Bad Mother by Mia Sheridan

Author:Mia Sheridan [Sheridan, Mia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Montlake
Published: 2023-03-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Sienna swallowed, shifting on her feet as she pressed the buzzer. The home was lovely. A Mediterranean style with two tall palm trees flanking the start of the walkway, and more palms rising behind the house. Sienna hadn’t necessarily missed a lot about Reno, landscapewise, or at least she hadn’t realized she had, but she suddenly realized she’d missed the palm trees, somehow casually majestic—whether an oxymoron or not, to her, it fit. And the desert sunsets, she thought, tilting her head to the sky, like the one flaming above me right this moment.

This house, this street . . . it was exactly where she could picture Mirabelle.

The door was pulled open, and the woman herself stood there, an expectant look melting into surprise and then dissolving into tears as she squealed Sienna’s name, enveloping her in a lily of the valley–smelling bear hug.

Sienna let out a smothered laugh, holding the bottle of wine she’d brought to the side so it wouldn’t get crushed between them. In the momentary glimpse she’d gotten, she’d seen that Mirabelle remained beautiful, her blonde hair streaked with white but still in the same upswept style she’d always worn, her figure still trim.

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” Mirabelle said, pulling away and bringing her hands to Sienna’s cheeks and holding them gently. “Oh, my sweet girl. When Gavin told me you were back in town, I almost keeled over with happiness. Well, come in, oh.” Despite her invitation, she enveloped Sienna in another hug, not allowing her to move for a moment before again pulling away. “Gosh, you’re gorgeous. Look at you. You always were a beauty, but now, oh goodness, you must think I’m a mess with makeup running down my face.” She swiped at the slight black smudges under her eyes, taking Sienna by the hand.

“Hi, Mirabelle,” Sienna said, and she heard the unshed tears in her voice as a flood of comfort and the love she’d always felt for Gavin’s mother overwhelmed her. God, she’d missed her so much.

Mirabelle turned, and Sienna looked up to see Gavin leaning casually in a doorway beyond, watching them, a gentle smile on his lips. Their eyes met, and he tipped his chin. “Glad you could make it,” he said.

She gave him a slight smile in return, her gaze going to the photographs on the wall, the same ones Mirabelle had displayed in her mobile home so many years ago. Sienna’s eight-year-old gap-toothed smile. Gavin performing in a play at school. Both of their graduation photos. She swallowed. Mirabelle had kept them up. All these years. And though the ones of Sienna and Gavin together as a couple were now gone, the ones that spoke of Mirabelle considering Sienna a long-lost yet still-loved daughter remained.

“Come in and let me get you a drink. We have so much catching up to do, don’t we? Let me take that,” she said, taking the bottle of cabernet from Sienna as they entered a spacious kitchen with creamy cabinets, white marble countertops, and a pearlescent tile backsplash.

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