“So? Is she?” RJ asked.

Elisa was worth selling his soul to the devil for. But he’d been stupid enough not to be honest with her.

“Yeah,” he said in a hoarse voice. “Yeah, she’s definitely worth it.”

TWENTY-FOUR

THE DAMN PAPERWORK WAS STILL sitting on his desk, as though Brody had expected it to take care of itself. He’d just sat down to get to work when his cell phone rang. Welcoming the distraction, Brody answered on the first ring.

“Yeah?”

“We need to talk about a few things,” his ex-wife said. “Can you stop by later?”

This was it. She was going to drop the bomb about them moving. Even though Brody had been expecting this, his stomach still twisted painfully. A dull ache started its usual thrum in his head, for which no amount of painkillers could make go away.

“All right,” he breathed out. “I have some things to take care of here, so I’ll be by in a few hours.”

So much for going to see Elisa and not taking no for an answer. A possible resolution with her would have to wait. Anything Kelly had to say about Tyler, and Brody had a feeling what it was, came before anything else. Usually he looked forward to discussions about Tyler.

He was sure not looking forward to this.

Only when Brody’s eyes started to cross did he force himself to stop the paper pushing. Usually Charlene handled the bookkeeping and technical matters. But she was so bogged down with details of the catering job and other promotions that Brody had offered to take the burden off her hands.

The headache that had crept on him when Kelly called was full blown now. The three pain pills he’d popped hadn’t so much as put a dent in the strenuous pounding. He supposed that was too much to ask for. And he hadn’t gotten nearly as much done as he had hoped because images of Elisa kept invading his concentration.

He’d made a decision about Elisa, and Murphy’s Law was invading his life full force and it was pissing him the hell off.

It was only midafternoon and the bar was surprisingly crowded. Or not surprisingly, considering who was behind the bar. All the women who used to frequent the Golden Glove like a cult following had migrated their way back over. RJ poured drinks with a constant smile on his face like he adored every single one of his female customers, which he probably did.

Whatever. RJ had always been a serial dater, but Brody could never understand how that lifestyle could appeal to anyone. One woman was enough for him.

Brody drove through town as fast as he could without being a menace to the other drivers. Agitation pumped through him, which he tried to exorcise by drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. The sooner he got this painful conversation over with, the sooner he could deal with the aftermath. And wondering how he was going to leave Elisa if he had to move to Michigan.

She wants your ass gone, anyway.

Brody couldn’t think about that right now. As much as he didn’t want to, he would have to put Elisa on the back burner. For now.

Ten minutes later, he sat in Kelly’s living room, taking in the subtle changes in her since the last time he’d seen her. Her blond hair was perfectly styled and her lips were shiny pink. Pearl stud earrings adorned her ears, which matched the long strand hanging around her neck. All in all, she looked like a different woman. Almost like when they’d been married.

“Thanks for stopping by,” she told him.

“No problem. Where’s Tyler?” He should have been home from school by now.

“He walked to a friend’s house.”

Kelly strolled to the other side of the room and adjusted some family pictures. When she had them all situated to perfection, which they already were, she went to work on a vase of flowers. They looked pretty good to him, but for some reason Kelly felt the need to move the stems around and turn the buds in different directions. She pushed the vase around in a circle before leaving it in the exact same spot it was before.

Something had her worked up.

“What’s going on, Kelly?” Please just tell me so we can get this over with.

She smoothed a hand down her lightweight pants. “First of all, I wanted to tell you that Colin and I won’t be moving to Michigan.”

Brody couldn’t move because he felt for sure Kelly was screwing with him before giving him the real bad news. But Kelly had never been one to play practical jokes, so why start now? And why make such a sick joke?

“Brody, did you hear me?” she asked when all he’d done was stare at her.

“Sorry.” He blinked himself out of his trance. “Did you say you’re not moving?” Could something finally be going his way?

“Yes, I’ve been making a lot of phone calls the past few days. We found a company that specializes in long-distance nonemergency medical transportation. Colin’s going to help get my mother ready. Then the transport service will pick her up and bring her here. It’s a bit expensive, but we figure it will be worth it if we get to stay here. After that we’re going to move her into a nursing home in Cheyenne.”

A majority of the weight he’d been carrying around on his shoulders lifted by slow degrees. The idea of living far away from his son, or having to leave his home, had been eating a hole inside of him for several weeks. The relief was so welcome that Brody could actually cry.

“Kelly, I—” He stepped around the couch, closer to her. “I don’t know what to say. You have no idea how much this has been weighing me down.” He shook his head, trying to find the appropriate words. “It’s been like my worst nightmare.”

She played with one of her pearl earrings, something she always did due to nerves. “I’m sorry, Brody. I know the uncertainty of this was really hard on you. It was hard on me too, knowing that I might have had to take Tyler away from all his friends and family.” She paced from one side of the living room to the other with long, slow strides.

“There’s something else, isn’t there?” Hell, Brody couldn’t imagine what else she could possibly shock him with.

Kelly stopped her pacing, thankfully, because she was making him nervous as hell. “Tyler wants to come live with you,” she announced. Then she did something that really shocked the hell out of him: She cried.

His ex-wife had always brought new meaning to the phrase cool, calm, and collected. Shortly after meeting her, Carol had dubbed Kelly the quintessentially classic lady, a name she always lived up to. The show of emotion was uncharacteristic of her. Despite that, Brody sat on the couch next to her and placed an arm around her shoulders.

“I knew he would eventually want to leave me. I just didn’t expect it to be this soon,” she said with a sniff. She yanked a tissue out of the box on the table next to the couch.

“He’s not leaving you, Kelly. It’s only natural for a boy to want to be with his father.” The pure, unadulterated joy pulsing inside of him made him want to do cartwheels across the ceiling. But Kelly was hurting, and Brody wouldn’t dare say or do anything to rub salt on the wound. He knew full well what it was like to have your child living somewhere else.

“That’s what Colin said. But it doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“And with a baby coming, it might be best to have a quiet house to yourselves.”

Kelly sniffed. “Colin said that too.” She pulled away from him and pinned him with a look. “Are you and Colin conspiring behind my back, or something?”

The question had him smiling. Cracking jokes was better than crying. “Not even a little, I promise. Most men think alike.”

She heaved a weary sigh. “Don’t I know it? I’m surrounded by too much logic. Would you be able to handle having him there all the time with your schedule?”

“I’ll work it out. I already told Tyler I was going to cut back on my hours.”

Kelly’s shoulders shook beneath his arm. She leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. A couple of sobs were muffled by her hands and a tattered tissue. “He’s my baby boy, Brody,” she complained in between sniffles. “And now he’s leaving me.”

This time Brody couldn’t help but chuckle.

Kelly lifted her head and gazed at him out of tear-filled eyes. “It’s very dangerous to laugh at a pregnant woman,” she warned him. He knew that all too well from when she was pregnant with Tyler.

He took the tissue out of her hands and blotted her eyes for her. “Sorry,” he said with a half smile.

“It’s okay. I swear I wasn’t like this when Tyler and I talked about it. My hormones are all over the place right now.”

“I’d say you get a free pass on that one.” He set the torn tissue aside and tucked a short strand of hair behind her ear. “Thank you.”

She leaned back against the couch cushions. “For what?”

Why had he waited so long to tell her this? “For being a good mom. For forgiving me for everything.” Because he certainly didn’t deserve it. Kelly had always been a stronger person than he was.

She touched his cheek with her soft hand. “We were too young to know what we were doing. You did the best you could with us. Tyler worships you. It’ll be good for him to spend more time with you. But do yourself a favor this time, and don’t let Elisa get away from you. I know you love her even if you’re too stubborn to admit it.”

Did she know him, or what? “You’re right, I do love her.”

When he didn’t elaborate she prompted him. “But?”

He leaned back next to her and stared at the ceiling. “I just really screwed things up. It seems I have a way of doing that.”

“You also have a way of making amends. Just use that Brody charm on her. It’s probably what sucked her in to begin with.”