Page 181 of Wild Card

“Can I ask what things?”

“She’s an amazing woman, and her family is everything to her. Talon spent ten years in the Marines. She lived in fear of all the unthinkable atrocities happening and if her son would survive.”

“That is terrifying.”

“She loves her son with all her being and wasn’t afraid to show it. While she was scared shitless for a decade, she was also proud.”

“A mother’s love is irrevocable.”

“I saw a lot of that this weekend. And it got me thinking. April is witty with a touch of sneaky. Without actually saying anything, she challenged me to confront the pain and emotions I lived with for all that time following Rylee and Joseph’s betrayal. Seeing as I don’t give a rat’s ass about either of them, only one person has the answers.”

The waitress drops my water off, catches the tears in my mom’s eyes, and excuses herself hastily.

“Did you know it was happening?” I ask bluntly.

She shakes her head sadly. “Not until you had already confided in me there were problems in your relationship. I noticed small differences in Rylee’s attitude and knew she’d met someone. Then one day it clicked. At first, I was in denial, hoping I was wrong.”

“You suspected my boyfriend and sister were seeing each other and kept it to yourself? Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”

“There was no proof until the day you called and said you broke up. I asked you to come over and you declined.”

“I remember, Bex and Lucas took me out.”

“That day, I followed Rylee from work. She went straight to Joseph’s. When he opened the door, there was my proof.”

“What did you do then?”

“I drove away like a coward and tried to come up with a plan to save my family.” Her appearance goes sickly with the admission. “It didn’t work.”

“I hate to interrupt, but can I get your order?” The waitress stands away from the table, regarding us with fright.

“The salad bar, please.” I hand her back the menu, knowing food is the last thing on my mind.

“Same, please.” Mom does the same.

She scurries away.

“Well, seems like we succeeded in scaring the waitress.”

“Not sure it was us.” Mom notions over my shoulder.

I turn to find Ace and Ford standing at the bar, their eyes zoned in on our table.

“Really?” I raise my hands in the air.

One side of Ford’s lips curl in a pompous way and I know my annoyance is no use.

“Ignore them.” I turn back to the table.

“Kind of hard to ignore that.”

“Talon is on shift today and wasn’t happy about my meeting you alone.”

“Does he honestly think I’d hurt you?”

“He’s aware of our history.”

She drops her gaze to her lap and sighs. “Guess I deserve that.”

---