“Thanks. Maybe save those other two houses for tomorrow?”
The man smiled. “I’ll contact the sellers.” He added with a nod, “Nice to meet you, Erin.”
Mack helped his mom into the front seat and shut the door. As soon as he got into the driver’s side, he looked over. “You good?”
“Just tired. I think I’ll take a nap when we get home.”
“You were rubbing your shoulder.”
“Was I?” She shook her head. “It’s fine. Just gets stiff sometimes.”
Mack gripped the steering wheel. “Maybe you should have it looked at.”
She made a psh noise with her lips. “I’m sixty years old. Sixty-year-old shoulders get stiff sometimes.”
“But that’s the shoulder that—”
She cut him off. “Braden, stop hovering.”
She fell asleep in the car on the ride back to his house, her head bobbing gently with the rhythm of the road. Mack glanced over several times, unease turning his stomach to acid. She was being cagey again. I’m sixty years old . . . Christ, was she sick? Would she keep something like that from him? He tried to study her while driving but damn near ran off the road. She didn’t look sick. Her brown hair was only half gray. Her weight hadn’t changed. But there was definitely something going on.
He woke her up gently when he pulled into his driveway. “We’re home.”
She stretched and yawned. “I’m going to head upstairs and nap I think. Wake me if I’m not up in an hour.”
He followed her inside, watched as she climbed the stairs, and waited until he heard the guest room door close before dialing his brother’s number. Liam answered without a greeting. “How’s the house hunting going?”
“Bad. She rejected every single one.” Mack grabbed a beer from the fridge and started down the stairs to his finished basement.
“Maybe she’s getting picky in her old age.”
Mack plopped down on the curved sectional that took up an entire wall and faced the sixty-inch TV screen. “Sixty isn’t old.”
“Chill, it was a joke.”
The sound of kids running and screaming interrupted briefly, and Mack grinned despite his unsettled stomach as he listened to Liam tell the kids to slow down.
“Where are you?”
“Home. Lucy has a friend over from preschool.”
A pang of loneliness once again joined the churning in his gut. Ever since Liam and his wife had moved to California for his job, he’d seen them less and less. They used to see each other at least every other month when Liam still lived in Iowa, but now it was every six months if they were lucky. God, he missed the kids.
“I think something’s going on with Mom,” he said.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. She’s acting strange. And someone sent her flowers.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.” Liam snorted then. “Like you know how to not worry.”
“I just wish she’d hurry up and choose a house. She’s been alone in Iowa for a year.”
“You’re the one who moved to Nashville, dude. Was I supposed to stay in Iowa forever and give up a great promotion?”
“I’m not blaming you. I just don’t understand why she’s dragging her feet.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to move. Did you ever think about that?”
Ridiculous. “Why wouldn’t she want to move? There’s nothing for her there.”
“Except all her friends and the town she grew up in and—”
“And horrible fucking memories.” Mack had moved to Nashville to get away from them. Why wouldn’t his mom want to do the same? “You and the kids were the only reason for her to stay there. You’re gone now. She needs to get out.”
“Fine. Maybe I’m wrong. Why don’t you just ask her what’s going on?”
“I’ve tried. She just dodges the question and says she’s entitled to privacy.”
“She is.” There was another squeal of laughter in the background. “Shit, I gotta go. I have no idea what’s going on.”
“Kiss the kids for me.”
“I will.”
Mack dropped the phone next to his hip. Liam was full of shit. His mom had no reason to stay in Des Moines. And if she didn’t want to move, she would’ve just said so. This was her second trip out to look at houses for fuck’s sake.
Annoyed, he turned on the TV and channel surfed until he found a basketball game. Sometime later—he wasn’t sure because he’d dozed off—his phone buzzed with an incoming call. He glanced down, fully prepared to ignore whoever it was, but his heart leaped clear into his throat when he saw Liv’s name on the screen.
He scrambled to sit, nerves shredding his gut. They hadn’t spoken since the kiss. “Hey,”