Santa Rosa County, Florida
Taylor could feel the tension. The trip back to Dora’s house was harder than usual. She knew Will was feeling it, too. The more time they spent together, the more she wanted.
He was extra quiet in the backseat. Usually he had his head down, fingers sketching, only stopping to dig in his backpack for a different marker or colored pencil. Tonight, every time Taylor looked in the rearview mirror, Will stared out his window.
She didn’t dare ask what he was thinking about. She knew what he was thinking about. Telling him it would be only a few more weeks did not help...not today. Not tomorrow.
And what was worse? Her son was getting attached to Jason. He was fascinated by Jason’s mechanical arm. Today at lunch, he asked if he could touch it, then bombarded Jason with dozens of questions.
“Does it give you superhuman strength? Can you feel hot and cold? Have you tried climbing a wall with it? Is that why your arms are so muscular?”
And Jason answered every single question, even after she told them both to stop talking about it and eat their lunch. Then they started talking about what to eat to build strong muscles.
She wanted to hug Jason for that one. She continuously harped on Will about eating better. Eating more. Dora had him trained to be polite, but did she feed him? He looked too thin. Maybe being a nurse on the pediatric floor clouded her judgment. She reminded herself that after this summer’s growth spurt, Will was tall for his age. Maybe the rest of his body just needed time to catch up.
He’d chowed down his lunch, mirroring Jason, even sopping up the remnants with a last bite of biscuit in the same sweeping motion. Jason could be a good influence on her son. He was also the one thing that could blow up her entire custody arrangement.
She thought about asking Will not to tell Dora that they had spent the afternoon with Jason. How could she ask her son to lie without explaining? How could she explain without getting him worried? Besides, Dora already claimed Will lied too much.
No, she wasn’t going to ask her son to lie to his grandmother. Dora couldn’t be serious about keeping them apart for longer. She couldn’t get away with it. And yet, Taylor knew she absolutely could get away with it.
The woman thrived on rubbing elbows with people of influence. She’d made it a hobby. No, more than a hobby. She’d made it a profession to worm her way into organizations and clubs and onto lists with donations and through her husband’s contracts. She dropped names of judges and council members and CEOs and talked about them like they were longtime personal friends.
Many of them had been to Dora’s house for her elaborate parties. Some were investors and members of the golf course and country club that her husband was building. His construction company seemed to have a hand in dozens of developments and new projects in the Pensacola area.
She remembered Mike once telling her that if his mother wanted something badly enough, she could make it happen no matter how long it took. At the time, Taylor thought it sounded like a trait to be admired. But she knew that wasn’t what Mike had meant.
He became a doctor because it was what his mother wanted. But she did not want him to go to Afghanistan and had tried every measure within her reach to prevent it. It was one of the reasons he was okay with going. He said it felt like the first thing he’d done in his life that hadn’t been orchestrated by his mother. Ironically, it had gotten him killed.
Part of Taylor’s problem was that she didn’t know how to talk to Dora. She’d always been treated like competition by other women. Evidently, she had gotten into the habit of reciprocating because she viewed them as competition as well. Wasn’t that exactly what she was doing with Brodie?
To be honest, she’d never had close women friends. Still didn’t. She couldn’t even imagine going out with other mothers and talking about kids and kids’ stuff. Over six months working at the hospital, and she hadn’t once gone out for drinks with any of the other nurses she worked with. But she was amazingly comfortable throwing back a few drinks and exchanging war stories with Jason’s buddies.
Men, she understood. Or maybe she only thought she did because she knew how to manipulate them. Still, she’d never been in love. Didn’t want to get too attached. Never had her heart broken. She made sure of that. Surrounding herself with men gave her a sense of security and a sense of confidence.
Of course, surrounding herself with men was also the exact kind of thing Dora would use against her. Even if it was only being seen in a public restaurant in the company of a group of men.
She turned onto the two-lane highway. They were almost there. In her head, Taylor repeated the mantra: Only a few more weeks. We can do this.
Another glance in the rearview mirror. Will hadn’t moved. His eyes stared out the window, the rest of his body so still. So quiet.
She’d been in war zones. Helped piece together young soldiers. Steeled herself against the things she saw. She’d turned her back and walked away from relationships. She’d buried a husband she hardly knew. But this...
This kid was going to break her heart.