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“Sounds like his mother,” he said, pulling her close to him.
“I guess. I want to comfort him and can’t right now.”
“You did a good job of it on the phone,” he said. “I thought I even heard a giggle before you hung up.”
“I tried,” she said. “I don’t want him to think I’m mad at him. I’m not going to tell him he should have done better. I feel he did the best he could. He’s not old enough in my mind to be on his own with his work. Not something like that. If it was math that is different. Or even history. Things he could reread notes on. They don’t even get a lot of tests in his grade.”
“Maybe figure out a way he can study for spelling on his own,” he said. “Do you have enough notice to do it with him before he goes to Jeff’s? Or can he call you to do it over the phone? Do a video chat maybe so you know he’s not looking at the list while he gives you the answer.”
“That’s a good idea,” she said. “I never thought of it. I should have and feel foolish. I can’t force Jeff to let Eli do that, but I can suggest it to Eli and he can ask his father.”
He smiled. “Jeff will say no, right?”
“I’m sure he will, but in saying no to that, he will probably take twenty minutes out of his night to quiz Eli. In the end it has to be about helping Eli, not who does it or how it gets done.”
“See,” he said. “A good parent. You could have yelled at Jeff, but you didn’t. You didn’t say much at all to him.”
He hadn’t even realized Jeff was on the phone. She’d used the same tone of voice with both her ex and her son.
“No,” she said. “What am I going to say? He got on to lecture me like he does. He doesn’t want me to say anything back. He just wants to make a point to say he’s doing his job as a father and the way I do things as a mother isn’t right in his eyes. Because, you know, at seven, Eli should be on his own with his schoolwork.”
It was the sarcastic way she said it that had him snorting. “Do you feel better now?”
“I do. Thank you for letting me vent about it.”
“That took all of ten minutes,” he said. “It’s not drama. It’s better than letting you have it eat you up inside. This way, I gave you a good suggestion on top of it.”
“Fixing my problems,” she said. “I don’t want you to do that.”
“You might not want it. Or think you need it, but it helped. Just take it and let’s move on. Maybe I can help you with something else before I go home.”
His hand moved to her thigh and started to rub up and down. “Yeah, you can do that,” she said, standing up and reaching for his hand, then pulling him into her room.
All things considered, the night turned out better than he thought after spending a week stressing about letting Roni know about the Fierces.
25
No Secrets
“Why do you seem nervous?” Trent asked two days later. “If anything, I should be the one nervous. You know your family. I’m the outsider.”
Roni grinned at him. She’d left work at four; he’d gotten out of court at four and didn’t go back to the office, telling Janine to lock up when she was done for the day.
She liked that he took care of his staff like that. Let Janine out early at times knowing she worked more than her normal hours when needed.
Trent had gone home and showered and changed. She’d done the same at her place. Then he came and got her and they were on their way to her parents’ house.
She wasn’t surprised her mother had offered up Friday night dinner after the call on Wednesday when Trent left.
“I’m not nervous,” she said, turning to look at him. “Take a right up there and then your first left.”
He was driving and that was fine. Shewastoo nervous to pay much attention.
“I think you are nervous. The question is why? I’m not going to hold my fork wrong. Don’t worry. I’ll try not to spill food on my shirt either.”
She laughed. He did have the ability to make her laugh at the strangest of times. She supposed that was a great quality that he had.
“I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine there. I haven’t brought anyone home for my parents to meet since Jeff.”
