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Reporting the vehicle stolen had been a last resort, one he wasn’t proud of, but at least it got results. They found the truck a mere two hours after Zeke called it in at six this morning.
Now Zeke had to figure out what he was going to do when he saw her again. He probably shouldn’t have offered to take her to her home, but thanks to his impulsivity, he couldn’t back out now. Ever since their argument at her house, he’d been trying to come up with a good way to tell her that she simply needed to be more careful. But after the way she’d overreacted and taken off without a word, he’d lost his resolve to do that.
It wasn’t common, but every so often Zeke came across someone who needed to be set straight. He just hadn’t thought he’d have to do something similar with Agatha. Up until this morning, he’d been able to look past some of her more reckless behaviors.
So as he marched up to the cabin’s front door, he felt himself dragging his feet. He didn’t want to have the conversation he knew they needed to have. What he wanted was to pull her into his arms and tell her he forgave her. He wanted her to promise she’d be more careful—but that wasn’t about to happen. Somehow, he knew that deep down. The look in Agatha’s eyes yesterday made it clear she didn’t think she’d done anything wrong.
He knocked on the door, then leaned his forearm against the edge of the jamb. Each second that ticked by contributed to his nerves. They would be adults about this, and as soon as they cleared the air, they’d figure out the next steps for their relationship.
She opened the door, swinging it inward with such force that the tendrils of her hair framing her face floated up and then down again. Agatha glanced up at him, then released the doorknob and retreated inside. “I’m almost ready.”
“Agatha—”
“With all due respect, I really don’t want a lecture from you right now, Zeke.”
He snapped his mouth shut, then his eyes narrowed as he entered and shut the door behind him. “I’m not going to lecture you.” At least he didn’t think of it that way. “We can have a conversation about what happened though.”
She huffed, then turned to continue putting a few things in a nearby box. “When you say conversation, you really mean you’re going to tell me what I did that you didn’t like and how I was wrong to do it.”
“You’re making me sound—”
“Controlling? Are you really surprised?” She kept her focus trained on her task and her voice remained tight. Then she sighed, dragged the back of her hand across her forehead and faced him with folded arms. “You don’t have to tell me anything. You want me to say you were right and I was wrong? Well, I won’t. Because the only thing I would have changed was calling an Uber instead of taking your truck. I should have known better than to assume that you would be okay with your girlfriend borrowing your truck.”
“That’s not what this is about and you know it,” he growled, frustration growing.
“I get it. You’re upset—”
That was the final straw. Agatha was clearly not seeing things from his side—not even a little bit. “Upset doesn’t begin to cover it.” At some point his hands had curled into fists. His jaw was tight, aching from how he spoke through gritted teeth. “Can’t you even pretend to understand what your son and I went through when we couldn’t contact you? For all we knew, you could have been lying in a ditch somewhere.”
She huffed again. “I’m not some teenager who doesn’t know how to handle herself. I guarantee that anyone who might have wanted to do me harm would have walked away worse for wear.”
“That’s not what this is about!” His voice raised a decibel and she stilled, her hardened expression softening.
“Do you know how many people die in car accidents in a year? And it’s not due to the driver’s own negligence, either. You left the house upset. Your driving could have very well been impaired. On top of that, when Thomas stopped by for dinner like he usually does and you weren’t here…” Zeke shook his head, dropping his hands listlessly at his sides. “I’ve never seen a man so worried for someone. He thought he was the reason you left.”
At least that seemed to get to her. Agatha’s eyes brimmed with emotion and her nose pinked. For a moment he thought she might say something to indicate she felt some kind of remorse. But then her eyes hardened. She didn’t look at him directly, and her voice lowered so quietly that he barely heard it. “The problem with both of you is that you can’t seem to accept that I don’t need a man in my life.” She glanced at him briefly. “I’m still his mother, Zeke. I’m a long way off from needing him to care for me. I’m supposed to be the one to take care of him. That’s my job.” Her voice was laced with pain—something he knew he couldn’t fix.
“I wasn’t saying—”
“And you.” She pointed at him, and he stiffened. “You stand there all high and mighty, acting like just because you have feelings for me and I have feelings for you that you can suddenly tell me what I can and can’t do. I’m not one of your wayward daughters. I’ve lived my life on my terms up until this point, and I’m not going to let anyone change that. I chose you, Zeke. You didn’t have to be a part of my life. I let it happen. And at this point, I’m not so sure I made the right decision.”
Like a shotgun had gone off pointed directly at his heart, her words shattered him. “What are you saying?”
She just stared at him. Her shoulders lifted, then dropped, and she looked away. “Honestly? I don’t know.”
“That’s a load of bull pucky. Deep down you know you wouldn’t have said anything if you didn’t have a plan. So spit it out, Agatha. Tell me what you want.”
Her brows creased and she shifted, though her focus was now glued to the floor. “There’s something I don’t get. It’s been something that has been bothering me for a while, and I can’t put my finger on it.”
Zeke waited. What else could he do? She was withdrawing from him, and anything he might say right now could cause her to pull away even more.
“Did you know that Thomas still hasn’t told me why he lied? It’s been weeks, and he won’t let me bring it up. He says it’s in the past and to drop it. He won’t even admit that it was just him wanting to hang out with some friends.”
Zeke didn’t know what he’d expected her to bring up, but this wasn’t it. Of course Thomas wouldn’t tell her that he was spending time with friends. The kid wasn’t willing to lie a second time. The woman in the city wasn’t just a friend, and from what Zeke could tell, things had continued to get more serious. On more than one occasion, Thomas had volunteered to head to the city with the guys to pick up supplies they didn’t have in town. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.
“You seem to think that’s normal.” Her soft voice pulled him back to the conversation.
“I don’t have any opinion on the matter,” he said.
