Laurel Montana was not the most upscale of towns. They had a couple of nice restaurants, one of which catered, but the rest of it was exactly what you would expect of a small town community.
I couldn't imagine where he was taking me but I knew that if I was dressed like this I wouldn't need to worry.
"That's what you are wearing? On a date?" My mom asked as she looked up at me through her glasses. Her bodice-ripper romance was wide open as she shook her head. "You have to go out looking nicer than that."
I sighed. "He told me to make sure I was wearing jeans, mom. I'm not going to get all fancied up and find out he wants to take me to the Rodeo in Billings."
There is a good chance that's where we were going. I liked the thought of it. The busy crowds, the number of people around, the anonymity of it.
"Whatever. You could at least unbutton the top button of that little blouse," she said as she raised her eyebrows.
"You're one to talk," I joked back. She hadn't so much as looked at another man since my dad died. I knew that was the truth, even if I wasn't living here. She never talked about guys, never mentioned dating, and when I did she shrugged it off.
"I read a lot of romance, I should know," she said as she smiled.
Sadie stood up, waggling her back end as she walked over to the door then back to me, then the door. It meant someone was here.
Wyatt.
"Wait for him to come to you," my mom said as she saw me heading for the door. "I want to see you two off."
"Mom, we've already done this."
"I know, but that date was a dud. I don't think this one will be." She put down her reading glasses and shifted her hips so that she was sitting.
I wondered if she was lonely. If she'd even thought about dating. I knew she missed my dad, but she didn't have to be alone. She didn't have to live in solitude.
I felt the weight of guilt weigh down on me. I should’ve been a better daughter. I should’ve come home to visit more. I’d stayed away, swore I wasn’t interested in coming back. I’d put up a wall between us that I never should’ve. She was my mom.
I should’ve been there for her more than I was.
“Where are you going, sweetie?” she asked as she stood up and looked into my eyes. “The look in your eyes tells me you were far away, and they weren’t happy thoughts. You need to think happy thoughts.”
She put her hands on my shoulders.
“I miss dad.” Don’t cry, I told myself. Whatever you do don’t cry.
“I do too,” she said, her eyes soft. She was probably holding back the same tears I was. It didn’t seem to get any easier. No matter how much time passed.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” I admitted. I should’ve been there for them. It was wrong of me.
“You’re here now. I don’t know for how long, but that doesn’t matter. I’m just glad you’re home.”
A soft knock on the door broke the spell of the moment. Why was I nervous? I felt nervous. I felt almost scared. I shouldn’t. It was just a stupid contractual date. A way to get one over on me. A way to force me to live through the pain of the past.
Maybe it was a punishment for leaving. I didn’t know, I was just glad to be angry instead of nervous. I balled my fists and then answered the door.
“Are you ready?” I asked as I grabbed my coat. I didn’t want him to linger. I didn’t want him to talk to my mom. I wanted to make sure that this remained what it was. A business deal. So I set my jaw and pushed my way out onto the porch.
“I wanted to at least say hello to your momma, first,” He said as he moved around me and waved at her. “I hope you are doing well, Ms. Shannon.”
“Please, call me Miranda,” she said.
"Miranda." He smiled. He was good at that. Good at the charm. No wonder Suzan called him a player. It was obvious that charisma came natural to him.
I'd been caught up in it before, when I was young. But I wasn't going to let it happen to me again. Not this time.
“So, where are we going?” she asked as she looked me over. Her ice queen persona melted the longer she was in the car with me.
She was still just as pretty when she wasn’t mad.
“I thought we’d take it slow this time. Something easy. Something public.”
She raised her eyebrow. “You figured I wouldn’t be charmed so easily, huh?” she asked.
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it was part of it. My original goal was to make her regret leaving in the first place. Leaving me, leaving here.
But I’d failed miserably at that, so I decided to take it slow.
Let her see the man I really was.
* * *