They were cleaning up after dinner when Zach’s phone rang. He glanced at it where it lay on the kitchen counter and groaned.
“Speak of the devil.”
“Your brother?”
“My mother.” He wore an odd expression as he frowned at the phone.
“Why don’t I give you some privacy?” Tess offered, driven by instinct.
He looked at her, those creases still in his forehead, and she thought he was disconcerted by something.
“That’s okay,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t mind you hearing anything I say to her.” He picked up the phone. “Mom.”
Fortunately, Tess couldn’t hear his mother’s side of the conversation. After a minute Zach said, “I asked again, Mom. He still says no. If you push too hard it’s never going to happen.”
Tess dried dishes and put them in the cupboards. No dishwasher. Zach had confessed to being irritated enough at having to wash his dishes by hand. He was about to have one installed without waiting until he replaced the cabinets and flooring.
“He’s not married, but he is engaged.” Pause. “Uh, it must be pretty soon. They went shopping for china today.”
“July twenty-third,” Tess said softly.
“What?” Zach covered the phone. “Really?”
“Paige told me.”
“Huh.” He put the phone back to his ear and repeated the date. Then he looked wary. “Yeah, I have a friend here. We just had dinner.”
His mother said something.
“Yes, a female friend.” Pause. His gaze slid sidelong to Tess, then away. “Uh, no.” He listened again. “You know I would.”
No mystery what his mother was going on about: she wanted her son to get married and give her grandchildren. It was classic. And that “no” confirmed Tess’s worst fears, sinking like a lead weight into her belly.
“So, how’s Henry?” he asked suddenly. He listened, an odd look crossing his face. He said goodbye to his mother a minute later, shaking his head as he set the phone down. “Go figure.”
Pretending for all she was worth that she hadn’t listened to the conversation and wasn’t hurt, Tess replaced the dish towel on its hook. “Go figure what?”
“I thought Henry was history. But she almost sounded fond of him.” He gave a short laugh. “Did I tell you he’s husband number five?”
“Five? Are you serious?”
His mouth twisted. “Yeah, constancy is not my mother’s middle name.”
Something told her to step carefully. “I’m sorry.”
“My mother cheats on her husbands.” Zach sounded disturbingly matter-of-fact. “She always has someone waiting in the wings.”
Did he realize he had just explained his rootlessness, his unwillingness to commit to any place or anybody long-term? How easy it would be to hate his mother, a woman who must be impervious to the destruction she had left in her wake.
“Do you have a picture of her?”
His eyebrows went up in surprise, but after a moment he took his wallet from his hip pocket and laid it open on the counter. He removed a picture from a plastic sleeve and handed it to her.
Somehow, Tess wasn’t at all surprised to see that his mother was movie-star gorgeous. His spectacular cheekbones and blue eyes had come from her. Not his coloring, though. She had the auburn hair she’d passed to her oldest son and a smile that hadn’t quite reached her lips, but could be seen in her eyes. The photo was only shoulders up, but the woman in it looked delicate.
Handing the picture back, Tess suddenly felt tall and gawky.
“She’s very beautiful.” What else could she say? “It must have been weird, having the kind of mother men were turning to stare at.”
Zach carefully replaced the photo and closed his wallet, leaving it on the counter. “I didn’t notice when I was a kid. But once I hit adolescence...yeah. I was incredibly embarrassed. I wanted her to put a paper bag over her head before she went out.”
Despite the grief squeezing her chest, Tess laughed at his expression, and he reached out and pulled her close. He leaned back against the counter, his feet spread enough that she could stand between his legs.