had barely driven away from the Shadowview Military Hospital when Hunter started in on all of his upcoming plans to visit his pen-pal-turned-best-friend. She nodded her head and made noncommittal “hmm” sounds every few minutes, but her teeth made deep indentations along her tongue as she kept herself from discrediting the man to his number one fan. She didn’t want Hunter to get his hopes up, and prayed he would lose interest in his new hero by the time Cooper got his discharge papers.
When the boy’s chattering finally slowed, she cranked up the radio volume, hoping the preprogrammed Motown station would get her back to her normally cheerful and positive self. But hearing The Miracles sing about really having a hold on her just hit too close to home. She reached out her hand to turn off the song, then froze, determined not to allow Cooper to have any type of hold on her.
Sweet mercy, even thinking the man’s name made her chest pound again. The guy was so beat up he could hardly write his signature on the admission forms, and Maxine experienced a twinge of regret for pushing him and that derelict airport-issued wheelchair to the limits when she’d quickened her steps and had forced his well-muscled arms to match her quick pace as they’d exited the baggage claim area. Really, though, it was his own fault for being so competitive—like every other male she knew—and refusing to let some female, even one who ran several miles a day, leave him in the dust.
Now, the closer she drove toward home, the more convinced she became that Cooper might not have been that much of a macho jerk if he’d been feeling better. So then why had she allowed him to get her so flustered? She tried to think of all the tidbits of information Hunter had told her about the marine these past few months. But her son usually talked nonstop, like he was doing now, and she figured it would just be easier to wait until Hunter went out with his grandmother tonight, and then go back and read the letters.
After all, it wasn’t as if their correspondence was a secret. He’d shown the letters to her before—repeatedly. She just hadn’t thought they’d been that important at the time and hadn’t given them more than a passing glance. She pulled into her parking spot in the alley behind the Sugar Falls Cookie Company. Thank goodness her bakery closed every day at three o’clock. As soon as Hunter left for his regular Thursday night outing, she could slip right up to their renovated apartment upstairs and pour herself a glass of wine. Or a bottle.
“Your grandmother is going to be here to pick you up any minute. Take your backpack inside, then run up and change into that new sweater she bought you.”
“Mom, that sweater is a joke,” Hunter said as he got out of the car and followed her inside the cool and quiet industrial-sized kitchen. “It’s way too small and it has a picture of a bear throwing a football on the front. I can’t wear that around town.”
“Sweetie, sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do to make other people in our lives happy.” Like drive an hour to the airport to pick up an injured and cranky marine we’ve just met, then get insulted by his high-handed manliness as I drive him to the hospital—just to see my son smile.
“Fiiine. Hey, I can’t wait to tell Gram all about meeting Cooper. She said she’d drive me down to Shadowview to visit him after he has his surgery. And Aunt Kylie saw his picture and said he was a hottie. I bet she’d give me a ride to visit him, too. He’s single, so maybe they could even go on a date or something when he gets all better.”
A prickle of jealousy rose up along Maxine’s spine. Her best friend Kylie was beautiful, and she did have an eye for the men. But the thought of her dating Cooper didn’t sit well. Not that Maxine had any claim on the man. Heck, she wouldn’t wish his grumpy bad attitude on anyone.
“I’ll take you to see him, honey. You don’t need to bother Gram or Aunt Kylie with that. Let’s just wait and see how his surgeries go and what the doctors say before you make any plans to go visit. Besides, you have school and lots of other stuff you need to take care of first.”
“Other stuff like what, Mom? I don’t have any friends besides Jake. And it’s not like you’re going to let me play baseball this year, either.”
“Hunter!” Maxine was tired of being made to look like the bad guy. “It’s not like you’re banned from sports or exercise. You could go running with me every afternoon. Or you could play tennis with Gram. And I bought you that Wii U sports game. I totally believe in exercising. We’ve been over this. I just don’t want you playing contact sports or getting a big ego the way most athletes do. There’s so much more to life than sports.”
“Not to your dad, there wasn’t,” a sugary voice singsonged as the back door closed.
Maxine cringed as Cessy Walker, her former mother-in-law and Bo Walker’s biggest fan, came strolling into the bakery to add her customary two cents.
“Your father loved football more than anything,” Cessy added.
He definitely loved the game more than his wife and son, Maxine thought, with Bo’s popularity coming in a close second. But she focused her attention on the woman who’d just entered the cookie shop.
Maxine nodded toward the stairway leading to their living quarters above the bakery. “Hunter, run upstairs to the apartment and change clothes. We can talk more about this when you come home tonight.”
When she saw Cessy’s gaze follow Hunter, she crossed her arms over her rib cage to hold her jittery emotions in check. No matter how helpful her mother-in-law was, the woman had a tendency to be every bit as overpowering as her perfume and opinions. Also, Maxine wasn’t sure what Cessy already knew about the whole pen pal situation, but one thing she could count on was that Hunter’s grandmother wouldn’t like him having any heroes other than Bodrick “Bo” Walker, the legendary Sugar Falls High School quarterback and Boise State second-string tight end.
“Those Hudson Jeans look good on you,” Cessy told Maxine. “I knew they would. I’ll get you another pair when I go into the city next week.”
“Thanks, but you don’t need to do that. I don’t need anything else. Really. You buy me and Hunter enough as it is.” Maxine didn’t have the heart to tell Cessy that with her cookie business booming the way it was, she probably now brought in more income than Cessy’s monthly alimony checks and stock dividends combined.
“Honey, Bo wouldn’t want his wife and only son running around in clothes off the discount store clearance racks.”
In the zinger department, this was point one for Cessy. Maxine knew her mother-in-law wasn’t trying to be insulting, but apparently the woman couldn’t help sounding a little, well, snobbish.
“Besides,” Cessy added, “I love doing this for you two. I’m the only family you have around.”
Point two. Cessy always seemed to find ways to remind Maxine that she wasn’t able to stay in frequent contact with her own scattered family.
When Hunter came back downstairs, pulling on the too-short waistband of the hated bear sweater, Maxine said, “Be good tonight for Gram.”
Cessy ushered the boy out the back door and into her brand-new red Lexus. Her former mother-in-law got a new car every year, even though she was no longer married to the dealership’s owner. Maxine suspected that a yearly lease was part of her last divorce settlement.
“And wear your seat belt,” she added. “No TV or screen time tonight until you finish your homework.”
Sometimes it seemed as though Maxine was constantly issuing orders, and it didn’t sit well
