Jobe: Alvarez Security Series by Maryann Jordan Page A

company,” he assured, but noticed that she was still upset.
    “I know she needs to get out more, but I can’t do that and work full time. And if I’m not working full time, then she might not get the health care that she needs. Don’t you see,” she pleaded angrily, “I’m doing the best I can?”
    “I can tell you are. She’s happy an—”
    Suddenly Mackenna jerked her hand out of his, seeming to realize for the first time that he was still holding it. “Don’t call me doll. And don’t patronize me. And…and…just go away,” she said, trying to hold back the tears that were prickling behind her eyes.
    Jobe looked down at his feet for a moment, before sighing. “I really fucked things up, didn’t I?”
    “Yes, you did.” Both stood, nervously looking at each other. Mackenna stared at the large man in front of her, opening himself to doubt and recrimination. The ex-girlfriend in her wanted to rail at him some more for breaking her heart. The counselor in her wanted to know what had changed the man so much that he would turn his emotions off to the point that breaking up with her was all he could do. And the woman in her wanted to take him in her arms. Still. After everything, she wanted to hold him once again.
    Forcing her arms to stay at her sides, she lifted her chin and said, “I do thank you for visiting my mom and for expressing condolences about my dad. I need to go in and make sure she’s all right and fix dinner.”
    He saw the proud stance, recognizing it as one he had adopted many times. The corner of his mouth turned up in a small smile. “You’re welcome. I hope to visit again sometime.”
    She neither accepted nor denied, for which he was glad. At least she’s not throwing me off of the property.
    With her body still stiff as a board, he walked by, touching her hand once more as he passed her on his way to his truck. The feel of her soft skin stayed with him as he drove away.
    Mackenna stood on the walk for a moment after he had left, her hand still warm from his touch.
    *
    After dinner, Mackenna was washing the dishes when her mom moved behind her, wrapping her right arm around in a hug.
    Smiling, she said, “I love you, mom.”
    “Lu ya too, baby ga.”
    “Oh, I haven’t been a baby girl in a long time,” Mackenna protested.
    “Ya alwa be to me,” her mother said, with one last squeeze.
    Sitting at the table, Penny peered at her daughter. “Tak ta me?”
    Sighing deeply, Mackenna faced the window looking out into the small backyard at the setting sun. “Something happened over there, mom. He never told me and wouldn’t tell me. He just sent me a Dear John email and no matter how many letters or emails I sent back begging him to not break up with me, he stayed firm.”
    She turned, leaning her hip against the counter and stared at her mom’s sympathetic expression. “I was going to wait for him…fight for him. But that next month dad got cancer and it just seemed like the next year was a blur. I was finishing college, sitting with dad when he had chemo and trying to help you help dad. And then a year later, daddy was gone. By then, I didn’t care what Jobe Delaro had gone through. I was worth more. We were worth more than just him tossing us away.”
    She gave a little shrug and finished wiping down the counters. Her mother was quiet and she wondered what was going through her head.
    “Ya da wa in Vie-nam,” she said, struggling with the words. “He came bac not good.”
    Staring at her mom, Mackenna realized that she had never heard this story. “Do you know what happened to him, mom?”
    Shaking her head, Penny replied, “Na. He sad. Na sleep. Som-ti mad.” Lost in her thoughts for a moment, she then said, “It hur ta see him like tha.”
    “What did you do? How did you survive?” Mackenna whispered.
    Her mother gave a lopsided smile. “I jus lov him. Tha wa all I knew ta do.”
    As her mother stood, Mackenna embraced her, holding tight. “I love you,