Shane?

Cutting our conversation short, I rushed to my room’s door, only to find Shane and Nora facing each other in the hall in front of my doorway.

My eyes flitted between the two. Nora looked annoyed, her arms crossed over her chest with her eyes remaining on her son, while Shane actually looked guilty, a blush having filled his cheeks. For a short moment, I could picture a very much younger Shane, not much older than his own daughter now, being reprimanded by his mother.

Curbing the humor bubbling up inside, I focused on the present; loaning me with the seriousness needed in the moment. “You heard us, didn’t you?”

“I did.” Well, he didn’t beat around the bush now, did he?

I huffed.

“Em–”

“I take it that dinner is ready?” I addressed my question to a now smirking Nora.

“That it is.”

“Let me help you set the table.” I turned to Lana Rose, who sported a beaming smile as she studied our interaction. “Come and help your grams and me, Sweets.”

Leaving Shane behind, we ladies headed down to the kitchen to put the finishing touches to our dinner.

Dinner had been a little awkward, to say the least.

While the ladies had chatted as if all was normal, I’d tried to engage Emberlyn in conversation—only to be ignored.

Repeatedly.

It burned my ass, but I knew it had a lot to do with my hovering over her like a mother hen all damn day.

And maybe just a little with the way you outright refused her help before you’d heard her out.

If there was one thing I remembered about my relationships—especially the one with my late wife—it was that when a woman said she wanted to be heard out, you sure as hell better listen.

Lesson failed today!

“So…” my mother nudged my side as she washed the dishes and I dried, “what’d you do?”

I shrugged. “Too much in one day,” I muttered, “but I’ll make it right, even if I hate how I’ll be doing it.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, Shane.”

“I refused her help, before I even gave her the chance to hear her out,” I said, eyeing my mother from the corner of my eye, knowing I’d be witness to her disappointed headshake. “Then I treated her like a porcelain doll all afternoon, even though I knew damn well that she’s strong and was dealing with the events of the last day entirely fine.”

“So much like your father,” she said, cupping the side of my face after having dried her hands on my tea towel.

“I just want her safe, Mom,” I whispered. “I want all of you safe.”

Her eyes shone with sadness. “I know, son, but you have to understand…a woman like Emberlyn…what she’s been through–”

“You know?”

“Her grandmother had filled me in over the years,” she said.

I nodded. “She’s been hurt so much. She’s had enough.”

“She’s tough, Shane. After what she’s experienced, I suspect she needs to be in control of major decisions.” She snorted. “She may not always make the right one—case in point, leaving you in the night—but that’s something you both can work on, if you want it to work. Compromise, Shane. It’s something you haven’t had to do with a partner in years. Maybe if you learn to hear her out, you’d both be better equipped to make decisions that’ll benefit the both of you.”

I chuckled. “I think I’ve already figured that much out.”

“There might still be hope for you yet, then,” Mom said. “Your father never really clued in, God rest his soul. Oh, he let me think I had control at times, but I’ve always suspected he had a hidden motive that met his own wants in the end.”

I grinned. That really did sound like Dad.

Grabbing hold of my mother’s shoulders, I stared into her eyes. “Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled, then leaned up to kiss my cheek. “Now give me that towel and go make things right.” Yanking the thing from my hand, she snapped it playfully at me once she’d stepped away.

Just as I was about to exit the kitchen, I turned and watched as my mother went back to her task, mumbling to herself in a satisfied fashion about sons needing their mothers to set them straight, no matter how old they were.

Wasn’t that the truth!