Shy rolled her eyes. “See you later.”
“Later.” I started up the stairs and pulled open the door. “Hey, Mom.”
“He came through on his promise—and a day early. Will you train the rest of my children to do the same?”
I crossed to the kitchen and bent to kiss my mom’s cheeks. “The rest of your children are hooligans. There’s no training them.”
She chuckled and wiped her hands on a towel. “I thought you were with Addie today.”
“I was, but she wanted to make a run out to visit a friend.”
“Cora Maxwell?”
My brows rose. “Is Hayes looping you in on sheriff’s business now?”
Mom rolled her eyes. “Hardly. Getting information out of him is like pulling teeth. But you know life in a small town. Information travels.”
I hated that for Cora. It couldn’t be easy having everyone know the most intimate details of your life. “Yeah, Addie was going to bring her some groceries and see how she and Jack were doing.”
“You let me know if there’s anything I can do. I’d be happy to send over some casseroles for them. Or if they end up needing a place to stay, we have plenty of room here.”
I gave my mom another hug. “You’ve got a good heart.”
“I try. Sometimes, I’m more successful than others.” She motioned to a stool on the opposite side of the counter. “Sit. You can fill me in on you and Addie while I slice these apples.”
A pile of apples already had their peel removed, and Mom went to work on one of them. I slid onto the empty stool. “Why don’t you tell me how things are around here first?”
My mom pinned me with a stare and then pointed her knife at me. “Don’t you try to evade and distract me, young man. I want to know what’s going on with you and Addie.”
I couldn’t hold back my grin. “I asked her to move in with me once my house is done.”
Mom’s knife clattered to her cutting board. “You what?”
I swallowed back my laugh at her stunned expression. “I asked her to move in with me.”
“And she said?”
“Yes. I honestly thought I’d have more of a fight on my hands, but after the initial shock passed, she agreed.”
Tears filled my mom’s eyes. “Beckett.”
“Oh, shit. Don’t cry. You know I hate it when you cry.”
She dabbed at her eyes with the corner of her apron. “They’re good tears. You both deserve so much happiness.”
I stood, rounding the counter and pulling my mom into my arms. “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she has that.”
Mom hugged me hard and then released me. “You won’t have an easy road. Addie has been through so much. Even with as many months as she stayed with us, I still know next to nothing about it, but I know it was bad.”
“It was.”
Mom’s brows lifted. “She told you?”
“A lot of it. I doubt all. But enough for me to want to throw Allen to a pack of rabid dogs.”
“That man is the worst of the worst. I can only hope that Karma will come for him one of these days.”
“I’d like to help Karma along,” I muttered.