Chapter Seven #2
I finish my first cup of coffee and am on my standard second when my doorbell rings, startling me. I narrow my gaze.
I glance at my phone. Eleven a.m. Who would be here at this early hour on a Sunday? I stride to the door, glance in the peephole, and do a double take.
Unsetting my alarm, I unlock the door and swing it open. “Mom? What in the world are you doing here?”
Savannah Dare walks into my apartment, but instead of the tears I expect, I see anger in her blue eyes.
“Your father wants me back. Of all the self-centered, ridiculous notions, he thinks I’m going to forgive and forget.
” She meets my gaze and pulls me into her arms. “I’m sorry.
How’s my boy?” she asks, hugging me tight.
She smells like the perfume I associate with home, a light floral scent that says Mom.
“I’m fine. And we’ll talk about Dad. But why are you here?”
“He showed up last night with his flowers and apologies and I told him to leave. He swore he’d be back this morning. I wasn’t ready to deal with him, so I left.”
“The state? Why didn’t you just go stay with Alex and Madison?” I ask of my brother and sister-in-law, who live nearby our mom.
“That’s the first place your father would look for me. And with the baby, I didn’t want to just show up on Sienna’s doorstep.” She rolls her suitcase into the entryway and meets my gaze. “Show me to your guest room?”
I rub a hand over my face, wondering how I’m going to explain away the fact that I have a woman staying in the extra room who is currently fast asleep in my bed.
“Jason?” As if on cue, Faith walks into the living area wearing nothing but my shirt from last night, buttoned and hanging down on her bare thighs. Her gaze lands on my mother and her eyes open wide. “Oh, my God. You have company!” She pulls at the shirt as if she can magically lengthen the fabric.
“Jason Dare, why didn’t you tell me you had a woman here?” my mother asks in a chiding voice.
“I was just about to,” I mutter. And though I’m a grown man and have every right to have a woman in my bed, I’m not thrilled that Faith’s face has turned beet red and she looks mortified.
I have no choice but to introduce them. “Mom, this is Faith Lancaster. Faith, this is my mother, Savannah Dare.”
I give Faith credit. Despite her embarrassment, she walks right up to my mom, extends her hand, and says, “It’s nice to meet you.”
“The same here. I apologize for interrupting. I flew in from Florida unannounced. I’ll just go—”
“No. I, umm … I’ll go get dressed and let you two talk.” Faith turns and flees back the way she came.
With a groan, I glance at my mother. “That went well.”
She tucks a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. “I’m really sorry. I should have called but I just took the six-a.m. flight.”
“It’s fine. It’s just that the situation with Faith is complicated.
She’s staying here because she has some personal issues right now and despite her …
being in my shirt, she’s using the spare bedroom,” I say instead of saying despite the obvious fact that we’re sleeping together. It’s awkward enough for everyone.
My mother nods in understanding. “I didn’t stay in a hotel because your father has contacts and private investigators.
He’ll track me down. At least this way, once he finds me, he has to deal with us both.
But given the circumstances, I can take a room.
Or go stay with Sienna. I can help with the baby.
I just didn’t want to intrude because they’re still newlyweds, but it’s really no problem. ” She’s rambling.
“No.” Faith returns, dressed in a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, her hair brushed and pulled into a sleek ponytail. “I can go home. You stay here with your son.”
“Not happening, Faith, and you know why.” My words come out like a command and have her snapping her shoulders back and narrowing her gaze.
“I’m not putting your mother out. It’s not right.”
My mother looks from me to Faith, following the conversation although obviously not understanding the reasons behind our argument.
“Then you can stay in my room, and my mother can take the guest room,” I say. “Unless you want to go home and be a sitting duck for Colton to find you?” I fold my arms across my chest, daring her to challenge me.
Faith’s shoulders, the evidence of her strength and defiance seconds before, wilt as I make my point. “Okay. Thank you. I realize I’m putting everyone out, but you’re right. I have nowhere else to go.” Her hands come up to her neck as she obviously remembers being hurt by her brother.
I hate having to bring up those memories in order to get my way and keep her safe.
“Obviously the person who should go to a hotel is me,” my mother says when we both go silent.
“No,” Faith and I say at once. We both know we’re sleeping together. The chances of me letting her go back to her own bed while she is under my roof are slim to none anyway. I want to get my fill of her while I can.
I ignore the voice in my head telling me I’ll never have enough of her and face my mother. “Looks like you’re staying.”
“Okay.” My mother smiles at us both.
Faith smiles back. “I’ll go pack up my things and move them into your room,” she says, her cheeks only slightly red at this point.
“Great. Now that that’s settled, Mom, come in, take off your coat, and make yourself at home.” I meet Faith’s gaze, shooting her a grateful look I hope she can translate, along with an apologetic one.
This is a turn of events I never expected, having my mother and my … Faith, under one roof. And I have no idea how to handle the situation.
* * *
Faith
An hour after Jason’s mother arrives, I find myself at an upscale restaurant, sitting next to Jason and across the table from Savannah Dare. She is a lovely woman with blonde hair and light blue eyes, a warm smile, and an easy air of acceptance of having found me all but in her son’s bed.
Once I recovered from my embarrassment and accepted the fact that I really have nowhere else to go if I want to be safe, I realized I’d have to move into Jason’s room. His mother seems to handle it easily enough.
Savannah drinks a mimosa, Jason and I coffee, and after the waiter takes our orders, Jason glances at his mother. “So Dad wants you back?”
I hold back a shocked sound.
Savannah looks at me.
“She knows,” Jason says. “I told her everything about our family situation.”
Savannah raises her eyebrows, obviously surprised her son opened up. But she nods her head and launches into her story. “Before Robert ran off to Barbados with his mistress, he told me he wanted a divorce. For reasons I can’t fathom, he’s returned with a change of heart. He wants me back.”
Jason grimaces, and I know what he thinks of that idea.
“And what do you want?” he asks his mother, to his credit not giving his own verbal input. Yet.
Savannah lifts the glass and takes a sip of her drink.
“I had already resigned myself to a divorce, but more than that, your father’s behavior forced me to take a good look at my past.” She glances down at her plate.
“I might not have known he was married when we met, but when I found out, I didn’t leave him. That makes me complicit.”
I squirm in my seat, but Savannah seems comfortable enough talking about personal issues in front of me.
“Mom—”
“No. It’s true. I justified it by telling myself his marriage to Emma hadn’t been for love, but that doesn’t make what I did right. The truth is, the man is a cheater. If I take him back, he’s bound to do it again. It isn’t like it’s only happened once, after all.”
Jason nods in agreement. “I hate to admit that you’re right because he’s my father … but you are. And as long as you’re saying these things yourself, I can say I agree with you and your decision.”
Listening to mother and son, I marvel at a few things.
One, how close they obviously are, but then Jason said his family is everything to him.
Two, the burden he carries on his shoulders.
A father he can’t look up to, a mother he obviously loves and wants to take care of, and a past of his own that is heavy and painful.
No wonder he doesn’t want to add any more people to his responsibilities.
“Faith, honey, I’m so sorry to put you in the middle of listening to my problems.” The sound of my name shakes me out of my musings.
“It’s no problem, Mrs. Dare. I’m really the intruder here.”
“First, call me Savannah, and second, nonsense. Now tell me how you and my son met.”
I bite the inside of my cheek, then say, “He rescued me when I was stuck with a flat tire one night, and somehow has become entangled in my problems.”
Savannah nods somberly. “Yes, he told me about those issues while you were showering and getting ready. Money does such dreadful things to people. Really. I’m sorry about your brother.”
“Well, he had a drug problem long before my mother passed away and left me a small inheritance. The fact that there was money just makes it all worse. It gives him a reason to come after me. I just can’t believe he’s been able to stay under the radar for so long.
” I shift in my seat, automatically looking out the window.
As if my brother would magically appear, but of course he doesn’t.
Jason frowns at the reminder of Colton. “He’s hanging out with people who have no way of being found. Other addicts and dealers, probably. But I have faith in Jack Renault.” He looks at his mother. “That’s the PI Gabe recommended with Alpha Security.”
Savannah nods, then reaches over and takes my hand. “My son is a good man. He’s solid and dependable. I am sure he’ll see to it your situation is resolved and you’re safe.” She squeezes once before letting go.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
To my surprise, at that motherly gesture and those kind reassuring words, a lump rises to my throat. Savannah Dare reminds me of my own mom, and the loss I still feel deeply, even if I am often too busy to dwell on my pain.