Full Contact by Tara Taylor Quinn Page B

won a brownie.
    And, at one point, had laughed out loud.
    â€œYou want some juice?” Martha pulled a jar of pineapple juice from the refrigerator. A component of the diet she’d been on since shortly after Ellen’s father left.
    â€œNo, thanks.”
    Wearing jean shorts and a T-shirt, Martha had come from the production room at Montford where she was now production manager of the university television station. Her mother had lost weight over the past seven years and looked as good as any of the students she helped.
    â€œHard to believe Josh has been gone only eight days.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œHave you talked to him today?”
    â€œYeah, this morning. They were leaving for a trip to Boulder—going to a ski resort.”
    â€œWhat’s a five-year-old boy going to do in a ski resort in the middle of summer?”
    â€œI intended to ask Aaron that question, but Josh said Daddy and Jaime were in the bathroom getting ready. He was playing a video game.”
    â€œIt better not be any of those violent things. You don’t think Aaron would let him do that, do you?”
    â€œAaron is as determined as we are to see that Josh grows up without violence,” she said. “He was playing some racing game with one of the educational characters he and I watch together.”
    Ellen didn’t have nearly as much faith in her ex-husband as she once had, but there were some things that didn’t change. She hoped.
    â€œStill, I’ll feel better when we have him back,” Martha said, leaning against the counter.
    The way her mother was looking at her, with the worried frown that she was trying to force into a smile, put Ellen off her mark. She knew the look from those hellish months following the attack. If not for Martha’s watchful care, Ellen might not have made it through.
    Her mother and David had saved her life. They loved her more than anyone possibly could.
    â€œTell me what you found out about Jay,” Ellen said.
    Martha had tried to tell her this morning during the ride, but Ellen had cut her off. She couldn’t be in the man’s company while listening to gossip about him.
    She would rather not listen to it at all.
    â€œHe has a ponytail for heaven’s sake, El. What kind of man wears a ponytail? Except one who’s thwarting convention? One who wants people to know that he won’t conform?”
    â€œIt’s a ponytail, Mom. Maybe he’s an artistic sort. Or has an aversion to scissors near his head. This isn’t like you to be so petty.”
    â€œIt’s not just the ponytail.”
    â€œI didn’t think so.”
    â€œI shouldn’t be saying anything.” Martha’s voice had the tone the heroines used when about to say something negative about someone. Ellen’s stomach knotted. Theladies meant well. The information they passed on was always true. And they passed it on only when they were attempting to help or protect someone they cared about.
    Still…
    â€œGreg talked to him, as you know.”
    Yeah, and he’d found out that Jay was a therapeutic massage therapist as he’d claimed. One with national certification by the medical board, and with a host of past clients who sang his praises.
    â€œHe has no intention of sticking around, Ellen. He told Greg that point-blank. Which means that if you get involved with him, you’re going to get hurt.”
    â€œI’m not getting involved with him and have no intention of doing so.”
    â€œHe’s shunned every one of our attempts to get to know him better, every invitation. It’s like he’s hiding.”
    â€œHe’s a loner, Mom. It doesn’t mean anything.”
    â€œGreg mentioned something to Beth the other day that she should never have repeated. But when she saw you on that man’s motorcycle, she thought she had to warn me so I could make certain that you don’t get hurt.”
    Ellen took a deep