Curvy Valentine Match

“Hey guys. What are you doing here?”

Lonnie frowned. “I came to say thanks for everything. Is this a bad time?”

“No, of course not. I just figured that you’d be settling in at home and getting used to life in Tulip.”

Helen waved a dismissive hand at my words and stepped inside. “There’s plenty of time for all that later. We wanted to see you, that’s all.” Helen looked around, a worried expression on her face. “Still staying away from the personal touches, I see.”

“This is just a rental. No point getting used to living here when that can change at any time.”

Helen turned to me, brows arched. “How many years have you lived her?”

“A few.”

“Hmph.” That was Helen’s only response, thankfully, before she found her way to the kitchen, greeting each of my friends as if she’d known them forever.

Lonnie stood in front of me, water shimmering in her big eyes, her makeup-free face making her look even younger than sixteen. She flung her body against mine and hugged me fiercely. “I don’t know why you care about me so much, Mara. But thank you for this. Seriously, thank you.”

I hugged her back with a satisfied smile. “Someone has to care, why not me?”

“No one else cares,” she said softly, a lifetime of hurt wrapped up in those four words.

“Then it’s a good thing you have me, and now Helen, she has enough care to drive you up the wall. I encourage you to soak up every moment of it and commit it to memory. She was the best I ever encountered in the system.”

“And you turned out all right.”

“And you can reach your full potential, if that’s what you want.”

“It is,” she insisted. “I broke up with Kyle. He’s super cute and all, and it’s great to be idolized, but he doesn’t get it or me.”

“You have plenty of time to find someone who does. Between studying and reading and taking notes.”

Lonnie laughed just as Helen poked her head back into the living room. “Hungry, Lonnie?”

“Starved,” she said, blue eyes suddenly wide and excited.

“Go on, then. There’s a ton of food and four new adults you can charm with your grunts and eyerolls.”

“You had me at food,” Lonnie said, squeezing me once more before she was tempted away by the lure of food.

Helen stepped closer, armed with cupcakes as she dropped on the sofa with a sigh. “They’ve placed her with me until there’s a hearing but I don’t see a reason they’ll remove her from my home, so you can stop worrying about that.”

“I’m not.”

“Right,” she said, disbelief written all over her face. “Have you forgiven the Sheriff yet?”

I shook my head. “That would imply there’s something to forgive when there isn’t. He did his job and I did mine, end of story.”

“End of your story together?”

“That ended a long time ago, Helen. He says he didn’t know and I’ve chosen to believe him, but it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t change what happened.”

“But it does, Mara, can’t you see that? It matters how you remember the time you spent with him. How loved you were back then. If you remember that Xander loved you, and that I loved you and even Will, in his own way, maybe you’ll come back to me once in a while.”

Guilt weighed heavy on me. “I never deserved you, Helen. But you’re pretty special, and I promise that I’m going to do better by you moving forward.”

“I don’t want it out of obligation, little girl.”

I laughed. “It’s never that. I didn’t come around because I let you down Helen, and I hate that. I was too embarrassed, so I stayed away, hoping it would give you peace.”

“I’m your mam and no matter what you do, I will love you. No matter how awful or embarrassed you feel, I will be there. To love and support you, to give you a swift kick in the behind when you need it, and to dust you off and make you try again. Same as I did for you and Will and Audrey and plenty of other kids who have a piece of my heart. Same as I’ll do for Lonnie. Got it?”

“Yeah, I got it.” I turned and wrapped both arms around her, thanking the heavens for sending someone like her to me, even if I did screw it up the first time around. “Thank you, Helen. For being you.”

“I don’t want your gratitude, I want to see you at my dinner table.”

“I can do that,” I promised with a smile.

“And I want you to consider giving the Sheriff a second chance.”

“I already did and it didn’t work.” I couldn’t give him another chance to hurt me, that would be like doing it to myself.

“Then maybe you ought to give yourself a second chance at being happy. If not with him, with someone.”