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“See you after the break. Bright and early Monday morning.”
She looked up to see him giving her a thumb’s up before disappearing into his office.
“Everything all right?” Galen was peering over her shoulder at her phone.
“Looks like. It’s back to work on Monday. Hey…you want to get out of here?”
She tilted her head back to gaze up at him. Mostly all she could see was his bearded chin, all that black hair bursting with pure unadulterated Galen-ness.
“I do, but I also want to talk to your mother. I want to make sure she’s okay with us being together. I want to pay her back for bailing me out.”
“How did you know she did that?”
“I figured it out. I knew you didn’t have enough for bail. My brothers said it wasn’t them. But you could have gone to them. Billy has plenty of cash.”
“I didn’t think of that. I panicked and did what I always do.”
“Run to Mom, who’s always happy to help you out, for a price?”
Brenda jumped at the sound of her mother’s voice. She turned to face Laney, who had a firm grip on her wayward mother’s hand.
“Pretty much, yes. It was a mistake.”
Their eyes met and held. Her mother had been so much to her—dominating influence, thorn in her side, dictator, safety net. But above and beyond everything else, Brenda loved her.
“Mom, thank you for jumping in, like you always do. But I got this. I don’t want you to worry about me. Can you do that? Not worry?”
Laney murmured. “I’m a mother. We always worry.”
“Okay, fair enough. I can understand that. Does worry have to mean ‘try to control’?”
“You think I try to control you?” Her mother looked wounded.
“Haven’t I been telling you that for the past twenty years?” said CeCe.
Brenda shot her grandmother a look. This was between her and her mother. She didn’t need another McMurray weighing in.
“I suppose I do,” Laney finally said. “I’ll…that is, I’ll try…” She cleared her throat. “I’ll try to work on that.”
“That’s all I ask.” Brenda wrapped her arms around her mother for a hug. Her mother had never been much of a hugger. She showed her love in other ways. But this time she allowed the hug to go on longer than Brenda expected before drawing away. Laney smoothed her suit jacket back to its proper folds.
“I’m choosing for myself from now on,” Brenda told her. “Starting with Galen.”
“You’ve been choosing for yourself for a while, Brenda. You think I wanted all this?” Laney waved at the crowded school hallway. “I just wanted to help.”
Galen stepped forward. “About that bail money, I’m going to pay you back. The lawyer fees, too. Every penny.”
Laney dismissed that offer with a wave of her hand. “There’s no need for that. I’m glad I sprung you from jail in time to stand up for my daughter. It was money well spent. Consider us even.”
She put out her hand to shake Galen’s. As they shook, she pinned him with an eagle eye. “I’m particular about who joins my family. I’m probably more like the Kleeches in CeCe’s story. You might be many things that I don’t understand, but you obviously love Brenda and I guess that will have to be enough.”
“I love him too,” Brenda pointed out.
Laney gave a reluctant nod of acknowledgement.
Good lord. Was that really as gracious as her mother could be? Brenda wanted to protest, but CeCe caught her eye and shook her head. After all, she’d gone from extorting Brenda over Galen to shaking his hand. Best to consider that a breakthrough.
It certainly didn’t bother Galen. He broke out in an enormous grin, white teeth flashing through his black beard. “Yeehaw! I’m in!” he howled to those still gathered in the hallway.
