remote slips from my grasp, a string of expletives tumbling out of my mouth when I hear the reporter’s announcement.
‘Doctors at Mississippi State General Hospital released Trent Calloway into the custody of the FBI. Calloway will be transferred to an unidentified hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. We will keep you updated on his whereabouts as soon as we receive more information.’
“Turner.”
I swallow, my mouth in need of a drink, preferably the hard stuff I put away that was left out on the counter.
“Well they move fast, don’t they?” he grumbles from beside me as we both watch Trent being transferred into the back of an ambulance.
“Why are they bringing him here?”
Turner turns to me, a mixture of emotions all over his face. I put my hands on his arms.
“What?”
“When you were in talking to Dr. Jollup yesterday, Zack told me that the FBI and the D.A. are working out a plea bargain with Trent.”
“A plea bargain? For what?”
“To help them find your mother.”
************
I find myself tired and restless after yesterday’s events. I want out of here. Knowing I cannot leave, I pop in a movie, becoming peacefully relaxed with the baby sleeping by my side and Turner on his laptop at the end of the couch. He’s been on that thing for a few hours now, so I nudge him with my foot to ask him the question that had slipped my mind since I thought about it the other day.
“What’s up?”
Closing the lid to the computer, he sets it on the table in front of him and takes hold of my foot. He tenderly begins to massage the sole.
“Oh. That feels so good,” I moan as his strong fingers press into the arch. “I missed these.”
“I missed giving them, especially those little noises that come out of your mouth when I touch you here.”
He presses firmly under my big toe. Don’t ask me why, but whenever he touches that spot, it sends an urgent thrill up my leg straight to my core, making it ache for him.
“Hmm,” I groan.
He continues with his torturous onslaught of my foot then moving on to the next before I remember again what I wanted to ask him.
“Where did you get all the money to buy this house? And what’s happened with our business?”
“We’re living off my mother,” he chuckles, not at all what I was expecting.
“And the office?”
“Is a clusterfuck of a mess just like everything else.”
He continues to massage my feet and I sink farther into the couch.
“It’s really not funny.” I say through another moan.
“No, it’s not, but that’s the least of my worries right now, and yours, too. After all this is over, we will sort it all out. The office hasn’t been touched since the day you left, except for when my mother went in there and gave Zack all of our computers and files. She is the one who notified all of our clients. Everyone thought I was dead, body never found. Like I said, a clusterfuck.”
“And our old house?”
“Will be sold as soon as this shit is over.”
I sit up carefully so I don’t wake up Journey.
“So basically we will be starting all over, building our clientele from scratch. God, do we even have health insurance?”
“Clove, quit worrying about money and insurance and how we’re going to live.”
He hesitates, my feet left in his lap as he turns slightly to face me.
“Look, we’ll be fine. Trust me. I have a plan, one I think you will really like, but right now I need to tell you where my mother has been.”
All playfulness has left his tone. By the look on his face he’s about to tell me something I don’t want to hear. Removing my feet from his lap, I climb over it and straddle him. My fingers trace the outline of his jaw. He looks tired and worn out, not to mention stressed and fed up with all the shit being flung our way.
“Go on,” I say as I rub his scalp, trying to put him at ease.
“She spent the entire day with Trent yesterday.”
My movements stop. I’m not really surprised, I think to myself as my maternal instincts kick in.
“How do you feel about that?”
I see the way he feels in his eyes before he even tells me. I don’t say anything though, I just listen.
“I’m hurt, I won’t deny that. I can’t say I’m mad at her, because I’m not. He’s nothing to me, he never will be, but he’s her son, too. I can’t