Shoe Strings

see some humor return to her eyes, as their
earlier conversation had left her melancholy.   But they weren’t even close to
finished.   “So, you were saying
something about Mother Nature?”
    “Don’t you want to talk about something else?   Tell me about Ty, about your business.”
    “We’ll get to that, Angelita.”   He reached out and patted her hand.   “What happened?”
    She huffed out a breath.   “My mother left my father.   She was heading back to Brazil when her
water broke.   She delivered me at
the airport.   There was a film crew
there, something about a possible pilots’ strike, and they captured the whole
thing on film.   I was the lead story
on the eleven o’clock news.”   She
took a bite, carefully placed her spoon on the plate.   “The publicity wasn’t good for their
situation.   She was forced to stay,
at least until the attention died down.   Six months later she left again with his blessing.”
    “But why didn’t she take you?”
    “The public knew they’d had a baby.   The divorce was a big enough scandal in
Brazil.   If she’d taken me away from
him…”   She shrugged.   “It would have looked bad for him.   Very bad.”
    “Did she ever come back or try to contact you after she
left?”
    “There were some letters from my grandmother after my mother
died.   The family owned a small
restaurant.   My mother was making a
deposit one afternoon and was shot as she got into her car.   She was killed instantly.”  
    For something that happened so long ago, and before she
could form any memories, she spoke as if her mother was an important part of
her life.   “You miss her.”
    “I was four, so I never knew her.”
    But she longed to; he could hear it in her voice and see it
in her eyes.   Nannies, no matter how
nice, were not substitutes.   Isn’t
that half the reason he’d run all those years ago—to escape the grief
he’d felt over losing his mother?   “And your grandparents?   Her
parents?”
    “I found the letters they sent when I was a teenager.   They’d never been opened.   I guess when they didn’t receive a
response, they figured I didn’t want anything to do with them.   By the time I tried, they’d died.”
    Her bastard father had used her like a pawn, Jessie mused,
and had ignored her for the better part of her life, excluding her from the
only family she had.   “So I take it
you don’t have the best relationship with your father?”
    She laughed, but there was no humor in her voice.   “No.   I’ve always been nothing more than a
burden to him, unless he tries to use our so-called relationship to his
advantage.”
    Jesse had stopped eating while she talked.   He continued, hoping to encourage
Angelita.   She hadn’t touched her
food since the first bite.   “How?”
    She shook her head, picked up her spoon.   “No, I’m officially done talking about
my family.”   After a bite, she
looked up from her plate and smiled.   “I met your son today.   He’s
adorable.   As handsome as you and
your father both are, I believe he’ll be even more so.”
    Jesse reveled at the compliment.   Ty had inherited the best of him and
Kerri Ann, both physically and in temperament.   “He’ll be pleased you noticed.   You’re all he talked about on the ride
home.”
    She raised her brows in amusement.   “Does he live with you?”
    “No, he lives with Kerri Ann.”   Jesse took two pieces of bread and
handed the basket to Angelita.   She
placed it untouched on the table beside her.  
    “He seems to have come away from your situation relatively
unscathed,” she said and then looked at him sheepishly.   “Sorry, but Cal told me about your
divorce.”
    “No worries.   I’m
familiar with Cal’s loose lips.   And
no, Ty doesn’t have any baggage from our divorce or my time away.   He’s an incredible kid.”
    She was watching him and those chocolate eyes made him feel
like he was under a spell.  
    “You love him very much,” she said.
    “More than anything.   It took me a long time to get around to being the parent he
deserved.   I’m still trying.”   He didn’t want to discuss his rocky
marriage and the time he spent away from his family.   Not tonight.   It shocked him, though, when he realized
he would discuss it with her, eventually, if she stuck around long enough.   Maybe it was because Cal had already
burst the dam, but he typically didn’t open himself up to a woman and