centerpiece of our expansion plans. I just have to jump through his hoops.”
“It’s silly what they’re focusing on. Like, that’s what makes a difference in whether they approve you,” she said harshly, now switching from the odd distance of a minute ago to a controlled anger. “It’s your character. It’s who you are. It’s how you treat people. That’s what matters. Not whether you have children or a wife, or whether you swear or don’t swear. Or tell jokes about everything that goes wrong with shaving your balls.”
“Couldn’t agree more, but I need to play their game.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m not a twenty-something guy, obviously, and I happened to think that joke was epic,” she said.
His ears perked. “You did? That bit was two years ago. I didn’t think you’d seen it.”
Her voice turned flirty. “I might have caught up on some of your greatest hits recently. You’ve always cracked me up.”
Pride suffused him. He’d made millions laugh, but she was the one whose laugher he craved the most. “That’s awesome. I love that you have a dirty sense of humor.”
“Like a twenty-something guy,” she said. “Though, I’m especially glad that it’s just a joke. Because you’d look silly with a Mohawk down there.”
A grin spread across his face. “See? I’m telling you. You can’t shave your own balls or you wind up with a comb-over or a Mr. T style ’do, and neither one is attractive,” he said, and there it was—the sweet sound of her laughing once more. “So what about you? Did you spend the day getting pampered at the Luxe?”
She sighed, and in that wistful sound he sensed her no before she even said it. “I really wanted to, but Ryan called, and I had to see him, because…” She stopped to take another breath. “We need to visit my mom at the end of the month.”
He sat up straight, pressed the phone more firmly to his ear as if that would bring him closer to her. He felt like a schmuck for having bitched about something as small as whether the neighborhood association liked him. “Tell me more.”
* * *
She gave Brent the details as she paced around her kitchen table, her edginess returning.
“Why do you think she saw a lawyer?”
“I have no idea. Brent, she’s crazy. Prison made her crazy,” she said, as she stopped at the fridge and found an open bottle of chardonnay.
“I can’t even imagine. It must be awful.”
She poured half a glass. “It’s gotten worse in the last few years. She wasn’t like this before, though, when I first knew you. She was more together. She’s become more...” Her voice trailed off as she struggled for the words to describe her mother. Dora had been a passionate and desperate woman when Shannon was younger, desperate to achieve more than the little she’d had. Once she was locked up, all that passion churned into something else—an anxious, dangerous determination, a rattled desire for freedom.
Shannon picked up her wine and took a sip. “More unstable, but obsessive too. She’s always trying to get people to listen to her. I bet she’s contacting the Innocence Project. She’d do that. She’d spend her time getting up to speed on prisoner rights and wrongful convictions. She’s convinced she’s not supposed to be behind bars.”
“Have you ever thought she shouldn’t be?” he asked, a softness to his tone. She could tell he wasn’t suggesting Dora was innocent, as Ryan often did. He was simply asking what she believed.
“The evidence against her is pretty compelling. I know the truth. I’m sure of it, but she’s still my mom, and she’s still in prison,” she said, heading to her yellow couch, the kind of bright yellow that made the room feel cheery, in contrast to Shannon’s mood right now. “But I’ll go anyway. Ryan needs me. He’s always been caught up in her orbit. I need to go with him.”
“I’ll go with you if you want.”
His words surprised her. She hadn’t been expecting that. No one had ever offered to be a part of this side of her life. Then again, she’d never gotten close enough to anyone to let him or her in this far. “What?” she asked, incredulous.
“I’ll go with you,” he said, again, making it sound so simple. “If you want me to. I know it can’t be easy. Let me be there for you.”
Her mood switched in an instant, as she shrugged off the dark and heavy cloak of the day. “You’re