“Ouch,” Harley murmured.
“Yes, apparently that was a big thing for him.”
“And then did you have any medical attention during your pregnancy?”
“Not much.” She shrugged. “Only the absolute minimum.”
“Sounds like you’ve had a tough time, no matter which way you look at it.”
She smiled. “But you made it though.”
“A little older, more battered, injured, but recovering.” He shifted his hand and rotated it so she could see. As her eye widened he nodded, looked at his truck. “I should go. I’ll take a trip north and see where this dog is.”
“It’s a pretty rough area up there,” she warned.
“So Daniel tells me.” He smiled, turned to face her. “You’re looking good.” And he stood and walked toward his truck.
“Is that it?” she called after him.
He turned. “What else would you like me to say?”
“I don’t know. How about a coffee out?” she asked.
He looked at her with interest. “You got a babysitter?”
She snorted. “If anybody told Jimmy that he needed a babysitter at eleven, that would be a completely interesting scene. As for my mother, well …” Jasmine looked back at the house and then nodded. “You’re right. I probably can’t leave her.”
“Well then, why don’t I go pick up coffee on my way back?” he suggested.
She hesitated.
He added, “Or not. But, if you can’t leave the house, that doesn’t leave us much choice.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
Just then the front door opened, and a frail lady stepped out on the porch. Harley recognized her. Matilda was nothing if not always very prim and proper, but this was definitely a much more messed-up version. “Hello, Matilda,” he called out gently, as he walked closer.
She turned and looked at him, her eyes opened wide, and she screamed. “You,” she snapped. “How dare you?”
He looked at her in surprise. “How dare I what?” He looked from Matilda back to Jasmine in confusion.
“You’re supposed to mow the lawn and didn’t!” she screeched.
He looked at her with even more surprise, back at Jasmine. “Wow.”
“I told you.” She reached out on arm for her mother, but her mother was having nothing to do with it.
“How dare you let him on this property,” she snapped, staring at Jasmine. “I told you last time no way he was allowed to be here.”
“It’s not the lawn-mowing guy, Mom.”
Her mother looked at her in shock and again at him. “Of course it is.” But a little bit of doubt was in her voice.
“No. No, it isn’t. This is Harley.”
“Harley.” She frowned.
Jasmine nodded. “Yes, Harley. Remember? You had him as a foster son for many years.”
“No, that boy was nothing but trouble. We had to be really on his case to keep him out of trouble all the time. That was a very hard-earned paycheck.”
At that, Jasmine looked at Harley and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Harley snorted. “Oh, I know. It wasn’t easy being here as part of the household from my side either.”
“Hey, you at least got to leave.”
He winced at that. “That’s a very good point.” He looked at Matilda, who, just as if a switch had turned on, pivoted to him and smiled.
“Hi. How are you? What’s your name?” And she reached out a hand to shake his, even though she was at the top of the steps, and he was at the bottom. “My name is Matilda.”
“Hi, Matilda. My name is Harley.”
“Ah. I used to have a son, … a foster son, you know. That was his name too.”
“Yes, that’s me. I was your foster son.”
She smiled. “Nice to meet you. It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” Then she looked at the glass in Jasmine’s hand. “Oh my, did you make lemonade?” Jasmine held out her glass. Her mother took a sip and spat it out and immediately turned into another personality. “Oh, this is terrible, absolutely terrible. I’ll make some good stuff.” She waved at the two of them. “Now you just wait here, and I’ll go get my famous lemonade.” And she disappeared inside.
Harley stared at the door. “How long will that conversation remain in her head?”
“Five minutes maximum, maybe even only five seconds,” she said, fatigued. “Sometimes she’s better than others.”
“Like all of us, I imagine. … She is quite a challenge for you, isn’t she?”
“She is, indeed. I’ve been wondering if I need to look at putting her in a home, but it’s hard for me to do that. Plus, I’m not sure I can afford it.”
“She’s still healthy though, physically?”
“Yes. So the only reason to put her in a home is if I can’t look after her.”
“And, of course, that’s a very difficult decision to make, isn’t it?”
Just then a crash came inside the house. Jasmine looked at Harley in shock and bolted indoors. He raced up the steps behind her, and they found Matilda on the kitchen floor, shattered glass from a pitcher still in her hand, water everywhere. She lay here dazed, staring up at the ceiling.
“Don’t move, Mom. Don’t move,” Jasmine ordered. “Let me get some of this glass away from you.”
But the older lady struggled to put her hands down and to get up and seemed to be completely unaware that she sat amid shattered glass.
Harley stepped in, picked her up under her arms, and lifted her ever-so-gently out of all the glass, while Jasmine grabbed a broom and tried to clean up the mess. Matilda looked at him and burst into tears and collapsed into his arms. He looked over at Jasmine.
She nodded. “Can you take her into the living room and sit her down in the big chair?” she asked softly. “I’ll clean up this mess.”
Chapter 3
Jasmine quickly cleaned up the glass but was a little confused because there was so much of it. Her gaze went around the windows, and then she called out urgently, “Harley, come here. Quick.”
He immediately popped around the doorway. “What’s the matter?” And she pointed. He stared and frowned. “Good Lord.” He stepped carefully around the glass on the floor and took a look at a piece of glass still in a pane in the window frame.
“That’s a bullet hole, isn’t it?” she whispered.
He nodded, his face grim, as he stared silently around the backyard. “Have you been shot at before?”
She snorted. “What kind of question is that?” she asked. “Of course not.”
He turned to look at her. “So what’s changed?”
She shrugged and shook her head. “Nothing. Nothing’s changed. Nothing here ever changes. It’s the same damn town. It’s the same damn life that I was living before. Nothing’s changed.”
But his gaze wouldn’t let her off the hook.
She raised her eyebrow, still shaking her head. “The only thing that’s different is that you walked into my life.”