He smiled and she saw a glimmer of his father in his eyes. Her husband had been a handsome devil, and their sons were, too. David, most of all. “You look exactly the same,” he said. “I was just thinking about you driving yourself all this way. That was pretty adventurous yourself, Ma.”
“You act like I’m old,” she sniffed.
“No, ma’am, just directionally challenged.”
That was a true fact, so she let it pass. “Your place is coming together nicely. I’d hoped for a little more furniture, but I can see you’ve been busy.”
“Thanks. I put in windows, wood trim, and plumbing. I’ve got to do the floors on one and two, but you can start on color swatches and carpet styles now if you want.”
She nodded, sipping her coffee. “Speaking of floors, I hear you had an adventure yourself this morning.” She said it calmly, even though her heart still hadn’t returned to normal. “But you appear to be all right.”
He rolled his eyes, but there was worry there. “Who told Glenn about it?”
“Somebody named Raz, who heard it from somebody named Gabe, who heard it from somebody named Zell.”
“I’m sure the story was nowhere near the truth by the time it got to Glenn,” he said.
“Probably,” she agreed mildly. He was hiding something. She’d always been able to tell. Of all her children, David seemed the most straightforward, but he was the most complicated. And the most unhappy.
“So,” he said casually. “What did Glenn tell you?”
“That you were searching for victims in that condo that’s been on the news all morning, and the floor collapsed under your feet. You nearly plunged four stories.” She was still shaken. “And you caught some kind of ball before it slid into the big dark hole.”
He frowned. “I was hoping it would be a lot further from the truth.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “The ball is supposed to be a secret. You can’t tell anyone, okay?”
“I can keep a secret. It’s your friends I’d be worried about.”
“Yeah, I got that. I need to call the detective.” On his cell phone, he dialed a number from memory, holding his breath as he waited for an answer.
She heard a woman answer before he pressed the phone to his ear. “Sutherland.”
Dropping her eyes to her coffee, she eavesdropped shamelessly. Sutherland was a name she knew. She’d met Olivia at Mia’s wedding. Mia’s half sister seemed like a nice young woman. A little sad, but polite. And pretty. And apparently more involved with her youngest son than any of them had suspected. Paige’s voice had carried.
“Hi. It’s David Hunter. I just wanted to let you know that the news about the ball got out.” From beneath her lashes, Phoebe saw him wince. Mia’s little sister wasn’t happy.
He made a face. “Even my mother knows,” he said wryly. “She’s visiting and heard it from a retired firefighter friend of mine who got it through the grapevine. What do you want me to do?” He listened a moment, then shot a concerned look across the table and turned away. “You have an ETA?” he murmured.
Her head still down, Phoebe’s brows went up. ETA? Olivia was coming here?
Abruptly David rose and left the apartment and Phoebe wondered if he knew the door hadn’t shut behind him. “My mother is staying here,” she heard him say. “But I have a place we can meet. I’ll text you the address.”
There was silence, then his surprised voice. “You’ve identified her? Already?” More silence, then he said quietly, “Tell her father that we really tried. That I’m sorry.”
Phoebe sighed. Glenn told her that David had pulled a young girl from the fire, that she’d already been dead. David would worry over that. He’d go over it in his mind again and again, wondering if he could have done anything differently. If he could have fixed it. Saved the girl. Because that’s what David did. He fixed things. Saved people.
It was time her son saved himself, and if he couldn’t… then I will.
David disconnected, then reached for the doorknob, rolling his eyes when he found the door hadn’t closed. I need to fix that, he thought. With it cracked open, sound carried. It was reasonable to assume his mother had heard every word.
She looked up when he came back in, brows raised. “So how is Olivia?”
He swallowed his sigh. “The condo victims were homicides. She caught the case.”
“So where will you be meeting her tonight?” She lifted her hand when he started to protest. “I’m only asking because if you don’t want me here, I can stay with Evie.”
He sank into the chair next to her. “Ma.”
“I can keep secrets, son,” she said mildly. “Even the ones you haven’t told me.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. “What secrets haven’t I told you?”
She sat back, tilted her head, crossed her arms and studied him. He knew the look. It was the same one she’d used every time he’d gotten into trouble as a kid, and he knew what would come next would not be comfortable. “Well, for starters, that you fell in love with Dana Dupinsky at first sight.”
He looked away, his cheeks growing warm. “You knew all along?” he asked quietly.
“Yes. I knew you loved her, but she thought of you as a brother. I knew you worked tirelessly to support her work with battered women, along with supporting a dozen other charities in town. And I knew that it broke your heart when she married someone else.”
He closed his eyes wearily. “Who else knew about Dana?”
“The ones who figured it out for themselves. Max and Caroline.” David’s older brother and his wife. Long ago, Dana had helped Caroline escape brutal domestic abuse. For that alone, Dana would forever be part of their family. “The twins,” she added. Peter and Cathy were still “the twins,” even though they were pushing forty-five.
He opened one eye. “ Elizabeth, too?” he asked.
“Yes. Your little sister picks up on more than we all give her credit for. We kept hoping you’d find someone else, that you’d be happy. But you didn’t and we didn’t know what to do, so we didn’t say or do anything. Did we do wrong?”
He shook his head. “No. There wasn’t anything you could have done, Ma.”
“I know. Makes a mother feel helpless when her kids hurt and she can’t do anything. When you told me you were moving, I wasn’t surprised. I knew you’d have to get away. I was surprised you stayed as long as you did. When you told me Minneapolis, I figured you’d picked this town to be closer to Evie and Tom.”
David’s old friend Evie had left Chicago to escape demons of her own, and his nephew, Caroline’s son Tom, was a college basketball star here at the university. “I did,” he said, and that was partly true. “Though I don’t see either of them much. They’re both so busy at school, both with their own lives. And Noah watches out for Evie now.”
His mother smiled. “Which is how it should be. Now, that you and Olivia had a biblical… thing after Mia’s wedding? That I did not know until your friend Paige confronted you.” She lifted her brows. “Because I have ears like a bat.”
He rolled his eyes, his face on fire. “Ma.”
“David,” she returned, mimicking his tone. “I have to eavesdrop. You never tell me anything. Thanks to Paige, I have a fuller picture of the puzzle that is my son.”
“I’m no puzzle. Anyway, you seem to have had it all figured out.”
She shook her head. “Not really. There’s a piece of you I’ve never been able to completely understand. I’ve admired it, loved it, bragged on it, but never understood it.”
He found himself lifting his chin defensively. “And what’s that?”
“What drives you to serve. You went from a headstrong, bullheaded, narcissistic teenager who cared for no one but himself to a man who serves more than anyone I know. Almost overnight.”