Free Derailed by Gina Watson Page B

that is still no excuse. You were very kind yesterday.” She wrung her hands. “I hope you will accept my apology.” She bit into her lip and looked down at the floor.
    It was a little too little, a little too late, wasn’t it
? He was headed back to Boston, thankful to be done with Baton Rouge. At least he could respond to her kind gesture.
    “This is great, Fiona. Thank you.”
    Both Fiona and Ryder continued to stare at him wide-eyed and he realized his reaction hadn’t been grand enough. He took his phone from his pocket and handed it to them. “I’d like a selfie with pancake man if you don’t mind.” He held a dry pancake up next to his face and smiled cheerily. Fiona took the shot. “And one more for good measure.” Everett stuck his tongue through the mouth on the cake while Ryder laughed. Then Fiona took a selfie of the four of them with their heads together—pancake man taking up one of the middle positions.
    While he was finishing off cake number three, Harmony walked into the kitchen.
    “Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware you had company.”
    “Please come, I’ll introduce you. Harmony, this if Fiona and her son Ryder.”
    They exchanged greetings.
    “You have a broken arm.” Harmony pointed.
    “I fell out of a boat,” Ryder boasted.
    “Whoa. I broke my arm in the same place when I was eleven.”
    “I’m ten. How did you break your arm?”
    “I fell off a horse.”
    Ryder’s face became highly animated as he sucked in a huge breath. “Do you have a horse?”
    “I do.”
    “Harmony has a bunch of horses.” Everett smiled proudly.
    “Wow! Do you ride them?”
    “Every day.”
    “I wish I could see them.”
    Harmony turned to Fiona, “You’re welcome to bring him around. I could actually use help feeding them.”
    “Oh Mommy, please can we help feed them?”
    Fiona dazedly asked, “When do you feed them?”
    “A horse will eat whenever you put out a pail of oats, so why don’t you guys just come on over when you get done here? Everett can tell you how to get there.”
    She placed her hand on Everett’s shoulder, “Thank you for letting me stay here last night.”
    “No problem.”
    “See you guys soon.”
    Fiona’s eyes followed her out of the room. For the duration of breakfast and the cleanup following, she refused to look in Everett’s direction and partook little in the conversation.
    “Can I see your pool?”
    “Yeah buddy, let’s go take a look at it.” Everett clasped Fiona’s hand to force her gaze to his eyes.
    “If you’re busy we can leave.”
    “I’m not busy. I’m glad you’re here.”
    She looked away, but nodded. He led them out to the backyard. As soon as he opened the door Ryder ran through it and out to the edge of the pool.
    “Can I sit on the steps?”
    “Is that okay?” Everett asked Fiona.
    “Sure, he just has to keep his arm dry.”
    “Make sure you don’t get your cast wet, buddy.”
    He sat on the porch and she followed his lead, sitting on the chair next to his. She cleared her throat and nervously fidgeted.
    “Listen Everett, I want to formally apologize about last night after you were so nice. I guess I already said that in the kitchen, so to bring it up again is pretty pathetic. I uh just wanted to say thank you for being so patient with Ryder. I know his personality is quite large, so thanks.” She looked around anxiously.
    What could he do to make her relax
? He liked the relaxed Fiona much better. “I think maybe I should be the one apologizing again. I never intended to suggest you weren’t doing a good job raising Ryder.”
    “I know that, Everett. Anyway, what you said is right. He’s completely starved for male attention. Maybe it was selfishness, or I was scared. I don’t know, but for some reason I thought it would be better to just not see anyone while I raised him.”
    The sadness and regret in her voice tugged at the veins in his heart. “It’s not too late, you know.”
    “Isn’t it?”
    “Not at all. And