“It should.He destroyed the life you built together, and look at what he left you with.”I flipped through the bills again.
“Those aren’t his fault,” she said.“I’ve just had some rotten luck with jobs lately.It’s the economy.”
“Seriously?Mom, if he hadn’t taken everything from you when he left, you wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“He didn’t take everything.I kept three percent of the shares.”She looked away because we both knew she’d gradually sold those shares back to him, each time she lost a job and had to supplement the bills—like now.
“Why do you keep defending him?You don’t actually still love him, do you?”
Mom looked at me, her expression both sad and compassionate.“Do you know why I think you should talk to your father?He has the connections I don’t.He can help you in the future when I might not have the means.”
“I’d rather stub my pinky toe on a thousand end tables than ever go to that man, looking for any kind of help.”
She cracked a smile, as I’d hoped.
“That seems a bit extreme.”
“It’s not.Pinky toes are superfluous.I’d survive without one.I might not survive dealing with him, though.”
“I missed you so much, Sophie.”
“Same.Now let’s recalculate this using my salary from Steele and Lunar.”
She opened her mouth to shut that down, but I held up a hand.
“We both need this house.I can’t afford to live in the city on my own with the student loans I have.Let me contribute, just until these are caught up.”I tapped the bill pile.“You can owe me if you want.I’m zero interest and won’t shut off your power if you’re late on a bill.”
The look she gave me was full of regret and gratitude.“I don’t know what I did in life to deserve such a great kid.”
“You put up with the sperm donor.You’re owed.”
She laughed and got up to hug me.Her arms had barely wrapped around me when my phone started to ring again.We both looked at it.
“Just answer it,” Mom said.“Now I’m curious what he wants.”
My aversion to the man who helped make me ran deep.But my gaze slid to the pile of bills with determination.Mom wasn’t wrong about Dad.He could help.Whether he would or not likely depended on how it benefited him.And I wouldn’t know that until I found out what he was after.
Use him like he used her, Soph.
I picked up before it went to voicemail.
“I said not to call,” I said instead of a hello.
“I hate texting.It’s too impersonal.”
“We haven’t had any contact in eight years.I think we’re at impersonal.”
“That’s why I called.I want to make up for that, Sophia.Let’s have lunch tomorrow as a family.”
I wanted to tell him to bend over and bite his own dick, but I managed to refrain.Only barely.He seemed to take my silence as agreement.
“Come to Seventeen Twenty-One at twelve-thirty.I have a room reserved for us.We can talk more then.”
He hung up before I could even decide if I wanted to go.
I looked at the phone, then at my mom.
“What did he say?”
