I answered, already smiling. “Hey.”
“Dean!” Relief and excitement tangled together in her voice the way they always did during competition weeks. “Are you settled in properly? Is the room decent? I read an article saying the beds aretiny and the heating barely works, and your father says you’ll survive perfectly well without either, which is obviously not the point?—”
I laughed, sinking back against the headboard. “Mom, I’ve been here less than a day. I think I’m holding up okay.”
“You sound exhausted.”
“That’s because I crossed half the planet yesterday.”
“Have you eaten?”
“Yes.”
“Actual food?”
I closed my eyes. “I knew this was coming.”
“Dean.”
“I had vegetables,” I said solemnly. “Multiple vegetables. You’d be proud of me.”
“Iamproud of you,” she said in a heartbeat. “I’m always proud of you.”
That warmth hit me square in the chest every time, no matter how old I got.
A brief pause followed, and then I heard the curiosity creeping back in. “How’s the Village?”
I groaned. “Oh, we are absolutelynotdoing this.”
“What? I’m asking a perfectly innocent question.”
“You have never asked a perfectly innocent question in your life.”
A muffled sound came through the speaker, followed by my dad’s voice somewhere in the background.
“Don’t interrogate him.”
“I amnotinterrogating him,” Mom protested.
“You’re one sentence away from asking if he’s met any nice girls.”
“I was not going to say girls specifically?—”
I laughed hard enough that I had to drag a hand over my face. “Okay, now I’m definitely hanging up.”
“Dean, wait.” I could hear her smiling. “I just wanted to know if you’re enjoying yourself.”
The question caught me off guard a little. I stared up at the ceiling for a second before answering. “Yeah, I am.”
“Good.” Her voice became gentle again. “You work so hard, sweetheart. I want you to enjoy some of it too.”
Dad’s voice cut back in. “Enjoy it responsibly.”
“I heard that,” I called.
“You were meant to.”
“I’m not doing anything stupid.”
