“Your father is buried at Park Hill, thank you very much.”
August blinked, amazed at just how much her words could hurt. “He’s barely been gone a year.”
“He was sick for a long time before that.”
“And your point is?”
His mother jabbed one French-manicured finger toward him. “Watch your mouth.”
“Watch my mouth? You watch yourself.”
“I need companionship.”
Companionship? Was she talking about sex? For a split second, he recalled the last time he and Erin had gone to bed. When had that been? Two months ago? Three?
It felt like a hell of a long time. “It’s not my business if you want to join Harmonious Haven,” he said slowly, doing his best to try and forget about his own lack of love life and focus on his mother’s. “I just think this is coming from out of the blue.”
“For you, maybe. For me, I’ve been thinking about joining for a while. I’ve been surfing the Web site.”
“Surfing?” When had she gotten so computer-savvy?
She continued as though he’d never spoken. “I even called the number and asked some questions. HH is a member of the Better Business Bureau.”
Now that he thought about it, his mother looked…fresh. Like she’d gone somewhere besides Suzy’s Salon to get her hair done. Like she’d gone to one of those fancy counters at the mall and gotten her makeup refreshed. Like she got one of those BOTOX injections and was looking better for it.
It all made him a little squeamish. “You’ve got a heart condition.”
“But it’s still beating, August.”
“But—”
“I’m better, August,” she said more gently. “The doctors say I’m better. I feel better. I’m ready to do things again. That’s why I need to join now.”
Somewhere in the back of his mind, August realized just how hard it must have been for his mom to have to come to him for money. And to tell him the truth. After all, she certainly didn’t owe him any explanations.
Picking up the pen again, he said, “Is three thousand enough?”
“It’s enough.”
August pretended he didn’t notice that her eyes were shining. That she looked…happy. Signing the check, he handed it to her. “Will you be mad if I asked you to be careful?”
Her eyes softened and she stood, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’d be sad if you didn’t care. Thank you, dear.”
When he was alone again, August picked up the phone and started dialing Evie’s phone number. Obviously it was time to take some risks.
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