Page 30 of Forever Finds Us
Mama didn’t bat an eye at my silence. “You could bring him home for Thanksgiving.”
“I told you I probably can’t come home for the holidays this year.”
She tsked. “You say that every year.”
One-two-three.
“I know,” I said as I opened my door and slid into my truck. “I’m sorry, but my job is really important to me, Mama. And my coworkers have young families. I like workin’ the holidays so they can spend time with their kids. It makes me feel good.
“And it makes me feel even better if an emergency call comes in on Christmas or Thanksgiving and I get to be the one to help. Bad things don’t stop happenin’ just ’cause you made pimento salad and bought way too many gifts for your grandkids.”
Mama clucked her tongue, then under her breath, she said, “You should be doin’ that for a family of your own.”
I started my engine, and my phone transferred to Bluetooth. “Mama, I heard that. I am forty-one years old. Kids are not in the cards for me, and if I never marry, well, you’re just gonna have to figure out a way to accept it. I will not hitch my cart to someone I don’t love just to make you happy.”
I heard my dad in the background, grumbling for Mama to put me on speaker. When she did, his gruff voice was like a bullhorn in my truck cab. “This is your father, RiRi. Don’t you upset your mama today. Now, tell us about the case.”
I held in my derision, smiling to myself. They made such a big deal about my life and the lack of a husband in it, but my dad was always interested in my cases.
My uncle Al had been on the OK City police force all of his adult life. I had a feeling Daddy regretted not following in his brother’s footsteps. Instead, he’d gone the suit route and had recently retired from his job as a bank manager, so he lived vicariously through me and Uncle Al. He’d never admit it to Mama, but he was proud of me for becoming a deputy, helping and saving people and protecting my adopted home of Wisper, Wyoming, and he was proud that I’d left home and found my own piece in the world.
“You know,” I tried to tempt them, “y’all could come out here for the holiday. I can cook for you.” I was certain Aubrey could talk me through turkey preparation, or maybe she and Rye could even join us and my parents could get to know my friends.
“We can’t do that, and you know it. Cecily’s helpin’ me cook this year, and Bridget and Ramona and their families will be here the week before. All my grandkids will be here for Thanksgivin’ dinner. I’m not givin’ that up to sit in some cold, lonely mountain town with the daughter who does everything she can to make me sad.”
While that dig worked its way beneath my skin, my dad asked, “Can’t you drive down this year? Just for a day or two?”
I tried not to scoff. Had they listened to anything I’d just said? “It’s an eighteen-hour drive, Daddy. You know I don’t like to fly, so that’s two days there, two days back, and two days with y’all. That’s a week off work. I can’t do it. Everybody’s already put in for their time off. I’m sorry. Maybe I can come next summer for your anniversary. Everybody will be home then too, right?”
“If we’re not dead by then,” Mama mumbled.
“Doris,” Daddy scolded. “Don’t start with that morbid stuff.”
“Fine,” she intoned, and I could picture her swiping lint off her church slacks, her lips fixed in a hard line. “But is it too much to ask for the daughter I spent thirty-seven hours in labor with to come see her family? I don’t think so.”
One-two-three. Breathe.
“We’re pullin’ into the OK Corral for brunch, RiRi. Mama will call you back later. Good job findin’ that missin’ girl, baby.”
“Thank you, Daddy. Love you both,” I said and barely got the last word out before Mama hung up the phone.
Chapter Twelve
Brand
Merv worked up a belch and let it rip at the dinner table. Athena giggled, and Stuey growled, trying to imitate the sound.
“Mama!” Abey scoffed, and Devo made a disgusted face across the table in Merv’s open-concept great room. Since Merv had moved into the new house, the family had been trying to eat together on Sunday nights like we used to when we were kids.
I’d been quiet. That was normal for me, but tonight it wasn’t because of my old man or feeling out of place in my own family. Tonight, I was finding it hard not to think about Roxanne, and what it had felt like when her mouth was on my body. My mouth on hers.
When she came and I caught the fountain of liquid on my tongue, I had nearly come all over the motel bed. Goddamn, that was hot.
My mother burping next to me pulled me right out of the sexy memory, and I dropped my fork. It clattered on my plate loudly, and I cleared my throat and looked around, hoping no one had noticed my distraction.
“I apologize,” Merv said. “I’ve got awful indigestion lately. It’s makin’ my ribs burn.”
“You oughta go to the doctor, Mama,” Bax said before he shoved a heaping forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.
