‘And you feel responsible for making things right?’
He didn’t know if that was a statement or a question. He shrugged. ‘I just want to do my bit to help.’
‘Yes, but don’t you think you need to draw the line somewhere? There are more important things in life than work, you know.’
A scowl built up inside him. Did she think work counted two hoots when it came to Mel? Mel was his life.
Jaz thrust her chin out. ‘You worked on my sign last Saturday instead of taking Melanie on the skyway. You broke a date with your daughter to work on my stupid sign.’
‘You didn’t think that sign so unimportant at the time!’
Guilt inched through him. He had cancelled that outing with Mel, but he’d promised to take her to the skyway the next day instead. She’d seemed happy enough with that, as happy as she seemed with anything these days. Except…
He frowned. When Sunday had rolled around Mel had said she didn’t want to go anywhere. She’d spent the day colouring in on the living room floor instead.
He should’ve taken her on the Saturday—he should’ve kept his promise—but when he’d found out Jaz was expected to arrive in Clara Falls that day, he hadn’t been able to stay away. At the time he’d told himself it was to get their initial meeting out of the way, and any associated unpleasantness. As he stared down into Jaz’s face now, though, he wondered if he’d lied.
He pulled his mind back. ‘It’s not just the work. Mel needs a woman in her life. She’s—’
He broke off to drag a hand down his face. ‘I see the way she watches the girls at school with their mothers.’ It broke his heart that he couldn’t fill that gap for her. ‘She hungers for that…maternal touch.’
Jaz frowned. Then her face suddenly cleared. ‘That’s what Mrs Benedict’s about. She’s your maternal touch!’
He nodded. ‘She came highly recommended. She’s raised five children of her own. She’s a big, buxom lady with a booming laugh. A sort of…earth mother figure.’
‘I see.’
‘I thought that, between her and my mother, they might help fill that need in Mel.’
Scepticism rippled across Jaz’s face before she could school it. ‘What?’ he demanded. From memory, Jaz had never liked his mother.
‘Melanie doesn’t like going to Mrs Benedict’s.’
‘She hasn’t said anything to me!’
Jaz twisted her hands together again. ‘Apparently Mrs Benedict has been smacking her.’
‘SHE’S what?’ Connor reached out and gripped Jaz’s shoulders. ‘Did you say smacking her? Are you telling me Mrs Benedict is hitting my daughter?’
‘You’re hurting me, Connor.’
He released her immediately. And started to pace.
‘Relax, Connor, Melly is—’
‘Relax? Relax!’ How the hell could she say that when—
‘Melanie is safe. That’s all that matters, right? You can tackle Mrs Benedict tomorrow. Flying off the handle now won’t solve anything.’
She had a point. He dragged in a breath. But when he got hold of Mrs Benedict he’d—
‘Working out what’s best for Melanie is what’s important now, isn’t it?’
‘She’s not going back to that woman’s place!’
‘Good.’
He dragged in another breath. ‘So that’s why she’s been coming here?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you’ve been walking her to Mrs Benedict’s front gate each afternoon?’
‘Yes.’
‘And trying to talk her into confiding in me?’
‘Yes.’
He ground his teeth together. ‘Thank you.’
‘It was nothing.’
She tried to shrug his words off, but her eyes were wide and blue. It wasn’t nothing and they both knew it.
He unclenched his jaw. ‘Do you have any idea why Mel didn’t want to confide in me?’
Jaz hesitated again. ‘I…’
She did! She knew more about what was going through his daughter’s head than he did.
She eyed him warily. ‘Will you promise not to shout any more?’
Did she think he’d lash out at her in his anger? He recalled the way he’d stormed in here, and dragged a hand down his face. ‘I’ll do my best,’ he ground out.
‘It seems that because you’re working so hard, your mother is concerned about your…welfare.’
He frowned. ‘I don’t get what you’re driving at.’
She moistened her lips. He tried to ignore their shine, their fullness…and the hunger that suddenly seized him.
‘It seems your mother has been lecturing Melly not to bother you with her troubles when you’re so obviously busy with work.’
He gaped at her. No! He snapped his jaw shut. ‘You never did like my mother, did you?’
‘No, Connor, that’s not true, but she never liked me. And in hindsight I can’t really blame her. She could hardly have been thrilled that the rebellious Goth girl was going out with her son now, could she?’
His mother had always been…overprotective.
‘Look, I’m not making this up.’
He didn’t want to believe her…but he did.
She grimaced. ‘And, for what it’s worth, I think your mother is well-intentioned. She is your mother, after all. It’s natural for her to have your best interests at heart.’
‘She should have Mel’s best interests at heart.’ He collapsed onto one of the leatherette cubes. Mel needed a woman in her life, but the two he’d chosen had let her down badly.
And so she’d latched onto Jaz?
What a mess.
This wasn’t his mother’s fault. It wasn’t even Mrs Benedict’s fault, though he’d still have some choice words for her when he saw her tomorrow. This was his fault. He hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it before and he didn’t want to acknowledge it now, but Mel needed a younger woman in her life. Not two women who were at least fifty years older than her.
But Jaz?
‘Don’t look like that,’ Jaz chided. ‘This isn’t the end of the world. So you knock off from here in time to collect Melly from school for the rest of the week. That’s no big deal.’
‘It’ll put work on the flat back by a day.’
She shrugged again. ‘Like I said—no big deal.’
‘She didn’t confide in me!’ The words burst from him, but he couldn’t hold them back. Mel had refused to confide in him, but she’d confided in Jaz?
Jaz!
‘So you work on winning back her trust. On Saturday you take her out on the skyway. Tell her she looks so pretty