Page 20 of Hauling Ashe

“Why did you stay with him after the first one?” I ask, not wanting to be intrusive but truly curious. My own mother stayed after repeated infidelity from my father, but I knew her reasoning. Money.

Mae shrugs again and I step before her, placing my hands on her shoulders to stop us from walking. “Don’t shrug this off. You shouldn’t have had to take one affair, let alone two.”

Mae looks up at me with those sky-blue eyes and my knees feel like the liquid rippling below this bridge.

“He made me promises and I was foolish enough to believe him.” Mae turns her head, but I grip her chin and force her to look back at me. “Fool me once, right? Shame on him. But fool me twice?” She shakes her head, and whispers, “Shame on me.”

“Shame on him again. He was the fool, Mae, and he shouldn’t have given you false promises. He should have kept his vow to love and honor you as his wife.”

Her eyes fill with tears, and she rapidly blinks, swallowing hard as well. “That might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.” Her voice is small and her lids lower. A tear leaks out but she’s quick to swipe it away.

“I’m sorry that happened to you, sunshine.” I should tell her about Rochelle. I should admit the awful truth that’s been locked inside me for years, but I don’t. I stare at Mae with my fingers wrapped over her shoulders and my hand at her chin, desperate to pull her toward me and enfold her in my arms. The pain in her eyes mirrors the ache in my chest, but I don’t do anything to soothe her.

Instead, she speaks around a strangled giggle. “You called me sunshine.” Slowly, she grins again. Her eyes are brighter than ever with tears inside them and my heart thumps faster.

“Well, you are a ray among many,” I say and Mae scoffs.

“Now, who’s flirting with who?”

Ready to defend myself, Mae’s arched brow suggests she’s joking, and she pulls free from my hands, which kept her an arm’s length away.

“Let’s keep walking,” she says, brushing past me while I’m frozen in place a moment, missing the feel of her under my palms and watching her step a few paces away from me.

No man in his right mind would let her walk away from him. No man should have ever cheated on her, hurt her, or made her feel unworthy. Those expressive eyes say it all.

Disappointment. Distrust. Disbelief in herself.

I see it because I recognize it.

It’s how I’ve felt about myself.

+ + +

When we finally cross the bridge for automobiles leading to Missouri, Mae bypasses downtown St. Louis and pulls into a small motel just outside the city.

“What is this?” I ask for what I feel is the millionth time today.

“It’s tonight’s accommodations,” Mae announces as I skeptically eye the brick houses that are no bigger than a king-sized bed.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope,” she says with the straightest face before chuckling.

“I am not staying here,” I warn her, tipping my head to glance out the window again.

“Suit yourself. I don’t think that backseat will be comfortable, but you do you.”

I glare back at her. “Take me to the Hilton downtown.”

“I’m not a freaking chauffeur and I am not dropping you off someplace else.”

“You don’t have to drop me off. We can both get rooms there.”

“We are not getting rooms there. I’m staying here.” Mae opens her door and steps out and I follow on the opposite side of the car.

“Mae, take me to a decent hotel.”

She scans the small buildings and stops her gaze on the sign which clearly states ‘motel’ on it. “I am not driving you to a hotel and then driving back here.”