Page 57 of Cowboy's Last Stand
They visited the donation center, the equipment rental yard, and the hardware store.Two hours later, they returned with a rented floor sander, replacement planks, grout for the tile in the bathroom, and other various necessities.She’d decided against the door camera, even though he’d argued in favor of it.Jason had to restrain himself from offering to foot the bill.She’d been reluctant to let him pay for dinner the other night.
“You said your grandma owns the house?”he asked as he carried a load of supplies upstairs.
“Yes, but I have power of attorney.”
“You could get a bank loan.”
“Maybe.”
“What about your folks?”
“I wouldn’t ask my dad for money.He’s got three other kids to take care of.”
“And your mother?”
“No.We hardly speak.”
“Why is that?”
She set down a paper bag, her eyes downcast.“I already told you.She was never really a parent to me.”
“She was just a kid herself when you were born.”
Her gaze rose to his.“I get that, and I understand why she left.The modeling career was a great opportunity for her.She couldn’t bring me to work.”
“But?”
“She could have made an effort to spend time with me, and she didn’t.She didn’t visit.She was too busy going to parties and flying around the world.When she got married, she didn’t even tell me.I read about it in a fashion magazine.”
Jason placed the supplies on the floor and went to her.When he put his arms around her, she allowed the embrace.He held her without speaking.She sighed, her cheek flat against his chest.Jason understood her pain, as a child who’d lost one parent and become alienated from the other.He didn’t even recognize the home he’d grown up in anymore.He felt like an unwanted remnant of a former life.
“This is why Marcus got so upset the other night,” she said.“I told him about my mother.He knows she started a new family without me.When Kyle said it might happen to him, he believed it.”
“I’m sorry,” he said and pulled back to look at her.“I didn’t realize.”
She shrugged as if it didn’t matter.
“What a loss for her to have never known you.”
Tears filled her eyes.“You think?”
“I know.”
When she tilted her face up slightly, he touched his lips to hers in a soft caress.He couldn’t resist the sweetness of her mouth or deny the need for basic human connection.He’d been alone too long.He’d been too isolated from others.
She retreated a step, to his disappointment.“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.”
She moistened her lips and glanced away.
“How am I supposed to be near you without kissing you?”
“You can’t manage it?”
“No, I can’t.”
When she sighed, shaking her head, he took the grout mix out of the bag and poured the powder in a nearby bucket.
