“He needs someone with backbone. Someone who won't let him get away with his bullshit.”
“He does have a lot of bullshit,” I say.
Jim laughs. “He gets it from me, unfortunately.”
We're still laughing when my phone rings. I glance at the screen and my whole body tenses. It’s my mother.
“Excuse me,” I say, standing. “I need to take this.”
I slip out onto the front porch and answer the call, bracing myself.
“Natalie.” My mother's voice is crisp and formal, the way it always is when she's displeased. “I've been trying to reach you for days.”
“I've been busy, traveling for work.”
“Traveling where? Someone saw your Instagram story. What on earth are you doing in Wisconsin?”
I close my eyes. I forgot I posted that photo of the lake yesterday. Stupid.
“I'm with a patient and his family. It's a work trip.”
“A work trip to Wisconsin.” She makes it sound like I said I was vacationing on the moon. “I don't understand why you took this job, Natalie. Physical therapy for athletes.”
“I like my job, Mom.”
“You could have had a perfectly respectable career in Charlotte. The Hansen’s daughter works at Duke Medical Center now. She's engaged to a surgeon.”
“Good for her.”
“There's no need for that tone. Speaking of which, Brody called me again.”
My hand tightens on the phone. “I don't want to talk about Brody.”
“He's devastated, Natalie. He made one mistake, and you completely cut him out of your life. Don't you think that's a bit extreme?”
I can’t believe we’re having this conversation again. “He cheated on me, Mom. In our bed with a woman from his office.”
“Men have lapses in judgment. It happens. The question is whether you're going to throw away a perfectly good relationship over one indiscretion.”
“It wasn't an indiscretion. It was a betrayal.” My voice rises despite my efforts to stay calm. “And even if it wasn't, the fact that he wasn't even sorry tells me everything I need to know about him.”
“He is sorry. He's been calling me every week, begging for another chance.”
“Then he should have thought about that before he slept with someone else.”
My mother sighs heavily. “You're being stubborn and dramatic, just like your father. Brody is a good man from a good family. Men like that don't grow on trees.”
“I'd rather be alone than be with someone I can't trust.”
“That's easy to say when you're young. Wait until you're forty and still single. You'll feel differently.”
I want to scream. I want to hang up the phone and throw it into the yard. But I force myself to take a breath.
“Does he have my new number?”
Silence.
“Mom. Does Brody have my new phone number?”
