“In here, sweetheart!”
He followed her voice into the living room, his gaze settling on the beautifully decorated tree in the corner of the room. When she’d called to wish him a merry Christmas, Shanna had told him their neighbors Charlie and Beth had helped her set up and decorate the tree, and he suddenly had the urge to go next door and thank the sweet, retired couple for helping Shanna out. Sometimes he hated the thought of his mom living alone here, with him all the way in San Diego and Chris wrapped up in his own conceited bubble.
“I’m so glad you’re home!” With a beaming smile, Shanna hurried over and wrapped her arms around him.
Dylan hugged her back, marveling over how petite she was. Her blonde head barely reached his collarbone.
“Happy holidays, Mom,” he said gruffly.
“Happy holidays, sweetheart.” She tugged on his hand, her green eyes shining happily. “Come. Sit. Tell me how you spent your holidays.”
“First I want to know all about your trip to Palm Springs.”
They settled on the oversized, peach-colored couch, and Shanna spent the next few minutes outlining everything she’d done at her friend’s ranch. She looked tanned and relaxed, and so happy that he felt like a total ass for the pain he was about to cause her.
But he couldn’t pretend everything was okay, and after they’d chatted for nearly thirty minutes, Dylan took a deep breath and finally addressed the giant elephant in the room that Shanna was oblivious to.
“Mom,” he started. Then he stopped. Cleared his throat, tried again. “Mom, there’s something we need to talk about.”
Her pale eyebrows drew together. “What is it? Is everything okay?”
“No, it isn’t. I…I know what’s been going on around here. Claire told me everything.”
Shanna looked stricken for a second. She swallowed, then pasted on a blank look. “What do you mean?”
“Please don’t lie to me.” He released a shaky exhalation. “You and Chris have been lying to me for more than a year. So please, just stop.”
“Dylan—”
“Why didn’t you tell me about the gambling?”
Shanna hesitated. Swallowed again. And then her entire face collapsed and her green eyes filled with tears. “Because I was ashamed.”
If there was one thing guaranteed to trigger his hero complex, it was a female’s tears. Especially his mother’s.
“Ah, shit. Damn it, Mom, come here.” Dylan put his arm around her trembling shoulders and held her close, his heart breaking at the sound of her quiet sobs.
She pressed her face against his chest, her voice coming out muffled. “I’m so sorry. I wanted to tell you, I really did, but I was so mortified. I never thought something like that could happen to me. You know me, Dylan, I’m careful with money, I don’t make impulse purchases or buy extravagant things. I…” The tears continued to fall, soaking the front of his sky-blue polo shirt. “I was embarrassed and ashamed and angry at myself for screwing up so badly.”
Sighing, he smoothed a hand over her hair. “What happened, Mom? How did it get so out of control like that?”
She lifted her head and wiped her wet eyes with the sleeve of her thin red sweater. “What did Claire tell you?”
“That you went to the casino with friends, caught the gambling bug and everything went downhill from there.”
A weak smile flitted over her lips. “Yes, that sounds about right.”
“I’d still like to hear it from you,” he said quietly.
After a long moment, she nodded, and the whole story spilled out. It was exactly like Claire had said, only much, much worse coming from his mom’s lips.
She told him about her increased visits to the casino, how overjoyed she’d felt when she’d won and how desperate she was when she started losing. She told him about the withdrawals she’d made from her savings account, the mutual funds she’d sold, the second mortgage she’d secured. She told him about missing work, lying to her boss, using up all her personal days and then eventually not showing up altogether.
When she got to the part about how she’d finally had to confide in Chris because the bank had sent her a foreclosure notice, Dylan’s chest tightened with both sympathy and anger.
“You should have told me,” he muttered.
“I couldn’t. I didn’t want to see the disappointed look on your face, the one you’re wearing now. You’ve always been my biggest supporter, and you gave me so much encouragement when I decided to go back to work after your father died.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “Sam would be horrified if he knew what I’d done.”
Dylan’s throat started to feel tight. “No, he wouldn’t. Dad would have recognized that you had a problem, and he would have stood by you. Don’t ever doubt that.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“I really believe that,” he said firmly.