All those motherless boys. My mother would adopt each and every one of them if she ever found out about them.
“Oh, baby,” she said. “My baby.” She rocked me side to side as if I were still that baby. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too, Mom.” I clenched her shirt. “I’m sorry.” I had to say it for the first time while she wasn’t looking at me. I knew I’d be saying it again and again.
“Oh, honey.” She pulled away, wiping her eyes. “I’m so glad to see you.” Then her eyes narrowed. “And you know what? You should be sorry. Where have you been and what the hell have you been doing for all this time?” She waved her finger in my face. “And don’t give me any of that CIA bullshit,” she hissed with a look over her shoulder at the door. “Save it for Sammy.”
Oh damn, Ridge said.
“I, uh…” Fuck me. All this time and I hadn’t come up with what I was going to say. A decade and a half of lying for a living, and I couldn’t come up with one to literally save my life. I didn’t want a confrontation with her here. I didn’t want one with her anywhere. “Can we talk about this later?” I asked. “Somewhere private?”
She scowled at me, hands on hips. “No. We’re doing this right now.”
I’d forgotten that this woman was made of steel. She’d raised me and Sammy alone. Held two families together when Aunt Bitty died. Nothing scared her, certainly not me, and she had no problem making a scene in public. Not that Eric’s office was even remotely public. I should have agreed to meet her in the supermarket. Or the police station.
She poked me hard in the chest. “What the hell were you thinking, running away?”
“I didn’t run away! Bob kicked me out and you let him!” My voice echoed against the glass.
Carson, Leo said quietly in my head.
She flinched slightly, I’d scored a hit. It didn’t feel as good as I would have hoped. “No one kicked you out. You were sent to a good school. Bob picked it out special. It was perfect for you. And you could come home! It’s not like you had no home! You came home that first Christmas and then we never saw you again. Never!” Now it was her time to yell. “I called the school and they said you had dropped out. I thought you were dead!” She grabbed my sweater in both her fists and shook me hard. “Dead, Jake. For a solid year!” To my horror, she burst into tears.
Shit, Danny said in my ear.
I got this, Breck said. Hold on, Chaney, I’m on my way.
No, wait, Leo and Ridge said at the same time.
Mothers love me, Breck said. I’ll distract her.
“God, no, please,” I said out loud.
“No, please what?” my mother asked suspiciously. “No, I didn’t think you were dead?”
The door opened and Breck and Danny barged in.
“Hello?” Breck called. “Anyone home?”
Jesus. It was the idiot cavalry riding to my rescue.
Danny grabbed Breck on the arm, stopping him from coming further into the room. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Danny said looking around wide-eyed as if he was completely surprised to see everyone in the office. “Are we interrupting? You told me to come by and talk about the assistant job.”
He was turning into a good actor. I guess hooking required a decent amount of acting. I felt the same flare of anger I always did whenever I thought of what Danny’s parents had driven him to. One day, I was going to make them sorry.
While Eric searched for a response, I tried to remember if there was any way to connect the boys to me. Had we been together on the golf course? No. Thank goodness.
“Now isn’t the best time,” Eric said. “Can you give me ten minutes?”
“Hey, all. Are we interrupting?” Breck asked.
“Who are you?” Eric asked.
“That’s one of my new hires,” Maddie said. “The talkative one, I think.” She stared at him. “Breck?”
Breck smiled his angelic smile. “Yes! No one ever gets that right the first time.”
I shot Breck a mental death threat and a glare that bounced right off him. He ignored me, as well he might. I’m sure Breck had been the recipient of that look countless times throughout his life.
There were running footsteps and Ridge burst through the door. “Am I late?” he asked,