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“I’m saying if anyone can get around Dad, it’s you.”
“I’ve tried, but like you said…stubborn.” Her mom sighed. “Oh well, whatever will be, etc. Are you hungry? He’s bringing home The Wrangler when he passes through Fairfield. There’s probably still time to catch him if you want to text him your order.”
“No, that’s okay. I stopped to check in on Jace, and Clark made us smoothies for lunch.”
“So, you’re an us?” her mom asked slyly.
Merry snorted. “I just mean us as in the three of us. It’s not a title.”
“Really?” She picked up her own cup of coffee with a frown. “Because I think there’s something going on with you and Clark.”
“There might be something going on, but it’s too soon to talk to my mother about it.”
“That’s your opinion.” Her mother drank her coffee silently, watching her with narrowed eyes.
“That’s it? You’re not going to torture me with fire pokers until I confess all?”
“I’ve decided that you’re an adult and if you don’t want your mother’s insight, then I’ll just mind my business,” her mother said airily. “Even though I am older and wiser, so you could benefit from my expertise and years of life experience, but I won’t press you if you really think you have things under control.”
Merry’s eyes blinked rapidly. She was completely bewildered. “What kind of sorcery are you working, woman?”
Her mother took another sip of her coffee innocently. “I know not of what you speak. I am simply allowing you to live your life without any interference from me.”
After several beats of waiting for her mother to crack a knowing grin, Merry clapped her hands. “Wow…you’re good. You have me itching to spill my guts to you. Well played.” Merry took a drink of her coffee and set the mug back down on the counter. “But I’m not gonna.”
Victoria sighed dramatically. “You don’t have to tell me anything, but I am going to give you unsolicited advice.”
“I knew it. You just can’t help yourself.”
“I’m your mother and that doesn’t stop when you turn eighteen,” she said firmly. “So I’ll just say this…Clark is a good man.”
Merry was expecting a lot of things, but not the obvious. “I know.”
“But he’s closed himself off from everyone and it’s hard to break down walls like that unless he wants to let you in. Even now, he doesn’t know quite what to do with your father and me, and we aren’t seeking a romantic attachment to him. Tread slowly with him, all right?”
“Whoa, wait a second. Are you warning me off?”
“No, honey,” her mom said gently. “I would love for you to find a man worthy of you. But when you date a single parent, it isn’t just about you and him. It’s about you, him, and his children. If things get serious but don’t work out between you, Jace’s heart will be broken.”
Merry’s stomach twisted in knots. “Clark’s told me the exact same thing.”
“He’s an excellent father, so that isn’t surprising, but even good people make mistakes when emotions are involved and I don’t want you getting hurt either.”
“I know that,” Merry said reassuringly.
“Then I’ll let you be.”
They sat down in silence, drinking their coffees as Merry worked up the nerve to openly talk about her concerns. She was afraid if she voiced them out loud, her mother would confirm her insecurities.
“Mom, you had Nick when you were twenty-three.”
“Uh-huh.”
“We’re you ever worried that you were too young to be a mom?”
Her mother cradled the cup between the tips of her fingers, holding Merry’s gaze. “Are you asking because of Jace?”
“If you want to be uber insightful, then yes.”
