“You were out wandering in the dark, in the rain, by yourself, without even a working phone?” If she thought his voice was dark before, it was doubly so now. The fact that he spoke through clenched teeth didn’t help. It pissed her off.
“News flash, Mr. Callaghan,” she said, feeling the heat rising within her. “Not all of us have Droids and a garage filled with Porsches and Jaguars and H2s. Not all of us own our own businesses and can come and go as we please. Not all of us can afford to be financially philanthropic. And those of us who can’t do any of those things sometimes do whatever we have to just to survive.”
Kieran snapped back like she had slapped him. Out of everything she’d hurled at him, one thing stood out. “Is that what you think? You think I’m here because I’m philanthropic?”
“No, not entirely,” she said, her voice softer as the last of the wind left her sails. “I think you are an incredibly kind, generous man who wants something so desperately that he’s willing to see it, even when it’s not really there.”
He stared at her, long and hard, as the seconds ticked into minutes, the muscles working in his jaw.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said finally. “Because if you were what I thought you were, you could never have said those words to me.”
Without another word, Kieran turned around and walked out of the kitchen, taking the last remaining piece of Faith’s heart with him.
Chapter Seventeen
The weather turned cold faster than she had expected. At least she had a car with a working heater. She bought the old Buick from Mrs. Campbell, who said that it had been sitting in the garage since her late husband died. Thankfully, Mrs. Campbell had been willing to sell Faith the car on a “payment plan”. To each installment, Faith added on a free housecleaning every two weeks.
It turned out to be a good thing. Mrs. Campbell raved about Faith’s cleaning skills and soon Faith found herself turning away potential clients when nearly every night and every weekend was booked.
The downside was that between her job at the Goddess and cleaning houses, she had very little quality time to spend at home with her son. The upside was that she was so busy she barely had time to recognize her broken heart.
She hadn’t seen or heard from Kieran since the night she’d walked home in the rain. She’d picked up a new Go phone, but she had the number changed to a local one. Not that she expected him to call. Why would he? Given the look in his eyes that last night, she didn’t think she’d ever hear from him again.
Lacie stopped by a few times, but Faith couldn’t bring herself to ask about Kieran, and Lacie didn’t mention him.
By the end of November, Faith had saved enough to purchase two coach tickets to Georgia. The holidays made people generous. Between the tips she’d received from her personal clients as well as the rich and famous vacationing at the Goddess, she had more petty cash than she’d ever had at one time. It was enough to cover mid-week airfare for two, plus a night or two in a budget motel. Her hopes of getting Matt something nice for Christmas were dashed, but she was going to give him something he really wanted instead – a chance to meet his father.
When Matt came home, she was packing a small travel bag for each of them.
“No MMA tonight?” she asked, surprised to see him home so early.
“No,” he said simply, but his steely tone immediately caught her attention.
“Why not?”
He shrugged, asking a question of his own. “What’s with the bags?”
“I got us a red-eye into Atlanta tonight. We need to be at the airport by nine, and it’s about a two hour drive from here, so we should leave about seven. Why no class tonight?”
“Atlanta? What about school?”
“I’ve already cleared it with your teachers. The rates are cheaper mid-week.” She stood up and blew a lock of hair from her forehead. “Matt, what’s going on with you and Kieran? Did he tell you that you can’t take class anymore?” She didn’t really believe Kieran would do such a thing, but she also knew Matt loved the classes.
“No,” Matt said. “I just don’t want to do it anymore, okay?”
“No, it’s not okay. I thought you loved it.”
“Things change.”
“Matt.”
“Leave it, Mom. Are we going to eat before we leave? I’m starving.”
Faith looked up at her son. So tall, so proud. And stubborn enough that she would get no more from him until he was ready to share.
“I made a lot in tips last week,” she said, dropping the subject for now. She’d have the next couple of days with him; hopefully he’d open up. “Maybe we could stop and grab something on the way.”
He nodded, looking relieved when she didn’t question him again. “Cool.”
*