Only You

Chapter 5 Hot Mama

"Yep, I sure am dating his son. Do you remember Eldred Clark?"

"Mother you're sixty-five, and he's only four years older than me!"

Clarissa got a good laugh enjoying Rena's exasperation. Rena was having a hard time adjusting to the death sentence that Ian painted, and looking at the radiant smile of her mother and the real sparkle in her eyes. "Baby girl, age is not a factor in our relationship. You don't understand. I can't go through this illness alone. I need love, sex and companionship. That man makes me feel alive."

Rena was speechless.

"Humph, the rest of you may think I'm waiting for chariots and angels, but I'm not through living yet. And for sure I'm not about to tie myself down to a man of my age, ready to retire. He'd expect me to take it easy during my illness. That's embracing death. I'm embracing life."

Rena couldn't believe her ears. The thought of their twenty–five–year age gap kept playing in Rena's mind like a scratched record. What other mind-blowing revelations would this trip hold? She stared at her mother and couldn't possibly fathom her in any relationship; let alone a relationship with a young doctor. She knew Eldred Clark. They'd played together as children. She kept shaking her head. Mom is dating Dr. Clark, not the father, but his forty-year-old son. Good Lord!

"Blake told me..."

"Blake told you what?"

"That a whole lot of things had changed since I've been gone."

"Baby girl, you don't know the half of it. You should've come home three years ago."

Clarissa walked out the door, leaving Rena in a very uncomfortable haze about life in her beloved Savannah. To say that she was bewildered on the inside would be a complete understatement. She didn't know whom to believe – Mom or Ian. Her emotions were in turmoil over seeing Blake and one thing that she had looked forward to was sleeping in her old bed. Not only did she not get to sleep in her old bed, she couldn't even enter the house. Now she was left alone to anticipate another shocker.

***

It was around seven in the evening before Rena finished scouring the house. She'd cleaned every room, tossed expired food out of the pantry and the refrigerator, detailed all the bathrooms to military precision and literally took a white towel and did a "glove test" over every area she dusted. She had enough fragrance in the air to suppress the smell of cigarette smoke, at least while she was there. There was not a window or mirror in all 4000 square feet that was not sparkling. Even walls, doors and doorknobs had been sanitized. It was just like a day at the La Meridian, except she was doing the work instead of her staff.

This time, she was able to fling herself into a chair and not have to move garbage and papers to find the seat. She'd found enough to do to keep her mind occupied the whole day. She realized that this needed to be a working trip if she was going to survive all of the changes. Ian came in to find Rena sprawled in a chair sound asleep.

"Is this my house?"

"It won't be for very long if I see you put one thing out of place."

"Still feisty, huh?"

As angry as she was with Ian, she was still glad to see him. "After all this work, don't mess this place up, okay?"

From the look on her face, Ian knew he'd been a big disappointment to Rena. He was still upset with her for not coming back to Savannah three years ago. Yet, when he saw her the night before, there was a tug in his heart that made him glad that she was home. He might not be able to make up for all her disappointment, but he could start with the house.