Catch Me Twice by Charmaine Pauls

Author:Charmaine Pauls [Pauls, Charmaine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9782956103196
Published: 2019-09-23T18:30:00+00:00

When we get home, I don’t bathe Noah in the tub, but take a warm shower holding him tightly in my arms. After we’re both dressed in our flannel pajamas, way too warm for summer but not enough to warm the chill in my bones, I go through the habitual motions of feeding him dinner and reading him a story. After the traumatic experience, he needs the reassuring routine of his everyday life. Instead of putting him down in his crib, I crawl into bed with him. It doesn’t take long for him to doze off, probably an aftereffect of the fright.

My mom sits down on the edge of the bed, a tender smile warming her face as she looks down at Noah. “He was very brave.”

Pinching my eyes close for a second, I take a tremulous breath. “I still feel sick.”

“Can I get you anything?”

“It’s more of an emotional sickness.” Which I feel in my insides and every bone of my body.

She regards me quietly for a while. I know what’s coming even before she asks, “Are you going to tell me what happened with Jake tonight?”

My stomach twists with guilt but showing it will only make her believe she’s got a reason to worry. “When were you going to tell me about Eddie?”

“It’s not serious.” She blinks when she says it, a telltale sign she’s lying.

“How long have you been sleeping together?”

She waves a hand. “Four or five years.”

I gasp. “And you’re only telling me now?”

She scratches the back of her neck. “I didn’t know how you’d take it. Besides, as I said, it’s nothing serious.”

Taking her hand, I squeeze her fingers. “If you were trying to protect me, you needn’t have bothered.”

She gives me a startled look. “Why?”

“Eddie’s been too nice to me for a while now. I should’ve guessed. Plus, I don’t care who you date. You’re an adult, Mom. I respect your choices.”

“Well,” she smooths a crease from the bedspread with a palm, “he does own the corner store, and he is Chinese.”

There’s a stigma to corner store owners in our town, especially the small stores that sell toffees and chewing gum by the unit, and even more so if the owners are foreigners. Around here, foreignness is a fear all on its own.

“Just because other people look down on who he is and what he does for a living doesn’t mean I will.”

“You’re right.” She gives me a hesitant smile. “I should’ve had more faith in you.”

Her words sting, because they boomerang right back at me, throwing an unwelcome spotlight on what happened with Jake behind the curtain of willow branches.

“It’s late,” I mumble. “After what happened, I’m really tired.”

“Of course.” She pats my hand. “Wake me if you need anything in the night.”

“Mom,” I groan. “I’m twenty-two, not five.”

“A mother is always a mother, no matter the age of her spawn.”

She says spawn jokingly, as if the word is evil, which I most probably am, seeing that I cheated on Luan with my husband.

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