Page 28 of Wilde Abandon
“We’re so terrible for protecting an abused child.Oh, the shame we feel.”She rolled her eyes.“If not for us, Fox might be dead.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”Tanya snapped out her indignation.
“I’m sure you told yourself that over and over again those eight years Fox lived here with you and your bastard of a husband.”
Tanya pointed a finger at her.“You don’t know nothing about nothing.”
“I know what Fox sounds like when it hurts for him to breathe because his ribs are bruised, cracked, or broken.I know the anguish I felt every time I looked into his eyes and saw nothing but pain and desperation and resignation that nothing would change.You two would never stop.I know he sometimes hoped that it would end and that he knew that end would be his death.I know the look of hunger in his eyes because he didn’t get anything to eat all weekend and the desperation when he saw me Monday morning at school knowing I’d brought him food.I know what it’s like to feel his arms wrap around me and shudder with the relief and longing he felt to be held with love.I know that you never gave him that.I know you don’t deserve—”
“Melody, stop.”Fox stood in the doorway, his gaze locked on her.“Just stop.”
Tanya stepped closer to Fox.“The only thing I want is to spend time with my son.I need help.And he’s offered it.Without him, I don’t know what will happen to me.I need him.”
She was using him.Worse, she was playing on his sympathy with that soft, pleading voice she used to spout those words.
Melody wanted to grab Fox and haul him out of there as fast as possible.But Melody caught the slight shake of Fox’s head, telling her to leave it alone.She pressed her lips tight and kept her mouth shut.
“How about I make you something to eat, Tanya, before I have to get Melody to work.”
For Fox, Melody held her tongue, went to the fridge, and stared at the contents.“I can whip together a ham and cheese omelet if you’d like.”She turned and stared at Tanya’s narrowed gaze.“Or if you have some canned tomatoes or even spaghetti sauce, I could make you some bagel pizzas with the cheese in here and the ham.”
Fox’s gaze went from her to Tanya and back again.
“Why would you do that?”Suspicion lit Tanya’s eyes.
“Because I’d do anything for Fox.My mother taught me to cook.Me and all my siblings.”She didn’t miss the sharpening of Tanya’s glare that she’d mentioned her mother had seen to it that her kids knew some basic skills and the only thing she’d taught Fox was pain and hurt.“So what’ll it be?”
“The omelet I guess since I don’t have the toaster oven.”
“I can make the pizza bagel and pop it under the broiler.”
“Oven doesn’t work.Like a lot of things around here.”
Fox folded his arms over his chest.“I’ll get the toaster oven.You’ve got a new microwave.You said you didn’t want me to get a new oven because you don’t cook a lot.”
Tanya gave Fox a wan smile.“I was just letting her know it doesn’t work.That’s all.You’ve been so generous, I didn’t want to ask for too much, son.”
Fox flinched at the reminder that he was home with a mother who’d hurt him.
It wasn’t lost on her that he stood across the room from Tanya, his back to the door.The easiest and quickest exit.
He still saw his mom as a threat.Good.Maybe it would save him more heartache.
Chapter eight
Somestrangesensethatsomething was off made Melody take the long way around to work that evening.It took twice as long, but took her right past Tanya’s place again.Sure enough, she spotted a very familiar beat-up orange Chevy truck in the drive, shotgun in the back window rack with a pot leaf bumper sticker.Like that wasn’t an advertisement for Brian’s business.
It didn’t surprise her that a cancer patient wanted to buy some weed to help with the side effects from her treatment, though marijuana was still illegal in Wyoming.You could buy edibles, just not smoke a joint.
Whatever.None of her business.
She drove on, thinking about how she and Fox had parted after the visit with Tanya.He’d been quiet in the car.He’d felt a million miles away, not just a couple feet away.When he dropped her at her car, he thanked her for making Tanya lunch and doing all the dishes in the sink while Fox and Tanya chatted in the other room with aBig Bang Theoryrerun playing in the background.
Tanya complained that she’d had to add an extra blanket to her bed because the heater in the house didn’t work as well as it used to.Fox told her he’d get her a new oven and have someone come out to check the furnace.His business must be doing really well if he could afford to fix up Tanya’s place without batting an eye.
He was trying to be a good son.
Tanya kept things cordial, but always seemed to work in a complaint about something that would cost Fox money.