A few days later, I rapped quickly on the kitchen door to my parents’ house before stepping inside. “Hey Mom,” I called. “Got your text.”

The sound of footsteps reached me as she came down the stairs and crossed the hallway into the kitchen. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a bun with a pencil.

“Hi hon,” she said as she stepped to my side and pecked me on the cheek. “Coffee?”

“Of course,” I replied as I shrugged out of my jacket and tossed it on the coat rack by the door. “So what’s wrong with your dishwasher?”

“Well, if I knew what was wrong with it, I wouldn’t have called you.”

I chuckled. “So true. You like to fix things yourself when you can, just like Lucy.”

I hadn’t meant for that to slip out. Oh well.

My mother turned away from the coffee pot, handing me a mug. Straight black coffee, just how I liked it. I took a swallow and prepared myself for her to comment on what I’d just said.

She didn’t disappoint. “Lucy seems like an independent woman. I like her,” she said pointedly.

Her perceptive gaze assessed me, but I didn’t have anything to hide.

“I’m glad you like her,” I finally said. “I do too.”

She smiled slowly. “I noticed.”

I set my coffee down and stepped to the dishwasher. After fiddling with it for a moment, I glanced to her. “Did you check the drain?”

“I tried, but I can’t get it unscrewed.”

Opening the door, I knelt down and leaned inside the dishwasher. I heard her leaning against the counter nearby while I worked. The drain was the likely culprit, and it wasn’t coming loose easily.

“In all seriousness, Lucy is wonderful. I asked her mother about her,” she offered.

I groaned, wishing my mother wasn’t so damn curious. With my head inside the dishwasher at this point, she couldn’t see me roll my eyes, which was probably a good thing.

“Mom, I know you care about me, and I know you’re going to be nosy, but don’t make Lucy uncomfortable. Please,” I said, my voice muffled by the dishwasher.

“Jody won’t say anything. I’ve gotten to know her pretty well. After you brought Lucy over for dinner, I just wanted to know a little bit more about her. She’s lovely and bright, but she certainly keeps to herself. She seemed a little, well I don’t know, guarded? I wouldn’t quite say she was shy, but…”

I leaned out of the dishwasher with a handful of gunk that had been crammed in the drain. My mother set her coffee down and quickly grabbed the trashcan for me. I stood and washed my hands in the sink.

“Guarded might be the way to put it. What were you hoping her mom was going to tell you?” I asked.

I couldn’t help it, but I was curious as hell. Lucy may not talk about it much, but it was clear she wasn’t particularly close to her mother.

While my mother cleaned up, I checked the dishwasher again. After resetting the control panel, it started right up. I grabbed my coffee and leaned against the counter, waiting for my mother.

Tossing a paper towel in the trash, she returned to her spot by the counter and took a healthy swallow of coffee. “Well, I didn’t know what her mother would tell me, but I learned a lot. They moved up here after Lucy was in foster care for a year.”

My mouth dropped open as I stared at her. “What?” I finally managed.

“You look as shocked as I was. Her father was abusive, and her mother didn’t leave him for years. According to her mother, he was only violent to Lucy once, but that’s what landed her in foster care.”

Anger sliced through me, hot and searing. My fingers gripped the edge of the counter tightly, the physical need to punch something coursing through me. Yet, the man I needed to punch was nowhere near, and it would definitely not be okay if I punched the wall in my mother’s kitchen.

I was reeling inside, trying to wrap my brain around too much at once. My mother’s eyes caught mine. I must’ve looked blank because I was practically numb, so she continued. “Her mother didn’t have the strength to leave her father, so Lucy went to foster care for a year. They moved to Willow Brook when Jody finally got the nerve to leave. She said she knew she needed to leave the state to get away, so that’s what they did.”

I gulped the rest of my coffee, needing the bitterness. I was knocked sideways inside, scrambling for purchase. Restless, I pushed off the counter and helped myself to another cup of coffee.

“Her mother knows you brought Lucy over for dinner because I mentioned it. She was thrilled to hear Lucy’s seeing you.”

Here my mother paused, long enough to cue me to the fact she likely knew more and wasn’t telling me. “What the hell aren’t you telling me?”

She eyed me carefully, setting her coffee down. “You need to hear it from Lucy, not me.”

I stared at my mother. “Bullshit.”

Her gaze softened. “Hon, her mother told me in confidence, mostly because I think she worries about Lucy.”

Her gaze was calm, steady and implacable. I took a swift gulp of coffee, trying like hell to absorb all of this and feeling helpless.

“I’m guessing it would be crazy if I flew to California to kick her dad’s ass?”

My mother’s eyes were sad as she looked at me. “It wouldn’t be crazy, but I don’t think it would help. Unless Lucy cared for you to stir things up like that, it wouldn’t change anything,” she said softly.

“I could beat him the way he beat her,” I said my voice low, the anger vibrating through me.

My mother stepped to me, cupping my face in her hands as she looked up at me. “I love you. You were a good little boy, and you’re a good man. I completely understand why you might want to do that, but you need to let this be. Unless Lucy wants you to do that, just stay out of it,” she said, her hands sliding down to squeeze my shoulders before she stepped back.

Emotion and anger wound together in a fierce storm inside of me. Yet, I knew my mother was right. This was Lucy’s history, and I couldn’t storm into it like that. She moved here when she was a senior in high school, so it was over ten years ago now.

“How do I talk to Lucy about this?” I asked, looking to my mother.

My mother sipped her coffee, her gaze considering. “There’s a time and a place for everything, and you’ll know the time.”

I took another gulp of coffee, savoring the bitterness, just what I needed in this moment. I knew she was right. I would have to wait, and hopefully Lucy would tell me herself.