The Patriot Girl by Toni Lynn Cloutier Page A

sure Alex shared what was on his mind with them.
    If her mother wanted to be stubborn and not talk, fine, but she at least had to try to find out what was wrong. She turned back around. “Mother, tell me. Why are you so upset?”
    Peggy tossed the dirty knife into the sink. “It’s nothing.”
    MaKayla flashed back to the ugly feeling of being alone when, as a teenager, Kevin had dumped her for another girl. Her father had been away on a business trip and her mother’s insensitivity had been more crushing than the breakup. Jodi had been the one to hold her and convince her she didn’t need some stupid football player. One day she would find a real man who would love her.
    Sixteen or sixty, everyone needed comfort at a time of grief. She couldn’t leave her mother alone in her time of need.
    She turned her mother around to face her. “Why are you crying, Mother?”
    “Oh, honey, it’s silly.” Peggy wrapped her arms around MaKayla’s neck and sobbed. “I did love him you know.”
    Love whom? MaKayla didn’t know what to do with her arms. She’d never held her mother before. She placed one hand on her mother’s back and the other on the counter beside her. “Who did you love?”
    Peggy stepped back and wiped her eyes. “Rainbow. He passed away this morning.”
    Had she heard her mother correctly? She was crying over the death of a bird? The woman had never cried when a human passed away. She would never figure out her mother, so why start now?
    “I’m sorry.” She rested her mother’s head on her shoulder. It was about time the woman showed her family she was human after all. “I thought you hated that bird.”
    Peggy stepped back. “I never hated him. He kept me company when Daddy went golfing. I might have yelled at him a few times, but that’s how we communicated.”
    MaKayla enjoyed seeing that her mother had a heart after all. Where had it been when she was growing up? She handed her mother a tissue from the box beside her. “I didn’t know you’d become attached to him. You were always throwing a towel over his cage.”
    “That was our little game.” Peggy dabbed her eyes then tucked the tissue inside her apron pocket. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, young lady.”
    “That’s because you never let me get close to you.” MaKayla stole an unchopped walnut off the counter and took a bite.
    “Where’s my girl?” David came around the corner.
    “Hey, Daddy. Sorry to hear about Rainbow.” MaKayla kissed his cheek before she headed down the hallway into the living room. She was surprised when her mother followed her father into the room.
    “So, Mackey.” David sat in his chair. “How are you and this new client getting along? Did he sign the contract Friday?”
    “Yes. But we’re not speaking now.” At least she wasn’t speaking to him. How could she face him after all they’d been through?
    Peggy sat beside her daughter on the sofa. “Is this the one from the bank robbery? The sexy cowboy Jodi says you should be sleeping with?”
    Her mother was the total opposite of Jodi. So hearing “sexy” and “sleep with” coming from her mother’s lips made MaKayla laugh. After all these years, maybe the family friend had finally rubbed off on her mother too.
    “Yes, Mother. He’s the ‘sexy cowboy’ from the bank robbery. I can see you’ve been talking with Jodi.”
    Peggy exchanged a glance with her husband. “Yes, honey, I talk to Jodi about everything you do. Don’t be mad at her this one time. It’s usually like pulling teeth to get any information about you from her.”
    It was hard for MaKayla to hear that her mother had to ask her best friend about her own daughter’s personal life. She placed her hand on her mother’s. “I’m sorry you don’t feel comfortable enough to ask me yourself. I never shared because I thought you never cared.”
    “Well, I do. Very much.”
    David sipped a beer. “So what is going on with this new guy?”
    “There is no