Page 40 of Twice in a Lifetime

“Grace, I’m really sorry?—”

“You should be.” She let out a watery laugh that held a hefty amount of pain and blinked up at the ceiling, fighting back tears. “I tried everything to get him to let me in, but his heart was locked up so tight, I never had a shot. Because he’s still wrapped up in you.”

“My history with Rhodes is complicated,” I defended, my pity quickly starting to morph into annoyance. “That’s between him and me. And, no offense, but it’s also none of your business.”

She held her chin up, despite the way it trembled. “You’re only going to end up hurting him. If you guys didn’t work out the first time, what makes you think it’ll work now, huh?”

I made sure to keep my voice calm as I replied, “I could ask you the same question, but I really don’t care what you’d have to say about it. I don’t want to be mean, because it’s obvious you’re hurting, and I can sympathize with that. Probably more than you can imagine. But you walked in here swinging, so it is what it is. You obviously have no idea about my history with Rhodes, and I’m not going to waste my time schooling you. Think what you want, but do it somewhere else, because this is my home, and it’s time for you to go.”

She sniffled at the same time her eyes narrowed into vicious slits. “I might not know your history, but I do know one thing. That man has been living half a life all these years, and he deserves better than that. If you aren’t going to make him whole, you need to let him go so someone else has a chance to be that for him.”

With that, she turned on her heel and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

The bellover the door chimed as I pushed inside the salon. My mom paused in sweeping the loose hair at her station and turned my way, smiling brightly when she spotted me. “Blythe? Well, this is a pleasant surprise.”

“Hey. I was hoping to catch you before you headed home.” Because I needed her advice, and as much as I loved Trick like he was my own father, this wasn’t a situation he could really help with.

Mom propped the handle of the broom against the ledge at her station and crossed her arms. “Is everything okay?”

I let out a sigh that sounded as heavy as it felt. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what Grace said on her way out about Rhodes only living half a life, and with every passing minute, the weight on my chest grew. “I don’t know, Mom.”

She gave me that quintessential mother expression. It was one I hadn’t fully understood until I became a mother myself, an expression that said she felt every single thing her child was feeling. “Come on back to the wash station, honey pie.” She waved me forward. “I’ll give you a nice head massage and blowout and you can tell me all about it.”

My eyes welled up as I smiled. This was what she used to do whenever things got too hard for me to handle. She’d bring me here and wash my hair, lulling me into relaxation and making it easier for me to open up about what was wrong in my world.

The familiar sensation of her fingers combing through my hair and massaging my head took me back to my childhood. This was one of my happiest places outside of the lookout, and I was with the one person who always made me feel safest.

My eyes closed on a deep, soothing exhale as my mother worked my hair into a lather. “Talk to me, sweetheart. What brought you to my chair?”

“How did you know you were ready to let someone else in? I mean, after everything you went through with my father.” I refused to call the man Dad. He’d lost the right to that title years ago.

She inhaled deeply, her gaze trailing off as she thought of how to answer. “It wasn’t about knowing when I was ready. It was about meeting the man I couldn’t stop thinking about, the man I wanteddespiteeverything I had been through. When our divorce was finalized, I honestly didn’t know if I would ever date again, but Trick made me so happy, I couldn’t help but fall for him.”

That hit me in the center of my chest. I thought about what Avett said the night before about being happy.

“It’s just... after everything that happened, I don’t know if I can trust myself again. My vision blurred with tears, one breaking free and trailing into the wet hair at my temple. My mother brushed it away with her knuckle before turning the water on to just the right temperature to rinse the shampoo from my hair.

“Oh, baby girl, I understand. Being cheated on can be a real blow to your self-esteem. And I can’t imagine having to find out the way you did. I wouldn’t fault you for wanting to keep your heart under lock and key. However, only you can decide if protecting it from ever being hurt again is worth being alone.”

I spun those words around in my head as she conditioned my hair and rinsed again. Finally, she wrapped the wet ends in a towel and helped me sit up, coming around to crouch in front of me and take my chin between her thumb and index finger. “But I’ll tell you something, I’d go through all that pain again andagain if it led me to Trick. You and Tristan are the best things I ever created, but he’s the best chance I’ve ever taken.”

Another tear slipped free as I smiled at my mom. “I love that you found that.”

“Me too, honey pie,” she whispered. “And something tells me that, if you’re willing to take the same chance, there’s something just as special waiting for you. Most people are lucky enough to find love once. But then there are those of us who are blessed enough to get it twice in a lifetime. It would be a shame if you threw that way, don’t you think?”

Chapter Twenty-One

Rhodes

The lights from inside burned brightly through the windows when I got home after an exhausting day, but when I pushed through the front door, I was met with silence.

I could smell the mouthwatering spices of whatever Blythe was making for dinner, but that was the only sign of life. Koda came scrabbling into the entryway to greet me, suspiciously alone when usually one of the kids came running over with her.

“Hello?”

Blythe’s sweet voice called out, “In the kitchen.”

I rounded the corner in time to catch a peek of her sweet, heart-shaped ass as she removed something from the oven and closed the door. “No way,” I let out when she turned around and set the hot cast iron skillet on a trivet to keep it from damaging the stone. “You made steak?”

---