Page 82 of Holding on to Chaos
“Well, hello,” Michael said, all wolfish charm.
“Dad,” Donovan said warningly.
Hazel punched her husband in the shoulder. “Don’t pick yet. Let her get to know you before she has to deal with your flirtations.”
“Anything you say, my bride,” Michael said, winking in his wife’s direction.
Hazel opened her arms to Phoebe. “It’s about damn time I see your face again,” she said.
“It’s about damn time you came back from the west coast,” Phoebe countered, wrapping her friend in a bear hug.
“You got any wine around here? Where’s Elvira?” The two women linked arms and wandered off.
“It’s good to see you, Dad,” Donovan said.
Michael slapped a hand on his son’s back. “It’s mighty good to see you, son. We’re staying with you by the way. Hope you have clean sheets.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The banter between the Cardonas fascinated Eva. They had their own language interspersed with call codes and memories of Blue Moon past. She liked seeing him with his family, seeing how he’d become the man he had.
But it also gave her a little tickle of doubt. Donovan came from solid stock. A sheriff and a fire chief, heroes by profession and good citizens by practice. While Eva’s father was above reproach and just about as perfect a human being as one could get, points were lost on her mother. A child-abandoning drug addict who repeatedly bilked her youngest daughter for money? That could be reason enough to make Donovan and his parents think twice about welcoming her with open arms.
She left them to their conversation, each taking turns at the kettle paddle, and wandered over to where Joey was drumming her fingers on the picnic table and staring at the front door.
Eva sat down next to her. “You look like you’ve got something on the brain.”
“Don’t try to mine me for novel plotlines,” Joey said, without taking her eyes off the front door. “Reva’s in there getting ready for Homecoming. Emma’s doing her hair.”
“And why are you out here?”
“She said my pacing was making her nervous.”
Eva grinned. “Are you nervous?”
Joey gave a sullen, one-shouldered shrug. “This is the first big thing for her since she moved in with us. I want it to be great, perfect even.”
“What’s there to worry about?”
Joey shot her a look. “How long has it been since you were a teenager? Or did you block out those years?”
“Right. I forgot. Unpopularity, parents who just don’t get you, sweaty boys with roaming hands…”
“Exactly. Reev’s had enough shit in her life. She deserves the good stuff now.”
“Donovan said the P.I. tracked down Sheila,” Eva prompted.
“Yeah, and you know what that fucking shitbag of a douche mother did?” Joey said.
Eva blinked. “I’m guessing it wasn’t good.”
“She said she’d sign the papers for twenty grand.”
“Jesus.” Eva blew out a breath. The situation hit just a little too close to home for her.
“I mean, can you imagine a mother extorting her kids for money?”
Eva shook her head. “No.”Yes. She could and without trying too hard either.
