Page 52 of A Return For Ren

Zane stood up and moved to get a napkin, slapping Lily’s ass on the way. “She loves me the way I am.”

“I really do,” Lily said. “So does your sister.”

“I do too,” she said. “I’m going to have dinner with Tess and Ren and Max today at Tess’s house. She asked yesterday when we stopped to get Max after dinner.”

“His mother knows you are dating again?” Lily asked.

“I get the feeling she found out when I showed up last night. I haven’t talked to Ren yet today. He texted to say when he was picking me up and that was it. I told him I was coming here this morning.”

“Then I hope you have a good dinner with Ren and his family and you know we are here if you need any support or some ears too,” Lily said.

“I know,” she said. “One more thing. Don’t tell Mom and Dad.”

“You are keeping it a secret,” Zane said, pointing his finger at her and grinning.

“If it was a secret then you wouldn’t know. Mom and Dad knew how hurt I was. I don’t want them worrying when they aren’t here to see me. I’ll tell them when I’m ready. Which means not bringing it up at Thanksgiving when they call in a few days.”

“I won’t bring it up,” Zane said.

“You know I won’t either,” Lily said. “We’ve got a full house here this year so I’m sure your parents won’t be on the phone long.”

She knew Poppy and Reese, Rose and Thomas and Tom Klein were coming to dinner along with herself. The most that had been here for a holiday before.

It would be fun and she enjoyed her time with her brother’s family.

She always wondered if she’d get what Zane had and there was hope that it could happen finally.

17

In Her Hands

“That was nice of your mother to go to all that trouble for dinner,” Zara said Sunday afternoon. “She said she was at the marina this morning and then came back and started to cook.”

“She’s done that her whole life. I don’t try to tell her to cut back. It’s falling on deaf ears.”

But it wouldn’t be much longer. They had a list of things to have done in the next month to get ready to list the marina for sale. Ren knew they could put it up now, but they’d get more for it if things were in better condition. He wanted his mother to be set for life.

If she wasn’t or needed more, he’d give it to her or make sure she was fine.

He wasn’t going to share information like this with Zara, but his parents’ house was paid for. They had no personal debt. The marina had one loan on it from years ago to have some work done on the building. The roof was only ten years old, the gas tanks had been upgraded and the furnace for the building was new. Wiring had been updated when the gas lines and tanks were done at the same time.

All the big costs were taken care of. Someone could buy the marina and continue to run it as is and only make cosmetic changes once they were done with the few suggestions from the realtor.

“I’m sure she is torn between looking forward to her retirement and stepping away from the memories she had with your father.”

“I guess so,” he said.

“You haven’t talked about it?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “We haven’t had time and it’s not something she will bring up with me. I know she is looking forward to retirement. She’s tired. She wants to go on some trips and get to know her grandson. She knows a lot of people and has a lot of friends. She’s always been more social than my father.”

Once business talks had been out of the way, his mother would bring up all the trips she had planned with friends of hers that were retired also. Some would be couples, but his mother wouldn’t care if she was alone. There would be plenty enough people and things for her to do.

He was going to make damn sure his mother got to do all those things she wanted.

“It’s good to have something to look forward to,” she said “What are the things you need to get done this month?”

“Cosmetic stuff,” he said. “Flooring and windows in some of the rooms in the main building. The restaurant needs to be painted too, but it was too big of a project for me.”