Mackenzie’s shoulder. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“I guess not.” She looked around the store. “Is Ash here?”
Ash? Nobody had ever called her son that. “He’s at home with his nana doing his homework.”
“While it’s still light out?”
Hanna raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, why waste time indoors when everyone else is playing? I do my homework after dinner.” Mackenzie looked at her grandmother. “I mean, that way Daddy is home to help.” She grinned as if proud of her conjured-up excuse. “Can I wait outside now?”
Claire nodded, and Mackenzie dashed for the door, adjusting her pink cap back into place.
“Vince seldom has to help Mackenzie with her homework,” Claire said with a grin. “He dotes on her, but she’s a smart girl.”
“I’m sure she is, a tad precocious maybe, but I can see the intelligence.”
“Sharp like her daddy and book-smart like her mom. She whizzes through school with very little effort and maintains As and Bs.” Claire picked up a copy of Charlotte’s Web and thumbed through it. “Vince is a good son. I’m not sure how I’d have survived without him and Kenzie in our lives.”
Son? Vince was her son-in-law. The woman’s daughter had been gone nine years. Hanna wasn’t sure what to say. “I was sorry to hear about Belinda.”
“Thank you. Do you remember her?”
“We were only a year apart in high school. She was a sweet girl.”
“Her family was the world to her.” Claire swiped her hand across her freckled cheek. “I’d better get Kenzie home. Vince insisted she come by and apologize.”
Really? “I want Mackenzie and Ashton to be friends. It’s just that Vince and I have very different parenting styles.”
“Vince is an excellent father.”
Being his daughter’s best buddy didn’t qualify him as an excellent dad, but Hanna did envy the close relationship he had with Mackenzie. Richard had always been too busy earning a living to have time to bond with Ashton.
“I’m sure he is, but—” Hanna caught herself. “We just have different approaches.”
POSSIBLY BECAUSE THE KIDS were in ISS, the rest of the week progressed without serious incident. Each afternoon when Hanna picked Ashton up at school, he had some story about Mackenzie’s escapades, escapades that typically involved him.
Friday afternoon was no different, except they had to drive two hours to Waco to meet Richard so Ashton could spend the weekend with his father.
Ashton tossed his backpack on the floorboard and buckled his seat belt. “You should have been at school today, Mom. The teacher left the library to go to the restroom and Billy started being a jerk, called me a nerd, and then Kenzie called him a scum reptile. I thought they were going to get into it, but Kenzie didn’t want to get expelled so she ripped a sheet of notebook paper out of her binder, wadded it up and threw it at him instead. World War Three broke out and we were winning, but then she saw Ms. James coming.”
Geez. “Ashton.”
He laughed. “Dumb Bully Baer was so busy pummeling us with paper wads that he didn’t notice we’d stopped. So it looked like it’d snowed around our table when Ms. James came in, and paper was just flying one way so Bully Baer got in trouble, not us. And the best part was that he was really ticked that he’d wadded up his report and threw it, too, so when he was picking up the paper he had to unwad each one to find his report, then he had to copy it over.”
The tendons in Hanna’s neck threatened to snap. “Not getting caught is not the same as not misbehaving. You two were just as guilty.”
Ashton huffed and glared at her. “Mom, you are so lame. You’re never fun.”
“There are many ways to have fun without misbehaving.” Well, okay, that did sound lame. “Have you made any other new friends besides Mackenzie?”
Ashton let out a deep, exasperated breath. “Bully Baer, does he count? Why do you hate Kenzie? She’s cool.”
Mischievous and undisciplined was now cool? Following basic classroom rules and good behavior was lame? She’d hoped Ashton would avoid buying into the whole rebellious game. And he had, until he’d moved to Marble Falls. “I just think that next week when you’re out of ISS, you might meet some other nice kids to hang around with. It’s good to have more than one friend.”
“Kenzie is the only one I have since you made me move to dumb Marble Falls.” Ashton flipped down the DVD screen and snapped his headphones on. “Let me know when we get there.”
Great. The first weekend Ashton was spending with Richard in Dallas and the boy was going to leave angry at her. Just peachy. Wonderful start to an already stressful weekend.
Hanna drove in silence while Ashton sat in the backseat, headphones isolating him from further conversation. He laughed at the movie, but didn’t even acknowledge her. Waco was approximately halfway between Marble Falls and Dallas and where she’d arranged to meet Richard. This was the first time Ashton would be so far away from her since the divorce. What if he had an asthma attack? Would Richard know what to do? She wouldn’t relax until she had Ashton back with her.
Richard’s silver Lexus sat in the McDonald’s parking lot, but he wasn’t alone. That college student who had broken up Hanna’s marriage sat in the passenger seat, her hair twisted and stuck to the back of her head with one of those huge finger clips, blond sprigs sprouting out at odd angles. She stared straight ahead and avoided looking at Hanna. Good! The little home wrecker should feel guilty.
Hanna gulped as Richard opened his door and came around to collect Ashton’s suitcase. As always, Richard was dressed to the height of style. Gray slacks she’d bought him last Christmas and a white button-down. Both starched and pressed, courtesy of the Highland Park Cleaners. Short brown hair freshly trimmed every third Tuesday at five-thirty. Every detail attended to.
This whole situation was surreal. What had happened to their family? How had they gotten to this point? She glanced at the little blonde in the front seat. Hanna’s stomach threatened her with nausea. Suddenly this girl had Hanna’s family and Hanna was the outsider.
At least Hanna had primary custody. For now. She could take Ashton anywhere in Texas as long as she contributed half the expense of his transportation for designated visits with his dad.
But what if Richard didn’t bring Ashton back Sunday afternoon as agreed upon? When she’d announced her intention to move home to Marble Falls to be close to her mother, Richard had insisted that Ashton would be better off remaining in Dallas with him. He’d argued that the divorce had been hard enough on their son and it would only make it harder if they uprooted him from the home and school he was accustomed to.
What if Ashton decided he missed Dallas and didn’t want to come back to Marble Falls? Especially given that Hanna didn’t seem to be at the top of his favorite-person list at the moment. In a couple of weeks, Ashton would be twelve and the judge would probably go along with his wishes.
Engulfing
