Chapter 33
When they arrived at Cal’s house, an unfamiliar car was in the driveway, and Jules tensed. “Who’s that?”
“Huh,” Cal said, furrowing his brow in surprise. “My mother. What’s she doing here?” Cal exited his Jeep quickly, and Jules hustled to follow him inside.
“Mom?” Cal made a beeline for the living room, where they found his mother on the sofa, flipping through a magazine. “What are you doing here?”
Emily rolled her eyes and rose to meet him halfway across the floor. “Good grief, Callum. Is that any way to greet your mother? The woman who’s been worried sick about you since she heard you were at the police station last night when the shooting happened?”
Cal hugged his mother and kissed her cheek. “Who told you?”
“Your father did. And he only knew because he was at the hospital last night when Matti brought a little boy into the ER.” She backed out of the hug and swatted at his arm.
“Why did I have to hear something like that second hand?” She grabbed him with both hands then and gave him an intense up-and-down scrutiny.
“And do you promise you’re okay? My God, three of my children—three—involved with a shooting and I have to learn about it hours after the fact from my ex-husband! ”
“I’m fine, Mom,” Cal said evenly, while registering on some level her comment that she’d been in touch with Jonathon or vice versa.
He recalled the conversation he’d overheard after the Fourth of July picnic between his parents and added another tick to his mental checklist of curiosities for later.
Meeting his mother’s disgruntled stare, he added, “And I didn’t call because I was a little busy dealing with the fallout.” He gave his mother a wry grin. “You know, of the shooting. Because I’m the sheriff.”
She flapped a hand. “I know. I know. But dear lord, Callum! Do you know how hard it is on a mother having all four of her sons in high-risk careers? How I dread a late-night phone call saying—” She raised a hand without finishing the thought.
Instead, she cast a startled glance to the foyer door where Jules still stood, watching.
“Oh, hello, Jules dear. I didn’t see you. How are you, darling?”
Jules twitched a half grin. “Fine, thanks. It’s nice to see you again.”
Cal propped a hand on his hip. “Mom…how did you get in? I didn’t think you still had a key.”
Emily faced him again and snorted. “I used the security code,” she said as if that should have been obvious. With a droll grin, she added, “I knew it hadn’t been changed. Your father would never let it be.”
Cal sighed. “Of course.” Stepping back from his mother, he said, “Can I get you anything? Tea or water? Maybe something with more kick?” He lifted his gaze to ask Jules the same question, but she was gone. And a gloomy voice in his head said, Better get used to it.
Jules moved to the dresser drawer in what she could only assume had been Matti’s or Kelly’s room once, based on the bright yellow paint and feminine decor.
While she’d spent last night in Cal’s bed, going forward she’d sleep here until Abby could move with her to Canada.
Might as well start now with habits she intended to carry forward.
Leaving Red Grove, leaving this house, leaving Cal, would be far easier when the time came if she hadn’t gotten any more deeply rooted in his life.
And she would leave. As soon as Abby had time to process the new reality of Chase’s death and come to terms with the return of her safety, they’d both move out of town.
If she was lucky, she could rejoin the University of Manitoba program at the start of fall semester.
She could restart her paused research and—
A knock roused her from her planning. She glanced over her shoulder to find Emily, standing at the door, holding two glasses of a pale liquid. She extended one. “Lemonade?”
She didn’t really want the drink or the company, but neither did she want to be rude to Cal’s mother. She moved a cheek in what should have been a smile as she accepted the cold drink. “Thanks.”
Emily took a seat at the end of the bed and patted the floral bedspread next to her. “Want to tell me why you’re crying?”
Jules’s hand tightened, and she almost dropped the condensation-slickened glass. “Wh—”
She swiped at a cheek, stunned to feel the moisture there. What the heck? She wasn’t a crier. Well, atomic meltdown in the hospital parking lot aside, but…
She used her free hand to hurriedly blot the tears on her face. She could only assume she was still emotionally overstimulated and her thoughts about leaving town had—
“Cal says you visited your sister today,” Emily said gently.
Concerned that her voice wasn’t steady, Jules only nodded. To give herself something distracting to do, she took a sip of her drink…and choked as the burn of something that definitely was not lemonade seared her throat.
Emily quickly took the glass from Jules while she sputtered and coughed and caught her breath.
“Oops,” Emily said with a wince. “I think I gave you mine by accident. I had Cal spike it with tequila. Sorry, dear.” She stood and took a step from the bed. “I’ll get you a new glass.”
“Mmm,” Jules grunted. Dropping on the bed beside Emily, she reached for the drink. “No. I want this one. I just wasn’t expecting…the punch.”
Emily sat down again, nodding. “Yeah. It’s the unexpected punch that gets you every time, isn’t it?”
Jules took another sip, prepared this time for the tang of tart lemon and zing of the tequila. When she lifted her eyes to Emily, Cal’s mother wore an odd, knowing look.
An uneasy feeling wiggled in Jules’s chest. What was happening?
Emily put a hand on Jules’s knee. “I understand things didn’t go quite the way you’d hoped at the hospital with your sister.”
Her eyes widened. “Cal told you?”
“I dragged it out of him. He was uncharacteristically glum, and I was worried. And when he told me how things went, I became worried again…for you.”
When Jules only stared at Emily, slack-jawed, Cal’s mother patted her knee again and chuckled. “Don’t look so surprised. I’m a mother. Worrying about loved ones is what mothers do best.”
Jules dropped her gaze to her lap and mumbled, “I wouldn’t know about that.”
Moving her arm to circle Jules’s shoulders, Emily scooted closer, so that her hip bumped Jules’s. “Well, get used to it. Because my son clearly cares about you, and so, by extension, you are now included in the circle of my maternal concern.”
A cocktail of strange sensations washed through Jules.
Warm and soft, while also foreign and scary.
And while it might be nice to confess all the things troubling her to Emily, to take advantage of this apparent motherly comfort, her experience with her own mother said that parental security and affection were just as fleeting and unreliable as that of a cold and overworked legal system.
Emily’s arm tightened around Jules’s shoulders, drawing her into a half hug. “Don’t panic. He didn’t spill anything overly personal. Cal’s not the kiss-and-tell type. He just said you were upset because Abby didn’t respond to your news the way you’d hoped.”
She took another gulp of her drink and shook her head. “No. She didn’t.”
Emily nodded. “You know what’s ironic?”
Jules angled her head toward Cal’s mother.
“Unexpected twists are gold for my plots. Catching my characters—and my readers—off guard is what I strive for. But when real life catches you unaware or your heart’s expectations aren’t met…well, that’s less fun. It rather stinks.”
“Hmm,” Jules grunted, the best reply she could manage due to the sudden lump in her throat.
“For someone who plans, who craves order and needs some measure of control in their life, the unexpected can be especially hard to grapple with. Cal’s dad, for example.
” She laughed lightly and gave her head a subtle shake.
“Jonathon needs life to follow rules. As a doctor, he relies on the world adhering to the laws of science. He has a hard time knowing what to do when life doesn’t unfold the way he predicts.
He has a plan, a road map to life he finds practical.
His modus operandi makes sense to him, and any deviation from that path gives him hives.
Good grief, the man can’t even change his home security password.
And change brands of coffee or underwear?
” Emily laughed and raised her hands, spreading her fingers to gesture his mind would be blown. “Ask me how I know.”
Jules exhaled slowly and muttered, “I get that. I’m…kinda that way, too.”
Emily gave Jules another consoling squeeze. “I kinda figured as much. You being a chemist and all.” Emily paused, then added, “I’m guessing falling in love with my son wasn’t part of your plan.”
Jules snapped her head toward Emily. “What? I’m not— Why do you think…?”
Emily smiled and shifted to face Jules. “Well, for one thing…” She carefully lifted Jules’s drink from her hand and dabbed at wet spots on the bedspread. “You’re trying so hard to deny it, you sloshed your drink.”
“Sorry. Sorry, I’m…so sorry.”
“It’s fine. The bedspread will wash.” Emily rose to set both drinks aside and returned to the mattress, angling her body to face Jules.
“Let me guess. Your sister’s reaction to whatever news you gave her isn’t the only thing that didn’t go the way you expected today.
You’re trying to figure out what happens next and how to get your train back on the right track. Am I right?”
Jules laced her fingers together to stop her hands from trembling.
Having Cal’s mother read her so well was unnerving, as much as the truths she was forcing Jules to examine.
“I think I might love him.” Her chest throbbed as she let the reality settle.
“But loving him only makes it harder to leave Red Grove.”
“So don’t leave,” Emily said as if it was the obvious answer. “Stay here and explore this love relationship.”