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“Yeah, bull. Did you get moved? Are you alive? You lose your phone for a month?”
A month…shit. “You may not know this, Mom, being you’ve moved exactly twice in your entire life, which moving takes time. Not to mention, we had some issues. Plumbing, all sorts of things.”
“You’re so full of it, Burke. Anyway, how’s the new place?”
“It’s beautiful here. I’m not quite used to it yet, but Damon being so happy, it makes it worth it.”
I picked at a tiny loose thread on my jeans as she let me know all about my thousands of relatives, and how stubborn my dad was for not retiring. “Ma, you know he loves working. If he was underfoot all day, you’ll kill each other.”
“That’s true. It’s bad enough on the weekends. Still…we could go on a cruise or something. That would be nice. Go to Italy, you know? I still have relatives there.”
“I know, Mom. Maybe I can send you soon. Take your friends! Go on one of those eat, pray, love trips.”
“Don’t tempt me. Anyway, are you and Damon okay?”
I decided to let her in on our interest in Joel. “Ma, do you remember what I told you about us? How we were looking for someone…to like join with us?”
“God, if only I could forget that. I pray for dementia.”
I laughed and scolded, “Mother! That’s awful.”
“Well, you find one?”
I took a deep breath. My mother was great, she took good care of me, being she’d wanted ten kids and was stuck with only one after my birth made it impossible for her to have more. I was doted on my entire childhood. Still, I was scared to death of the women. “We found him, we think. We’re getting to know him.”
“Is he nice?”
“Very. He’s from Oklahoma originally, so he’s got a heavy accent that is very cute, and he’s sweet. I think you’ll like him.”
“I’m sure I will. Just take care of your heart. I know you think you’re so big and tough, but you’re a marshmallow inside and you know it.”
She was right. Sometimes I thought my rough actions in the playroom were covering that soft core. “I love you, Ma.”
“Love you. I’ll send your love to your dad because you never call him either.”
“He hates talking on the phone! He grunts the whole time.”
“One day, you’ll miss those grunts.”
The guilt. My mother could guilt me like no other. “Thanks for that, Mom. Talk soon.”
“In Burke-speak does that mean a month or a year. I get confused.”
After I got off the phone with her, I called my dad and sure enough, there were about three grunts before he rushed off the phone to get back to work. I smiled and realized she was right. One day, I’d miss that terribly.
Getting back to work, I dove into the plans for the club.
The blueprints were being drawn, and he had a group of men willing to do the work at a price we could live with, so it seemed things were happening in that direction, at least.
Maybe it was Joel’s absence, but it felt as if a huge part of us was in limbo. We’d waited a long time for a boy to join us in our life but had never been awkward with one another. Those few days saw the two of us on edge and lost in our own minds until Damon came up to me one night as I cleaned the kitchen after dinner.
His arms were wrapped around my waist, his chin on my shoulder. “Hey.”
“Hey.” I turned off the sink and turned in his arms. His lips met mine in a soft kiss, his eyes half closed. “I missed this, Damon,” I admitted. “I…what’s wrong with us?”
“We’re lovesick as far as I can figure.”
“Already? Can we be?”
