“With Elizabeth?” she asked with a wry smile at both of us.
“With everything, Nadia.” I sent her a hard look.
What the hell was wrong with her?
But I didn’t care. All I wanted was to get Elizabeth out of here and figure out what was going on.
Ninja Turtle stood up from the booth. “I’m going to the car, Nadia. I have to make some calls. Make this quick. I won’t wait all day.”
He stalked off and out the doors of the diner.
I focused on Nadia. Exhaled. “Look. It’s obvious things are rocky with you and Nin—your boyfriend, but you shouldn’t involve me. You’re only making things worse by continuing to chase me. Especially when I am here with someone.” I kept my gaze off Elizabeth, but I knew she was watching us intently.
Her face fell, tears blooming. “God, I made such a mistake, Declan, a stupid mistake. I was trashed and angry with you when I slept with him. I didn’t know what I was doing. I—I thought you’d forgive me. Just—I still love you.”
Her face twisted with tears and she nibbled at her lips, and my eyes went straight there. It was a reflex, and it didn’t mean jack, but there it was and I knew the moment she saw it because she got a knowing gleam in her eye.
“You might try to deny it, but you still care about me.” She leaned over. “Let’s talk. I can come to your place or you can come to mine? Please, Declan.”
Elizabeth suddenly commented, “Uh, Donatello just pulled out of the parking lot.” We all turned to watch as his red Porsche spun out in the gravel and pulled onto the street.
Nadia wailed. “And now I’m stuck in this godforsaken diner. And I can’t walk in these heels. This is just perfect,” she said bitterly.
I tossed my head back and groaned at the cocked-up situation.
Elizabeth let out her own sigh of exasperation and shooed Nadia up until she could scoot out from the booth. She faced us both. “Well, I don’t blame Donatello,” she said. “You guys obviously have a lot of history to talk about anyway, and if I’m here—”
“That would be great,” Nadia murmured, wiping her eyes and sending Elizabeth a grateful look. “Thank you for being so nice when I obviously crashed your breakfast.”
Elizabeth’s lips tightened. “I’m not nice. You’re simply extremely annoying. You’re like a cat in heat when it comes to Declan and frankly, I’m sick of it.”
Nadia gasped.
I grabbed Elizabeth’s hand. “No. Stay. Just … wait a fucking minute. We haven’t had a chance to talk about us—about last night.”
Things were happening too fast. She’d just told me in so many words that I meant nothing to her as well as the name of the guy who’d hurt her.
I needed time.
She shook her head. “No, really, I have a million things to do today, and I can’t handle any more stupidity.”
“Elizabeth, wait a fucking minute—”
She held a hand up, her cool mask already in place, reminding me of the girl who’d walked in the frat party. “Save it. I’ve heard enough, seen enough. Enjoy your talk.”
ANGER BURNED WHEN I left Minnie’s. I was pissed at Nadia for chasing after Declan right in front of me, but I was also ticked at him because I’d seen a look he’d given her and part of me felt like he still had feelings for her.
I stomped across the street and back to my apartment, and if I had a theme song for the breakfast fiasco, it was a toss-up between “Love Bites” by Def Leppard or “Done” by The Band Perry. Both about love and letting that shit go.
Love … I’d bled for it. I’d tasted the destruction of losing your heart, and no matter how beautiful Declan was inside and out, I couldn’t endure heartbreak again.
I went up the breezeway and saw my mom standing at my door. Her shoulders were slumped as she banged on my door.
I inhaled sharply, remembering our last meeting at the diner. Worry gnawed at me once again about Karl and his crazy plan to blackmail the Senator. He was bad news for her, just like all the rest.
“Hey, I’m here,” I called out. I infused my voice with enthusiasm, but I didn’t know how much more I could take when it came to her. But she was all I had left now that Granny was gone, and it’s hard to let go of family no matter how shitty they treat you. Sure, I had a few cousins out there, but they were in Petal and the majority of them didn’t associate with my mom. She’d always been bad news, borrowing money that she never intended to pay back and generally being undependable.
She met me on the staircase, and I smelled the stench of stale cigarettes on her wrinkled clothes.
“Thank God you’re here,” she exclaimed. I didn’t miss the busted lip she’d tried to cover up with her pink lipstick. Her eyes darted down to the parking lot and back to me.
“What’s up?”
“Let’s get inside and I’ll tell you everything. I need some coffee.” Her voice was sharp as razors.
We got inside and I made us coffee. She stirred in cream and sugar as she sat at my small table and watched me. “You got any food here?”
“Sure.” I got up and made her a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. It wasn’t much, but it was all I had in the pantry at the moment.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re here?” I asked as we sat together a bit later.
“Can’t a girl come see her daughter?”
“You never have.”
She frowned, chewing her food. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“Karl hit you,” I stated.
She touched her lip gingerly. “It wasn’t his fault. I smarted off to him, and usually he’s sorry after a fight and buys me flowers or takes me on a trip, but this time …” she rubbed her arms “… he’s fit to be tied.”
“We can call the police. At least get a restraining order against him.”
She paled. “No! I—I still love him, Elizabeth, and we’ll probably get back together once all this Senator Scott stuff flies over.”
My mouth dried in fear. “What? Don’t tell me you’re still on that, Mom?”
She cleared her throat, eyeing me nervously. “Karl … he really wants to bring Colby to justice—”
“No, he wants money from the Senator. There’s a difference,” I bit out, getting angry now. “Why did you even tell him? You—you’re supposed to be my mother, and you know how I feel about what happened. I don’t want anyone to ever know.”
She picked at her chipped fingernail polish. “People in Petal know.”
“Yeah, and they think I’m a slut.” I slammed down my coffee cup.
She winced. “Look, it’s a lot of money. I’m tired of struggling and never having anything. Plus, I think the Senator needs to know about his son.”
“Why do you even care? You didn’t when it happened.” The words were out before I could pull them back.
“Don’t ever say that, Elizabeth,” she said sharply. “You were such a good kid, and I knew I didn’t have to be on top of you all the time. It’s not my fault it happened on a weekend I was gone. And then you changed, keeping to yourself, never calling anyone, never going out, acting like you hated me …” Her hands fluttered around. “I—I know I’m not the PTA mom or the one who spent money on you—because I didn’t have any—but I did the best I could.” She pulled out her Marlboro’s and lit one.
I took a deep breath, steeling myself. “What happened with Karl and the Senator?”
She sucked her cig. “Karl called his office for several days until he finally got through to his personal assistant, but she wouldn’t allow Karl to speak directly to him. He put a bug in her ear that it was about his son. That did the trick. He called us back the next day and Karl said his spiel. He asked for fifty thousand or we’d sell your story to the press.”
God, their stupidity made me sick. Nausea rolled. I jerked up and got a glass of water.