My turn to frown now. “She told Mum instead of me. She didn’t think I’d believe her.” She was right, to
o. I wouldn’t have. I fought Mum on it tooth and nail, but for all her faults, my mother is the one person I’ve always allowed to have the last word. In the end, I listened because it was far easier than continuing to argue with her.
She continues to frown. “I don’t understand, Luke. Do you two not talk about this?”
I lean forward. “Did Callie tell you we broke up seven weeks ago?”
Her eyes widen. “No.” She shakes her head as she wipes her tears away. “I didn’t know.”
I shift the discussion. Talking about the woman I love to the woman I used to love isn’t something I want to do. “The lawyers are working on your case now. They’re going over all the evidence again. They hope to find some DNA that will prove it was Alanis. Once they feel the new evidence is strong enough, they’ll apply for leave to appeal. Apparently that can take a couple of months to be heard, depending on how busy the courts are. If they grant the appeal, we have to then lodge an appeal against conviction. The Crown will have to test the evidence also. It could take anywhere from nine to twelve months for the date to come up for the appeal.” I pause for a brief moment. “I’m so sorry, Jolene, but this could take a year or more to work through.”
Her tears flow heavier. Her voice is strangled when she speaks. “It’s better than the years I’m looking at now.”
I nod but I don’t reply. My thoughts are stuck.
The next words out of her mouth stun the hell out of me. More because of the raw emotion I hear than the actual words. “Will you please bring Sean to see me now?”
I sit up straighter. “Of course. I’ll bring him as soon as I can book a visit.”
“Thank you.”
I didn’t expect to hear desperation over visiting with her son in her voice, but that’s exactly what I’m hearing. I shove my fingers through my hair and lean back in my seat. “I didn’t think you’d ask to see him so soon.”
She watches me through those sad eyes that are still killing me. “Just like I didn’t think you’d come,” she says softly. “I think maybe there’s a lot of things neither of us thought that are true, Luke. I wonder if we’ll ever get through them.”
Fuck, this Jolene is not the woman I was married to—not in the beginning and not at the end of our marriage. She’s matured and lost the bitchy attitude. I guess prison has broken that out of her and forced her to grow.
I place my arms on the table. “We can’t go back, Jolene.”
Her eyes don’t leave mine. “I know.”
“But we can make a new start and do better as friends and parents.”
Her smile is sad when she nods. “I hope so.”
As I walk out of the prison, the heavy load I’ve carried for the last couple of years feels lighter. Only slightly lighter, but for the first time since it has weighed me down, I’m not struggling to breathe.
42
Luke
“Thanks, mate,” the guy I’ve just passed a beer to says.
I jerk my chin at him and he turns to leave. Surveying the bar, I know it’s going to be a quiet night.
Tyler comes into view as he slides onto the stool in front of me and slaps a fifty down on the bar. “Keep the drinks coming until that runs out.”
“Oh, poor baby,” Avery says beside me. “Did you have a shitty day?”
He scowls at her. “We don’t all have cushy bosses like you do,” he mutters.
She raises her brows. “Oh, really? You think your brother is cushy?”
“What the fuck is up with you two lately?” I ask. “You’re always arguing, driving me crazy with your whining.”
Avery hits him with a glare as dirty as I’ve ever seen. “It might have something to do with his asshole tendencies.”
He returns her filthy glare. “Or her inner bitch,” he shoots back.