Page 126 of Here & There

“Mac, my mom, Vita.”

“I remember,” I say.

“What are you doing here?” Shelby asks.

“I could ask the same question of you,” her mom replies.

“We’re here for a visit,” I say. “Shelby’s still up in Redbeard Cove, with me.”

I know I sound like an asshole. But my protectiveness has come out hard. This woman has caused Shelby so much pain.

Vita winces slightly, and the smallest flicker of guilt goes over me.

“Well. I’m here with your father,” Vita says.

“Where is he?” Shelby asks, almost hopeful sounding.

“He’s waiting outside.”

Shelby seems to shrink. “Oh.” That word is so small.

Vita’s eyes cast down. Suddenly I wonder if my anger has the right target. Shelby doesn’t talk much about her father. Just that he wasn’t around much when she was young. And that he doesn’t defend her to her mother. But why the hell isn’t he here saying hello to his daughter?

“He’s angry, Bryony,” her mother says, as if reading my mind. “He’s been angry for years. I’m not sure he’ll ever stop being angry.”

Vita’s shoulders take a sudden nosedive, and when she looks at her daughter next, her eyes are wet. “I was hoping…maybe we could talk sometime. On the phone or…maybe in person. If you’d be amenable.”

Shelby seems to consider this.

The server comes by then. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” he says. “Is everything okay? With your meal, I mean.”

I know he’s mandated to come by here at certain times. Still, I give him a nod. “It’s good, thank you.”

The waiter ducks his head as he turns and leaves. I wince, realizing too late how curt I sounded. Not much pisses me off more than people being rude to waitstaff, but I was so hung up on what was happening here with Shelby, I just was.

“I won’t keep you,” her mother says, straightening her spine again.

But Shelby moved aside for the waiter, and Vita’s eyes drop to the box on the table.

When Shelby sees her look, she says, “It was for you, Mom. I lost it, but Mac found it again. He took days. Weeks, actually. It’s a miracle.”

Vita looks away abruptly. “Please call me when you have a moment, Shelby.” She glances at me, but it’s long enough for me to see the red in her eyes. She’s trying not to show her daughter she’s crying. “Mac.”

Then she’s gone, striding away at a clip, her heels silent on the tightly piled carpet.

When I look back at Shelby, her eyes are running over with tears again.

“Want to get out of here?” I ask.

She nods.

I throw a few hundreds on the table. It’s much more than the bill, but hopefully it’ll make up for me being a dick to the server. A moment later, we’re in my truck, Shelby telling me where to take her.

When I turn off the engine, the sounds from outside filter in through the open windows in my truck.

A huge clang reverberates through the cab, followed by a distant shout from someone a hundred feet up a solid wall of steel.

“This is where you come to think?” I ask.

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