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On top of this numb feeling, Agatha couldn’t understand where everything had gone so terribly wrong with her son. They’d always had a great relationship.
At least she’d thought they had.
She stood in front of the window, watching Zeke’s truck drive away. It didn’t matter how hard she hugged herself; she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d done something so irreversibly wrong.
The problem was that she knew she’d needed to have a conversation with Zeke about what had happened. She needed to be heard. If she couldn’t voice her concerns, then how were they ever going to make things work?
And how were they going to make things work if Zeke ran off and hid from their relationship after one big fight?
Agatha scowled, turning from the window if only to prevent herself from getting emotional. There were bigger problems that needed solving. She’d been alone this long. She could continue living this way until the day she died.
But the problem with her son needed to be resolved. She refused to lose her family over her own miserable flaws.
Her son would be off work in a few hours and she’d be able to sit him down and ask him what Zeke was talking about. Hopefully, that conversation would go over better than the one she’d had with Zeke.
* * *
Agatha placed a TV dinner in front of Thomas on the coffee table and settled beside him on the couch. “I know it’s not what I’ve been making when you had dinner with me at the cabin, but—”
“It’s fine, Mom.”
She tossed him a side-eyed stare. They hadn’t really talked about the visit to the police station. Doing so would open a whole can of worms she wasn’t sure she was ready to spill. As much as she wanted to corner him about his lie, she couldn’t—not until she told him why she had Zeke’s truck in the first place.
Agatha heaved a sigh as she placed her food tray on the table. “I think we need to talk.”
“Yeah. You’ve been acting kinda weird lately.” He shot a look at her, and a hint of a smile graced his handsome face. “You’re not going through a midlife crisis or anything, are you?”
She gasped and gave him her best mom-stare. “Don’t you even suggest such a thing.”
“Well, you did steal a truck from my boss… so…” He put a bite of food in his mouth, but it didn’t prevent him from raising his eyebrows at her. But then his features grew serious. “Why did you do it? You’ve never been impulsive like that before.”
This was it. This was the moment she’d have to tell him that she’d been seeing his boss without him knowing it. At least if she told him first before he found out from someone else, she could pull Thomas to her side. What kind of man was willing to call the sheriff on his girlfriend, anyway?
She straightened in her seat and rolled her shoulders. “It’s a long story. You sure you’re up for it?”
Thomas shrugged. “It’s better than not knowing.”
Agatha gave him a pointed look, but he must not have noticed. She couldn’t blame him if he ended up keeping everything from her. If she could get through this conversation and not have to reveal her secrets, she might have considered it. But she needed to be the example. Too many secrets were making her mind unravel. “I guess it started the night of the fire.”
He glanced at her, not even a hint of surprise on his face. Perhaps he thought she’d gone off the deep end due to the traumatic experience. That would certainly track. How many people did strange things as a way to cope with a new reality?
“I met Mr. Callahan when he showed up on that horse and tried to save me from a burning building even though I wasn’t inside.” She looked away. The next bit was going to be hard to explain away. How could she keep her growing feelings a secret when she’d had no problems sharing everything up until this point? “I fully expected him to be some brute who bossed people around because he had the money and the power to do so. But I was wrong.”
Thomas had stopped taking bites of his food and his tray was now beside hers, both of them getting cold.
“Little by little I got to know him better. I realized that there was more to Zeke than meets the eye. He was compassionate. He loves his family above all else. But most of all, he was generous—to someone who was nothing more than a complete stranger.” She took a long, unsteady breath. “I found myself developing feelings for him.” Even though she whispered it, she felt like she’d screamed it from the rooftops.
And she might as well have done that very thing for the look of shock on her son’s face.
She just needed to cut to the chase. Letting this conversation drag out like this wasn’t good for either of them. “I was dating him, Thomas. I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t know what the folks in town might say. I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea about him—or me.”
“You were dating… my boss?”
She’d expected him to get angry. But all she heard was disbelief, something that threw her off guard momentarily. “We were involved, but we aren’t anymore. I think we realized that we just won’t work. We’re too similar.”
Thomas settled back on the couch. “I don’t believe it.”
Agatha placed her hand on his knee. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to make things complicated at work. Or between you and Zeke. I just…” What could she say that wouldn’t sound selfish? She wanted to have some fun? Zeke made her feel things she hadn’t felt in a long time? Any answer she ran through her head did just that. None of her decisions in the recent weeks indicated she had any consideration as to how they would affect her son.
