Page 21 of Unexpected Trouble
“Yes, they will continue today’s subject: ten ways to tell he is the one.” He chuckled. “What are you laughing at?”
“Nothing, I never imagined you writing an advice column, especially about romance. I figured you’d be knee-deep in politics.”
“Oh, I wish I were, but jobs in journalism are tough to come by around here. Maybe if I were still in Atlanta—”
He peered my way. “Did your divorce send you back this way?”
“My divorce? Um, no. I came back to take care of my mom.”
That grabbed his attention; he had always liked my mom. He thought she was cool. Probably because she didn’t give him grief about hanging out in my bedroom for hours at a time. She might have even known what we were doing, but she never said anything. Shehadbeen a cool mom.
“Is your mom okay?”
I sighed. “No, she has early-onset dementia. She was diagnosed seven years ago. I came home to take care of her then.”
“Does she live with you?”
“Actually, I live with her in my childhood home. When I moved back, I knocked down the wall between my bedroom and my father’s old office and made it all one big room; it even has a door to the bathroom. It’s not perfect, but I’m close to her, and I can help her.”
“What does she do during the day when you are working? Is she well enough to be home alone?”
“She goes to day care.” I frowned. “I hate saying that; it makes it sound like she’s a child, but in many ways she is. She forgets things, sometimes doesn’t know who I am, and gets confused on simple tasks. She gets picked up every morning by their bus and brought home at night. If I have to work late, I have a couple of neighbors that I can call to come over and sit with her.”
“Wow, I can only imagine how difficult that is.”
“It has its moments. I’m lucky that Mom has been stable for the last few years, and the treatment that we have her on slowed the progression, until recently. Her doctors say that she is in the next phase, and things are going to move quickly again. I’ve been thinking that it might be time for a home, but I don’t know. She still has good days, and I don’t want to miss out on that time.”
“Take advantage of that, Mags. That is one thing I regret, not having extra time with my parents in the end.”
“Your parents have passed?”
“Yeah, Mom about six years ago, and Dad three. Mom had breast cancer; Dad stopped taking care of himself after she passed, and he ended up with diabetes. He refused to follow the treatment plan the doctors gave him, and it ended up killing him. To be honest, I think he just wanted to go so he could be with her.”
“I’m sorry, Greg. I remember how close your parents were.”
“Thanks. I got the notice of his death a week before I was set to come home on leave. Leave was pushed up, and I returned for his funeral instead.”
“Where are you living now?”
He grinned my way. “At my old childhood home.”
I laughed. “How funny that we both came back to our childhood homes. If you had asked me fifteen years ago if I ever saw myself doing that, I would have laughed at you. I was just getting married and had plans of grandeur and traveling the globe, reporting the news with my husband.”
“He was a reporter?”
I pursed my lips. I didn’t want to talk about my ex-husband, but I had brought it up. “Yes, he was, and we got divorced because we should never have gotten married in the first place. I knew it, he knew it, and his inability to stay faithful was just the added proof; eighteen months after we married, we joint filed.”
His jaw went slack as he turned toward me. “You’re shitting me? He cheated on you?”
“Yeah.” I laughed. “Why do you seem surprised by that? People cheat all the time.”
He compressed his lips tightly. “Because I can’t believe someone would cheat onyou. I mean, look at you.”
I snorted in laughter. “Oh, come on, Greg. You make it sound like I’m something special. I’m just a woman, and he liked women. He likedlotsof women, and he liked to do some damn kinky things with them, too.”
His brows spiked high. “How do you know that?”
“Because I saw pictures and videos. He liked to keep a record of them.”
