I open the front door and Margaret McLachlan storms past me. Oh, f**k! This isn't going to go well. "Please come in, Mum."
"Don't give me your smart-arse mouth. I've been trying to reach you all week and you've avoided my calls. It's a shame I had to hunt you down like this just to find out what happened."
"It's harvest time. I don't have to tell you how busy things can get."
"It's been days since Laurelyn was scheduled to leave and I haven't heard from you. I've been about to lose my mind wanting to know what's gone on, but since you've been avoiding me, I'm fairly certain I can guess. You screwed it up with her, didn't you?"
And here we go. "Yes. I messed up."
She puts her hands on her hips and looks up toward the ceiling as she sighs loudly. "She told you that she loved you?"
How could she know that? Is she guessing? "Yes."
"And what did you tell her in return?" She's giving me that look like she's going to strangle me if I don't give her the answer she wants. I hope my neck is prepared for the wringing it's about to receive.
"I didn't tell her anything." And then I f**ked her.
She seems surprised by my lack of response for Laurelyn's confession of love. "Oh. Then it seems I owe you an apology. I went to see her a few weeks ago at Avalon. She told me she loved you—and I thought you felt the same—so I encouraged her to tell you. I wouldn't have done that if I'd known you didn't have feelings for her."
"But I do, Mum. I love Laurelyn very much."
I see the confusion on her face. "Then I don't understand. Why did you not tell her and ask her to stay? It would've been the perfect opportunity."
I doubt she's going to take this well. "I don't date women who say those kinds of things so I was caught off guard. I thought about it night and day for a week and I was finally able to admit to myself how I felt. I was on my way to tell her about my feelings, to ask her if she'd stay, when I discovered she was gone without a goodbye. Mum, she left without knowing that I love her."
Her expression tells me she isn't pleased. "I don't understand. It's been a week. Why have you not gone after her? Or at least called to declare your love?"
This is it. I can't lie my way out of what happened with Laurelyn. More importantly, I don't want to anymore. I despise lies and pretending; they cost me the woman I love.
Fuck, Mum's gonna be pissed. "I have to tell you something and you're not going to be happy with me about it."
She's glaring at me. "I'm quite put out with you already, son."
"I know, and it's about to get worse." I feel like a kid again, fessing up about something juvenile. Only this isn't juvenile. It's adult and very serious. "When Laurelyn and I began dating, we had no expectations of ever becoming more than a temporary relationship. We both knew she was in Australia for three months so we agreed to date and have fun together during that time. No strings attached."
She looks annoyed. "You've already told me that."
I brace myself for the worst. "I did but that's not all of it. I didn't tell her my real name when we met. I didn't want her to know because I didn't want contact of any kind with her after our relationship ended. Using an alias was the one way I could ensure she wouldn't track me down afterward. She was pretty pissed when I first told her what I wanted, but she eventually agreed. Since she didn't know my real name, she chose to not tell me hers."
"Laurelyn isn't her name?" she asks, her expression puzzled.
"Laurelyn is her first name. I accidentally discovered it when her friend let it slip, but her last name, Beckett, is an alias. She never told me her last name."
I can almost see my mum's brain in action as she pieces everything together. "But you brought her home to meet us and she called you Jack Henry."
"There was no hiding my identity when we came to see Dad at the hospital, so I told her the truth about myself later that night," I explain. "From that moment on, she knew everything about me."
"But you never thought she was important enough to ask her last name?" She's raising her voice at me. "Even after she knew who you were?"
I hesitate in answering because she isn't going to like my response. "Her last name didn't matter to me because I didn't intend on changing our plans just because she knew who I was. I didn't love her then."
"Bullshit!" she yells at me. "You were in love with that girl when you brought her into my house. I knew it the minute I saw the two of you together. And she was so obviously in love with you. She might not have told you yet, but you'd have to be a fool to not see it."
I can't argue with her assessment because I've most certainly been a fool.
I prop my arms on the cold granite countertop and lean over, closing my eyes. I'd like to put my head down against the cool to see if I can find some relief because it hurts like a motherfucker. "I chose to not see it because I didn't want to fall in love with her."
"But you did anyway."
"Yeah, I did, and she left without saying goodbye, before I could tell her."
"I can not believe you, Jack Henry!" Mum picks up her purse to smack me several good times. Hard. She's the only mother I know who would use her handbag to beat her thirty-year-old son. "She lived with you and shared your bed and you never asked her last name?" She draws back and whacks me again. Shit! She's really mad.
I don't deflect the purse flying at me because it's her way of releasing her anger. It's really sort of humorous, but I'd never make the mistake of laughing at Margaret McLachlan when she's in one of her fits. "That poor girl must've been so hurt. I can't say I really blame her for slipping away without a goodbye. I'd have probably done the same thing if I'd told a man I loved him and he stared blankly at me."
"I didn't stare blankly at her."
"Then what did you do?"
I hang my head in shame with the thought of how I f**ked her afterward. "You don't want to know." I go to the drawer where I keep the medicines so I can get something for my headache. "I know how stupid I've been, Mum. But I'm gonna make it right with Laurelyn. I know lots of other things about her life that will lead us to her."
"Who's us?"
"I've hired someone to go to the States to find her. A private investigator." I leave off the particulars about my extensive use of his services and why I know he'll find her for me in no time at all.
"You should be the one to go after Laurelyn. It'll mean more to her if you do," she argues.