Honest Betrayal Read Online Free PDF Page A

mother’s beguiling smile. It made you forgive her anything. She could torch your house, demolish your car then flash a smile that would make you forgive her. She flashed one now. “It’s so good to see you.”
    Brenna’s grin was more forced. “Yes.” She set her briefcase down as her mother returned to the kitchen. The phone rang. She waited a moment then picked it up. “Hello?”
    “Hi,” her brother Stephen said. “I just wanted to warn you that Mom’s thinking of stopping by.”
    “Too late.”
    His voice rose in surprise. “She’s already there?”
    “Yes.”
    “That woman moves at the speed of light.”
    “Or you’re just too slow.”
    “At least I tried.”
    Brenna drummed her fingers on the couch. “You could have called me at work. You always wait until the last minute. No wonder I was born before you.”
    “Did she cook something?”
    “Doesn’t she always?” She rested her elbow on the couch. “Do you want to stop by?”
    He hesitated. “What face is she wearing?”
    “Her ‘I’m here because I care’ face.”
    “Hmm. I think I’ll pass.”
    “Coward.”
    He laughed and hung up.
    When her mother came out of the kitchen again, Brenna said, “Now how do I ask this delicately?”
    “You’ve never been delicate. Always blunt and straight to the point. That’s probably why—”
    “I don’t have a boyfriend.” Brenna sighed, finishing the familiar phrase. “I suggest that every couple of months you change that statement.”
    Diane untied her apron. “What do you want to know?”
    She kissed her mother on the cheek to soften her words then whispered, “What are you doing here?”
    “Visiting you of course. I have a key.”
    “I know that. I didn’t envision you picking the locks.” She tossed her mail on the table.
    “You’re limping.”
    Brenna headed for the kitchen, raising her eyes instead of her fists to the ceiling. “I always limp, Mom. I have a bad leg.”
    “Yes, but some days you limp more than others. How can you expect to get a man when you look like a ...”
    Brenna stopped and began to smile. “Like a what? A broken horse, a maimed giraffe? A cripple?  Don’t leave me hanging.”
    Diane waved the comment away. “You know.  Have you been doing your exercises?”
    “Every day. Why do you think I live on the second floor? I’m forced to climb stairs.” She rested a hand on her hip. “So why are you here?”
    “You already asked me that.”
    Brenna grabbed a plate. “Yes, and if I ask enough times you might tell me the truth.”
    “Fine. Today I went to the grocery store and met a man in produce—”
    Brenna held the plate to her chest like a shield. Horror crawled up her skin. “Tell me you didn’t give him my number.” The look on her face said everything. “Oh Mom!”
    “Your grandparents are coming for your cousin Trina’s wedding next month. She’s three years younger than you.”
    “That’s because she was born later.”
    Diane didn’t smile. “Do you know how hard it is for me to say you’re still unmarried? That you’re still unattached? You’re thirty. There’s no reason why you should still be single. My generation, the women of the 70’s, made it easy for you. You can meet men on the same playing ground.”
    “Field,” she corrected.
    “You don't have to perform all the schemes we had to. You don’t have to wait for a man to come to you. You need to be more proactive. Instead you spend your time fixing other people’s lives.”
    Brenna briefly thought of the handsome bully who had interrupted her lunch break. “And in some cases ruining them,” she muttered.
     “And not your own,” Diane finished.
    Brenna ladled some stew into a deep bowl. “If it ain’t broke...”
    Her mother rested a hand on her shoulder. “I worry about you. Ever since—”
    Brenna sat at the dinning table and shook her head. “Don’t mention his name. I warned you that your tongue might shrivel up one day.”
    “He was a wonderful