Page 12 of The Last Second Chance
Mom.
The familiar wave of guilt, as comfortable as an old pair of shoes settled over her. She heaved a heavy sigh. Joey had been busy or ignored the last two calls and if she dodged again, she’d have her parents showing up on her doorstep in a panic.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Well thank God.” Her mother’s voice filled with relief. “Your father and I were getting worried.”
“Everything’s fine. I’m fine,” Joey said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her tone. Ever since the accident, they’d been overly protective, easily concerned. Thank God for her sister’s kids. Otherwise April and Forrest Greer never would have moved away from Blue Moon. When she’d waved off that moving van two years ago, it was the first deep breath she’d been able to take in Blue Moon since before the accident.
She’d spent every day since the hospital trying to distance herself from the pain and the pity. Sure, in the ensuing years, she’d had friends—well, acquaintances—and there had been other men, carefully selected so as not to puncture her shiny new armor. But she’d spent her time in college and since building a private, independent life. She made the decisions, and she was responsible for the outcomes. It was a quiet existence, but that’s how she wanted it.
“How was Beckett’s wedding?” Her mother was asking, but she plowed on ahead without giving Joey the chance to answer. “Your father was so disappointed you couldn’t spend New Year’s Day with us.”
“Tell him I’m sorry I missed the festivities,” Joey said, rolling with the guilt trip. Her mother always played the “your father” card. That relationship had been strained years ago when Joey accepted Carter’s job offer. They had never quite recovered. In Forrest’s hardheaded mind, his daughter working for Jax’s family was Joey choosing the Pierces over her own blood. He’d spent every interaction since trying to convince her to move on.
“How is Dad?” Joey asked.
“Oh, you know your father,” her mom said airily. “Are you seeing anyone?”
Joey leaned over the island and put her forehead in her hand. “No, Mom.”
“I just wanted to check. Jax has been back for a while now. And I didn’t know if you two—”
“I’m not seeing Jax. I’m not seeing anyone, Mom. I don’t have much time for a social life these days.”
“Those Pierces work you too hard. They take advantage of your work ethic,” a deep voice bellowed from the background.
“Hi, Dad,” Joey said, cursing her parents’ use of speakerphone.
“Oh, Forrest. Don’t start picking,” her mother sighed.
“All I’m saying is you could have your pick of jobs if you’d be willing to leave Blue Moon. Hugh’s son works for the place that owns the horse that came in second in the Preakness last year. What was his name?”
“Joel?”
“No, not the son. The horse.”
“Sunday Squall.”
“That’s the one.”
April ignored their conversation and plowed ahead with her own. “So listen, sweetie, since you missed Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day with us …”
Phone calls with her parents were like a lopsided tennis match and she knew her mom was going to serve up an ace here. Joey silently willed her mother to get to the point.
“We were hoping you could come out Sunday for Isaac’s birthday.”
The last thing Joey wanted to do on her one day off was drive an hour one-way to watch her two-year-old nephew pick his nose and smash his face in a fire truck cake that tasted like paste.
“Uh-huh,” Joey said, her tone noncommittal.
“If you’re busy,” her mom continued, “we’ll just have to bring the party to you. Rosemarie would be devastated if you missed Isaac’s birthday.”
Joey and her sister exchanged the equivalent of one email a month and made small talk at family gatherings. The only devastation if Joey didn’t attend the birthday party would be on the part of her parents. It wasn’t that they didn’t get along. It was that they had absolutely nothing in common. Rosemarie was up to her eyeballs in diapers and repainting her kitchen. Joey was buried in vet appointments and researching a new horse trailer.
“I guess I can make it,” Joey said, mentally kissing her quiet day of trashy novel reading and baking good-bye.
“Good,” her father said gruffly. “Family first, I always say.”
