The Gamble (Colorado Mountain 1)

“It isn’t,” Linda replied.

“Oh, so now it’s gonna be perfect f**kin’ Nina,” Kami bit out.

Linda turned back to her daughter but I moved in quickly with hopes of lightening the mood.

“I’m sorry, Linda, but I don’t know how to fix a sink.”

Linda looked at me, her eyes caught mine and she replied, “That’s okay, Nina. Talked to Barb. What you know how to fix is a whole lot more important than a sink.”

I stared at her, now understanding why she liked me and Max’s arm curled tighter around my neck.

“What’s this?” Kami asked.

“None of your business,” Linda said, her eyes going to her daughter then to Shauna and then she said, “You two are adults so you gotta do what you think you gotta do but I’ll tell you, you show up at Curtis Dodd’s funeral it’ll make me think less of you.” Her gaze hardened on Shauna and she finished, “It’ll make me think less of you both.”

Shauna’s eyes moved quickly away but Kami glared at her mother.

“Maybe we should leave,” Kami suggested.

“Since you’re my ride up here, that’d make it difficult for me to get down the mountain,” Linda replied.

“I’ll take you down, Mom,” Max put in smoothly.

“Perfect f**kin’ Max,” Kami shot at him.

“What is it with you?” Max shot back. “Seriously, Kami, I wanna know. Why are you such a bitch all the time?”

“I don’t know, Max, maybe it’s ‘cause you were Dad’s favorite and you’re Mom’s favorite and I could handle that if my nose wasn’t rubbed into it all the time,” Kami returned.

Jealous and juvenile, I thought, staring at her in amazement at her words for her behavior was the norm, as far as I knew it.

“Honest to God?” Max asked.

“I’m sure it’s hard for you to believe, seein’ as you have no clue how it feels,” Kami returned.

“Christ, I feel like I’m fifteen again,” Max muttered, “since we had this conversation when I was fifteen and fourteen and f**kin’ twenty-five.”

“Whatever,” Kami muttered back.

“The other thing, Nina,” Linda said to me, flipping the pancakes, “is all kids think a parent has a favorite. They don’t. It isn’t possible. You love your children, maybe not the same but always the same amount.”

“Right,” Kami said to her mother’s back.

“Though,” Linda said to me, “you can tell them that and tell them that but they’ll never believe you.”

“I’m an only child,” I informed Linda or at least I was now.

“That’s too bad,” Linda replied, reaching in the cupboard for plates. “I got a sister and brother, love ‘em both to bits. Wish my kids had that.”

“If Max’ll take you down the mountain, we’ll skip on the pancakes.” Kami again spoke to her mother’s back, clearly not allowing a single word her mother said to penetrate her rabid desire to be the martyr.

“All right, Kami,” Linda replied, not turning and Kami and Shauna both slid from their stools.

Then Linda continued with her pancakes and Max stayed still at my side, his arm around my shoulders as Kami and Shauna walked to the door.

“We’ll see ourselves out,” Kami called spitefully.

“All right, darlin’,” Linda called back and handed me a plate of pancakes.

The door closed and I offered the pancakes to Max.

“You eat, baby, I’ll wait for the next round,” Max said softly.

“And I’ll apologize for Kami,” Linda said as she put butter into the skillet. “She isn’t like this all the time, honestly. Curtis’s death has been tough on her.”

“Then maybe she shouldn’t be friends with Curt’s piece of ass,” Max muttered as I slid out from under Max’s arm and walked to the butter.

“Max,” Linda said quietly.

“Can’t imagine why you brought them both here, Mom, especially Shauna,” Max said and Linda looked at him.

“I did because a mother always wants to believe the best of her kids. I had a word with Kami about the crap I heard in town, she and Shauna came and asked if I’d smooth the way with you. I had no idea that would happen.”

“They played it so they could act just like that, get under Nina’s skin and rile her up. Nina’s hell on wheels when she’s riled and they wanted to make her look bad in front of you,” Max told his mother and I stared at him, wondering if this was true and figuring, unfortunately, it was.

“Kami wouldn’t do that,” Linda returned.

“I’ll give you Kami but Shauna?” Max asked.

“Known her since she was ten, Max, she’s like one of my kids too,” Linda answered.

“And she’s also been up her own ass since she was ten,” Max replied. “Christ, goin’ to Curt’s funeral? Jesus.”

Linda sighed. I poured maple syrup on my pancakes and stayed quiet.

Linda went on, “Anyway, yesterday, I looked out the window and what did I see? You and Nina over at Barb and Darren’s. I also saw you didn’t bring her by to see me. You’re at Barb and Darren’s, you don’t come to see me?” She shook her head and poured in more pancake batter. “It’s all over town, you spendin’ time with Nina’s folks and you haven’t brought her to see me. So you’ll have to flippin’ forgive me, darlin’, I needed an excuse to meet my own son’s new girlfriend so I brought ‘em up here.”

“The truth comes out,” Max muttered.

Linda turned to him. “Yeah, there it is, Max. I found out from Barb why you all were there, that I can understand but I still don’t get why you didn’t walk a house away and introduce me to Nina.”

I forked into my pancakes, avoided looking at either of them, shoved pancake into my mouth (which, incidentally, Max was correct, was delicious) and stayed quiet.

“We been busy,” Max told his mother.

“Yeah, havin’ lunch with Mindy and Becca, with Bitsy, dinner at The Rooster with Brody and breakfast with her folks, I heard about it all. Jesus, Max, Nina’s made fish casserole for flippin’ Arlene.”

Seriously, the gossip tree in Gnaw Bone was second to none.

“Because she showed up at the house and stayed. Jesus, Mom, you know Arlene,” Max explained.