Page 22 of Rex's Honor
“Apology accepted.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. Even in death, she still smelled like roses. “I’m sure I owe you a few.”
“You owe Tilly a lot more than me.” His mother tilted her head slightly to the left, pursed her lips, and gave him that look that dared him to argue with her.
“We talked.”
“And?”
“There is no and. Tilly and I were over long ago. We’ve both moved on.”
“Really? Do you have a girlfriend?”
He opened his mouth, but she didn’t let him speak.
“I bet you don’t, and if you lie to me, I’ll know it.”
“I’ve had girlfriends.”
“But they don’t last, do they? And Tilly has horrible taste in men. God-awful.”
He laughed. “I can’t speak for her, but I’m happy with my life and I don’t need a girlfriend for that.”
“Because anyone you date isn’t right for you. Tilly has always been the one, and I’m going to get the two of you back together if it’s the last thing I do. I owe you and her that. What I really want in my last days is to see the two of you together again. My actions destroyed that and now I’m going to fix it.”
The last thing he wanted to do was hurt his mother. But he couldn’t lie. Not now. Not ever. “I’m sorry, Ma, but it’s not going to happen. Tilly and I got the chance to talk about the way in which we hurt each other. But we’re different people now. There’s nothing there anymore.”
“Talk is cheap. How long are you here for?”
“Couple of days. But I’ll come back as often as I can.” Words he hadn’t expected to come out of his mouth, but he wouldn’t take them back. He desperately wanted to be there for his mother. For himself. He wanted to be at her bedside and he would do whatever he could to make that happen.
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“Whatever you need,” he said, thankful they were off the Tilly topic.
“While you’re here, take Tilly out on a couple of dates. See how?—”
“Mom. Do you really want to start a fight on my first day back in over ten years? Because I don’t. I’m here because I want to be. Not because Tilly asked me to, but because I realized I needed to make things right with you. I’m truly sorry. I shouldn’t have stayed away so long.”
She straightened her spine, sitting up taller. “What harm could it do to take her out and show her a good time?”
Little did his mother know that his heart was already bleeding out.
“And it will make a dying woman happy.”
“Fine,” he said a little too quickly, but it put a smile on his mother’s face, and he preferred that to a scowl.
“Good. Now, why don’t you go play some golf with your father? Then we can all have dinner together tonight. Afterward, you can take Tilly out for drinks, a movie, or maybe a romantic stroll.”
He kissed his mother’s cheek, helping her fluff her pillow as she shifted lower in the bed. He snagged the food tray and headed for the stairs with a funny tickle across his skin. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, but it certainly was an unwelcoming one.
When he got to the bottom of the stairs and rounded the corner, he was greeted by Tilly and his father.
“How’d things go?” his father asked.
“It was interesting. She forgives me and I can honestly say I’ve put the past behind me. I plan on coming home as often as possible until the bitter end. But she certainly knows how to play the dying card.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Tilly asked, snapping her hip to the side in an indignant gesture.
“She knew Dad sent you to get me, and her dying wish wasn’t for my forgiveness but for the two of us to get back together. While I’m here, I’ve been ordered to date you.”
