Do? Besides slowly dying, desperate to see you every day? And getting my heart broken by Rune? “This and that.”
“Are you married?” MizB asked.
“All by my lonesome.” Jo propped her boots on the coffee table.
The woman wisely said nothing. “You never stayed with Mr. Chase?”
“Who?”
Thad shot Jo a wide-eyed look. So the Eagle Scout had told a lie after all?
Acting all casual, Jo said, “Nah, I do my own thing.”
“We’ve never even met him—he just sent us the deed to his house, writing that he was Thad’s long-lost uncle. It’s all very mysterious.” Her gazed flitted to Thad and back. “Have you unearthed any clues about where you two came from? About your parents?”
“Still sorting them out.” Jo would tell Thad about her new, raw memory in private. And find about this Chase dude. “Our folks are gone though.”
Sadness clouded Thad’s eyes. Had he been holding out hope of meeting the parents? She didn’t like to see him sad. She’d already gotten used to his easy grin, the one that said, All is right in the world.
“Thad’s told me he could live to be very old.” MizB took a tissue from her pocket. “I’m so glad you’re back in his life. It’s such a relief that he won’t be alone after his grandmother and I are gone.”
Jo narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, being alone for years and years is not something I’d wish on anyone.”
“I didn’t know.” Tears welled again. “I had n-no idea.”
Thad rose and dragged a stool over beside her, patting her hand. “Mom, it’s okay.”
Clearly, Jo needed to make a not-so-graceful exit. “Look, I need to split—”
“I-I thought you’d died!” MizB cried. “I didn’t know if you’d returned to take Thad to h.e.l.l or to the grave. I didn’t know this world existed!”
“I didn’t either!” Jo rose to float/pace. The room’s lights flickered eerily. “I woke up in a body bag! I thought I’d been resurrected. That I was some kind of ghost.” Which, she supposed, was not far from the truth. “Then when I came for Thaddie, you were all get-thee-gone. I’m surprised you didn’t douse me with holy water.”
MizB dabbed at her eyes behind her gla.s.ses. “You were just a little girl—I told you that the day you were shot—but I didn’t listen to my own words. I thought you weren’t Jo anymore. I thought you would’ve wanted me to protect him from any threat.”
d.a.m.n it, I would’ve.
“I’m the one who found your body behind the library. When I heard the gunshots, I left Thad with a colleague and ran out, but . . . there wasn’t anything left of your . . .” She cleared her throat. “I wasn’t prepared to see your face later that night. And you looked so different.”
MizB had found her? Out of habit, Jo reached for her bullet necklace. Great, she’d left it at Rune’s.
“I never would’ve let Thad go regardless,” the woman continued. “I was terrified he was in danger from whoever shot you. I feared you two had witnessed something, and the gunman might come for Thad despite his young age.”
So MizB would’ve been even more freaked out than Jo had allowed for? She slowed her pacing. All this new information screwed with her years of burning hatred. Plus, Thad had grown up so . . . good. Jo couldn’t possibly have done better with him.
Because he couldn’t possibly be better. “This isn’t the best time to talk. I can come back another night.”
As if she hadn’t spoken, the woman murmured, “At Mr. B’s wake, I saw you. You were at the window, sobbing in the rain as you watched Thad. I knew you were going to let him go, because I’d told you that’s what a mother would do.” Her tears started up again. “I thought you’d made the decision to pa.s.s on.”
“I did.”
“I mean, to the beyond.”
Jo’s patience neared its limit. “Oh, for f.u.c.k’s sake, woman. If Thad didn’t love you, I’d pop you in the face.”
Thad’s shocked gaze darted from Jo to MizB and back. “Uh, maybe we shouldn’t, um, talk to our elders like that?”
“Elders?” Jo was about to go hysterical. The two of them were millennia old!
But MizB smiled. “You used to say that to me all the time. Do you remember?”
Jo did.
“So I’m hopeful. I can’t make up for all these years overnight. But having hope is enough for now.”
Uncomfortable silence followed.
Then MizB rose. “I’ll be right back.” She paused at the doorway. “You won’t go anywhere?”
Too tired to fight, Jo sank down on the couch again.
The woman hurried from the room.
“Thanks for covering about the uncle,” Thad murmured. “It’s a long story. I’ll give you the lowdown later.”
“I’m tanking this, kid. I’d say I’m not usually such a b.i.t.c.h, but it’d be a lie.”
“You’re doing awesome.” Thad didn’t seem discouraged at all, just the opposite. “Mom told me you were tough-talking and never sugar-coated things.”
“I didn’t know MizB saw my face looking like modern art.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t want to say anything that’s gonna hurt or embarra.s.s you, so I think I should blaze. I was having a s.h.i.t day before you and I ever mixed it up.”
“What happened?” He leaned forward. “What made you cry? Tell me about it.”