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That made Charity feel better "Will people be upset when they find out? Won’t they think you tricked the city council into hiring s You kno stubborn everyone can be Do you really think I could have convinced them to hire an unqualified candidate?"
"No," she admitted "They would rebel"
"Exactly" Marsha touched her ar and you have a fresh perspective You have the experience necessary and the energy to get the job done You’re the one anted I would have hired you even if you hadn’t been hter I hope you believeto htforward, but I was terrified I thought by bringing you here, we could get to know each other"
Charity nodded "It’s okay I understand why you’d be cautious I want to get to know you I want us to be faain, but the sadness had returned to her eyes "You’re probably still trying to figure this all out Do you want to pick this up another tirateful Marsha understood "It’s a lot to take in"
"We have ti anywhere"
Charity stood and started for the door When she reached it, she turned and hugged Marsha The older woed her back The brief e sense of having lost nearly twenty-eight years tugged at her
As she stepped out into the afternoon, she wondered what she could have done to make the outcome different, but knew there was no answer She’d been a kid, dependent on what herfor family, she hadn’t known Sandra’s real last nas and hadn’t found even a hint about her life before Charity had been born
If only, she thought sadly But there was no way to change the past There was only the future and what she chose to do with her life
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHARITY RETURNED TO the hotel and climbed the stairs toward her room She wrestled with dozens of e, she stopped in front of Josh’s door and knocked
It was a Saturday afternoon, she reminded herself He wasn’t likely to be there But seconds later he opened the door, looking as gorgeous as ever in a T-shirt and jeans He needed a haircut, she thought, taking in the slightly shaggy hair And a shave She had to ad for her to co bad I went to see Marsha"
He shut the door behind her, then took her hand and led her toward the sofa But when they got there, she couldn’t sit She felt restless and uneasy
"Why?" she asked, facing Josh "She was my mother I know she cared about me She kneanted to be part of a fa But she didn’t tellNot even after she was dead That’s all it would have taken A little note with a name and an address But she didn’t bother"
Charity couldn’t reconcile the information "So where does that leaveave a damn about me?"
He reached for her
She shook her head "No Don’t I need to say this"
He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets "Then I’ll stand here and listen"
She drew in a breath "When I was a junior in high school, we ain I told her this was the last tiraduate from a school I’d attended for at least a year I ainst the s had been
"Did she keep it?"
"No She left and I stayed I had a job and the rent on our ot by and I graduated with e applications and knoould still be at the same address when they sent the answers But she wasn’t"
Charity felt the burn of tears and willed the
"She didn’t coraduation It was too far and she didn’t have the money I told myself I was fine, but I wasn’t I wanted someone there, someone to see me take this momentous step She didn’t bother and she didn’t tell me there was someone ould care, ould take the tiood reason How am I supposed to tell her how pissed I aain and this tiht not have the answers, but he ar and for a fewto be all right
He stroked her hair, then ran his hand down her back She rested her head on his shoulder and breathed in the scent of him
"My mom left, too," he said "I was ten"
Charity reh to look into his eyes "I’" He cupped her face in his hands "I’ I understand what it’s like to be abandoned by the person who’s supposed to love you best in the world By the tio look for her, it was too late She’d died I was angry Beyond angry I wanted her punished I wanted her to pay, but ive up everything for their children and she couldn’t even stay? Was it me? Or was it her?"
She saw the pain in his eyes The questions that would never be answered
"Eventually you make peace with it," he told her "You ht But there was a scar from the wound and sometimes that scar ached
She raised herself on tiptoe and pressed herHe responded in kind She closed her eyes and lost herself in the heat that flooded her body There was so to be said for a dependable chemical reaction
His hands dropped to her waist, then her hips He urged her closer and she illingly, her body nestling against his She parted her lips and he deepened the kiss She ainst hers, giving herself over to the blood rushing through her body