Say It's Forever (Redemption Hills 2)

“I know. I’m sorry. My car just died.” I waved a flustered hand in the air, another bolt of distress lighting me through. The last thing I’d needed was another issue.

“Told you that thing was about to go kaput.”

“You weren’t wrong.”

She leaned against the doorway and crossed her arms over her chest. “Which is why I didn’t want you out gallivanting by yourself last night. Told you a storm was a’comin’. My poor aching bones are at least good for something.”

Gallivanting?

Not even close.

I’d somehow convinced my grandmother and brother I was meeting the neighbor lady I’d met across the street for drinks downtown.

Unbelievable?

Absolutely.

But I guessed all of us had become complacent.

Easing into normalcy which was the goal.

Our claim.

What we were desperate for.

She didn’t need to know I was hawking the last piece of jewelry I still owned of my mother’s.

Mimi’s eyes narrowed in speculation. “So, who was this friend?”

Uneasily, I took the last step up to the front door, my gaze dropping to my feet for a second before I met Mimi’s eyes. I thought to lie, but then I figured the woman could see right through me, anyway.

She’d raised me, after all.

“I guess you could say he just became my friend last night.”

Juni clapped, her voice full of a thrill. “You got a new friend, Mommy? That’s so, so good! Meeting new people is really important.”

“That’s right, Juni Bee,” I told her, though my attention was still locked on my grandmother who eyed me up and down.

“He a looker?” she asked, her brow rising in what appeared glee.

“Mimi,” I chastised as I stepped into the old house. The main room was small, the carpet worn, and the furniture old. But Mimi had taken to making it a home. Every nook and cranny was filled with the same knickknacks from her house growing up, and she’d covered the walls in family pictures.

Juni and I were staying in the main living room since there were only two bedrooms, and I wasn’t about to oust Darius and Mimi from their beds. Darius had tried to argue, but I’d insisted. He was paying for this place, and like I’d told Jud, I was no charity case.

I’d managed to scrape by doing odd jobs for the last four years, and that wasn’t going to change.

Mimi laughed as she followed us inside. “Oh, I was young once, missy. Don’t even be givin’ me that. It’s about time you had yourself a little fun.”

“I’m not anywhere near being in the position to entertain the idea of fun, Mimi,” I told her, setting Juni on her feet. Juni scampered over to the dolls she had set up by the window, singing under her breath when she climbed down onto her knees to play.

A light in the shadows. My beacon in the dark. Where my heart would always follow.

I realized I must have been staring at my daughter because Mimi’s expression had gone soft when I finally looked back at her.

“The heart usually decides when you’re ready, Salem, not the head.”

A doubtful chuckle rippled out. “Honestly, it was nothing, Mimi. Just a nice guy who stopped to help me in the rain. A guy who just so happened to turn out to be Darius’ boss. There was nothing there, so you just forget whatever scandalous ideas you have spinning in your brain right now.”

“I live for scandalous ideas.”

“Mimi.” I huffed.

Laughing, she started to shuffle toward the kitchen. “I might be old, but I’m not dead, girl, so don’t pretend like I didn’t just see that blush light up your cheeks. Nothing there, my ass.”

“I am not blushing, Mimi,” I hollered behind her.

The second she disappeared through the doorway, I touched my cheek, feeling the heat on my fingertips.

Crap.

“And while you’re at it, you might as well fess up about whatever you were up to last night because I sure know it wasn’t meeting up with a friend, but I sure like the idea of you making some new ones.” Her voice carried from the kitchen.

Double crap.

“Mimi, ass is bad words.” Juni said it so casually, like she’d been a part of the entire conversation. “You’re the one who’d better be fessing it up, young lady, before you get in troubles and have to go to timeout all the way in Antarctica.”

“Time out in Antarctica? Well, we don’t want that now, do we? How about I trade you a popsicle, instead, angel girl?” Mimi all but sang.

Juni hopped to her feet and raced for the kitchen.

The child was nothing but pink bows and bright, blinding life.

“Deal!”

“Ugh, Mimi, you are going to spoil her rotten.”

“That’s what mimis are for, sweet child.”

“And you’re my greatest mimi, right?” Juni asked, standing at her side with all that hope shining on her adorable face.

I’d followed them to the entryway, light laughter rolling from my throat. Juni kept smiling up at her great grandmother. Mimi touched her chin. “That’s right, Juni Bee. The greatest, and don’t you ever forget it.”