visit,” Mom said, looking fondly at my sister. “And I couldn’t say no.”
“Not many people can,” Shelby said.
Great. My mother crashed my first kiss with Shelby. Maybe Shelby could explore the possibility of operating with no expectations. But judging the sparkle in my mom’s eyes—mirroring the one in Scarlett’s—there were other expectations on the line.
“Mom, this is Shelby,” I said, making the introduction quickly.
“Shelby, this is my mom, Jenny. Shelby is my—”
Scarlett leaned forward expectantly.
“Roommate,” Shelby supplied quickly. “Scarlett was kind enough to rent me a room in Jonah’s place.”
“Well, isn’t that nice,” Mom said with a big smile.
She’d definitely seen the kiss. Shit.
She looked good. Tall and trim with her sunny hair sweeping low over her forehead. She had faint lines next to her eyes and mouth that, in my biased opinion, made her look even softer and lovelier.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I confessed. “I missed you.”
She hugged me again, tighter this time. “I missed you, too. Now, who’s going to introduce me to all these other Bodine boys?”
“Scarlett, why don’t you round up your brothers, and I’ll get Jenny a drink,” Shelby offered.
“That would be lovely, Shelby,” Mom said.
Shelby and Scarlett hurried off in opposite directions. “Now, I see why you didn’t want to fly home for a visit,” Mom announced. “She’s gorgeous and polite. I give you my blessing.”
“That was literally our first kiss that you barreled into, Oh Ye of Terrible Timing,” I warned her. “Don’t start putting together a wedding guest list.”
“You never know where you’ll find love,” she said airily.
“I can guarantee it won’t be in Bootleg Springs. I’m not here permanently. Nether is Shelby. If anything, we have the summer.”
“A summer fling then.” Mom sighed.
Even after everything, my mother was a romantic at heart. And maybe I had inherited a bit of that, too. But there was also the piece of me that wasn’t sure if I was over Rene.
I sighed. “I promise you. Eventually I’ll settle down and give you as many grandbabies as you want. Just not right now.”
She squeezed my hand. “I’m only mostly teasing you. You look happy, Jonah. And I don’t want to derail that. You deserve to be happy.”
“Jonah Bodine, is this your mother? Your mama? Maaaa-maaaa.” Newly engaged off-duty Deputy Cassidy Tucker was three sheets to the wind and sloshing beer out of her cup down her arm.
“Cassidy, meet my mother, Jenny. Mom, this is Scarlett’s best friend and town deputy when she’s not half in the bag.”
“Pfft,” Cassidy said. “I’m whole in the bag tonight, smarty pants. But I am so excited to make your acquaintance. Your son has just been a delight. Everyone in the whole town loves him, and no one holds the whole illegitimate son of Jonah Sr. against him at all.”
My mother blinked. “Oh, well. Isn’t that nice?”
Cassidy leaned in and grabbed her for a sticky hug.
“Around here, everyone knows everything about everybody,” I cautioned Mom.
“Apparently so,” she said, looking a little dazed.
“Bowie Bodine! Get your fine ass over here,” Cassidy bellowed. “I’m so sorry. I rarely drink my face off, Jonah’s Mama. What was your name again? But you see, I don’t have to work tomorrow, and my best friend in the whole wide world, Scarlett Bodine, is building this beautiful house, and we’re gonna get married and have babies together and be sisters just like we always planned. And I’m just so happy I could burst.”
“You’ll get married and be sisters?” Mom asked, clearly entertained.
Cassidy closed one eye. “Hang on. I think I got that wrong. Don’t wanna be giving West Virginia a bad impression to you. On you? For you?”
“Cassidy and Bowie just got engaged tonight,” I explained to my mom.
“I’ve loved him my whole entire life.” Cassidy sighed, holding up the ring an inch from my mother’s eyes. “And it’s all really happening. All I had to do was stop being a chickenshit and admit what I really wanted.”
It should have been weird. My mother introducing herself to the children of the man who’d derailed her life. My half-siblings. Meeting half of the town that knew she’d had an affair with a married man. But it was remarkably civil. Friendly even.
Bootleg loved a friendly scandal.
Bowie was nearly as inebriated as his fiancée and kept hugging my mom. Jameson beamed at her when my mother told him she’d looked up his art and loved his installation in Charlotte. Gibson brought her a second drink after she finished the gin and tonic Shelby made for her. And while