“Good-looking ladies.” Flynn managed a smile. His last stepmother had been about Julie’s age, and the marriage hadn’t lasted a year. At least this one was a little closer to his father’s age if she had daughters in their twenties.
“Julie was born when I was sixteen,” Delores said.
Flynn did the math in his head and bit back a grin. He’d been right after all. The woman was twenty years younger than Matthew and only ten years older than Flynn. That was a little more like his father. Delores fidgeted with a case that held her cigarettes, then noticed a plaque hanging on the kitchen wall that said, “Anyone Caught Smoking in My House Will Be Shot.” She put the case back in her purse and said, “Lisette came along when I was twenty. Julie’s daddy was twenty-eight, and he died when she was a year old. Lisette’s daddy was forty, and he died when she was five years old.” Delores sighed dramatically.
Yep, Flynn thought, he’s got a type, and she’s it to a T. Talks too much. Lots younger than him. Dad, what are you doing here? You hardly ever visited Nanny Lucy, and when you did, it was only for an hour or two. Flynn looked up from the picture and caught both Nessa and April staring at him. Nessa slid a sly wink his way. April raised both eyebrows. No doubt they were wondering if his dad had gotten tangled up with a black widow, because he was thinking the very same thing.
He handed the phone back to Delores. “Maybe someday I can meet them.”
“Christmas would be great. They always come to see me wherever I’m living for Christmas. We’ll have a huge family dinner, and . . .”
And you may not even be around by then, Flynn thought as he tuned out both her and his father and sipped his coffee. I don’t think Dad’s ever married a ready-made family, and he might figure out really quick that this isn’t what he wants.
“Why don’t you and Flynn take a short walk around the place while the girls finish breakfast?” Delores suggested. “I’ll just step out on the porch and have a cigarette while y’all are gone.”
Matthew leaned over and kissed her on the lips.
“Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes,” Nessa said.
The front door swung open, and Isaac came into the house. A big man with blond hair and blue eyes, like his brother, he had a presence that filled the small living room. He glared first at Matthew and then at the woman at the table.
“What are you doing here?” Isaac asked.
“Daddy?” Nessa asked, her face going ashen. “What are you doing here?”
Matthew stood up, and tension engulfed the room like a wildfire. “I might ask you the same thing, Isaac.”
Flynn started across the living room floor. Nessa came from the other side.
Cora stepped out from behind Isaac and got between the two men. “Y’all act like brothers. You’re going to grieve the heart of God acting like two tomcats squaring off with each other.”
Matthew dropped his chin a notch and glared at Isaac, who returned the icy-cold stare.
“I came to have a face-to-face with my daughter, to talk her out of this crazy notion of staying in this godforsaken place.” Isaac knotted his fists. “Evidently you brought your new woman for your wild son’s approval.”
“I did, but that’s not a damn bit of your business,” Matthew answered.
Flynn hadn’t even had so much as a phone call from his father in weeks. Was he there to ask for any money that Flynn might inherit, to claim what he thought was his inheritance by right?
Every muscle in Flynn’s body tensed. His dad had never asked his approval on anything, especially not his multitude of women. Not once had Matthew said, “What do you think of this lady or that one?” No, sir! He had simply come home and said he was getting married again, and he’d expected Flynn to be his best man.
Nessa seemed to be frozen in place, but finally she crossed the room and hugged her mother. “Have y’all had breakfast?”
“We ate at Weezy’s this morning before we came on out here,” Cora said as she held out her arms toward April. “I’d forgotten how little this house is. How are you, April? Are you doing all right?”
“I’m fine, Aunt Cora.” April walked into her arms and hugged her. “Better than I’ve been in a long time. Being here with Flynn and Nessa has been a blessing.”
“About that walk you and Flynn were going to take? Why don’t you step outside? And after that we should really be leaving,” Delores finally said.
“I reckon him and me could go see the waterfall.” Matthew took Delores’s hand in his and headed for the front door.
Flynn followed behind them, glad for the chance to get away from the double ambush. Hadn’t any of Nanny Lucy’s sons learned how to use a phone? Cora was right. The house was way too small for the two O’Riley brothers to be inside it at the same time.
Delores sat down on the porch, stretched out her long legs, and put her bright-red spike heels on the bottom step. “Y’all boys don’t leave me alone too long, now.” She giggled as she lit up a cigarette. “I thought I was going to have a withdrawal fit in there, darlin’, with all that tension. I’m sure glad I never had a brother, or boys, for that matter, if that’s the way they act. I’ll be right here when y’all get back.”
“Where’d you find this one?” Flynn asked when they were halfway to the waterfall.
“That’s harsh,” Matthew answered. “Don’t you want me to be happy?”
“Of course,” Flynn replied. “We all deserve to be happy, but some of us have to work at it.”
“I found her at the office.” Matthew laughed out loud. “And, Son, I do work at it, probably harder than any other man. Sometimes I find it for a season, but when I’m not happy, I’m smart enough to move on.”
“You have got to be kiddin’ me.” Flynn couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His dad never went for the women who worked in the oil field offices.
“Truth!” Matthew crossed his heart. “There’s this old two-story house in Bay City that’s been converted into a bar called the Office. That’s where I met her a month ago, right after my divorce was final.”
“You do know there’s other places to meet women, don’t you?” Flynn said. “And you might even marry a keeper someday.”
“At my age, it’s the best place.” Matthew chuckled. “I like the chase. I like making a woman feel special when I ask her to marry me.”
“And breaking her heart when you divorce her or cheat on her?” Flynn asked.
“Collateral damage.” Matthew shrugged. “I leave them with beautiful memories, though. I swore when I left this place that I’d never live in a marriage like my folks had. When I got tired of being married, I wouldn’t stick around for a kid or because I might hurt her feelings.”
“Why not just love ’em and leave ’em? And what do you mean like your folks’ marriage?” Flynn really wanted to understand the thinking behind the way his father was and the way Flynn himself had been.
“I like being married. I like coming home to a woman and not having to go chase one down every weekend like you do, but then”—another shrug—“I start craving that chase and the thrill again.”