edge of his bed, he looked around the room. It had his old furniture in it, and there were things that he’d just left in the boxes when he’d moved in. The room was a mess, and he knew he could do better than it looked right now. Pulling out his phone, he called Mark.
“How about I have a look around your antique shop?” He told him that was where he was now. “Good. I have a house full of things that are old and in need of replacing. The sooner I can make the house look better, the better I’ll feel.”
“Come on down. I have an antique dealer here now, and he’s telling me that things aren’t worth as much as she has them priced. I don’t believe him.” He said that he’d not either. He just wanted a good deal. “I think the same thing. I’ll wait for you. I think I’m about done here with this man.”
“I’m on my way.” He changed his clothing from his suit and put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
He knew that shops like Tilly’s would be dusty, and he wanted to keep his new suits clean.
As he was pulling up in front of the shop, the name of it was Antiques from Olden Times, and he was excited.
It occurred to him that Trinity might not care for antiques, but he was willing to change them out again if she didn’t.
He felt like, for the first time in a long time, that his money was there for a reason and that was to make someone happy. It certainly hadn’t him.