“Then, I wake up to find an unexpected man sleeping on my couch before I’ve even had my first cup of coffee,” Mom continues. “You’re lucky I realized it was you before I got the golf clubs out and started swinging.”
I laugh, opening one eye to look at her. I’ve seen this woman swing a golf club. It wouldn’t be pretty to be on the receiving end of it. “I’m grateful you didn’t hit me.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” She frowns, but her features have softened considerably.
“I’m fine. But can we please talk about it later? I’m exhausted.”
Mom nods, reaching out and patting her hand on my knee. “You could have gone to the guest room when you came in. You didn’t need to sleep out here.”
“I was afraid I’d make too much noise and wake you up.” I yawn, standing up with a big stretch. Mom stands with me. She’s not that much shorter than me at 6’1”. I get my height from her side of the family, but I look more like my dad. “And I don’t know if it would have been worse if you found an ‘unexpected man’ sleeping in the room next to yours instead of out here.”
“You’re right. I may have grabbed the gun.”
I snap my head at her with mild concern, but she just laughs. It’s a little terrifying to know she’s being serious.
“This is why youcallsomeone to let them know you’re coming, so that accidental murders of presumed intruders do not occur.” She smiles, every bit the warm and comforting expression she’s always had, but behind it, I can’t help but see that she would absolutely not hesitate to kill someone if she needed to.
“You weren’t kidding about hiding a body, were you?” I ask with a nervous chuckle.
“Ride or die, kiddo,” Mom says cheerfully. “I’d never let you go down without a fight.” She gives me a little wink. My god, I never realized my mom was this much of a badass.
Wrapping her arms around me, Mom puts her head on my shoulder and hums, “I am so happy to see you, kid. You don’t come around enough.”
I wince slightly at that statement, but hug her back just as tightly, lifting her up off the floor until she screams at me to put her down with peals of laughter. She smacks my arm as soon as she’s back on the ground, and I can’t help but grin.
“I miss when you were too little to do that.” She laughs. “Go back to sleep. We’ll chat later, okay?”
“Okay.” I nod. I give Mom another big hug, then head toward the spare bedroom.
I flop down on the bed, wrapping my arms underneath a pillow, and before I know it, I slip into unconsciousness, too tired to think about anything else.
Chapter Eleven
Coming Out
“Wouldyoucaretotell me why your friends are under the impression I’m dying?” Mom asks, one hand on her hip and her cell phone in the other. She’s got one brow arched very severely, which she turns to me with suspicion.
I nearly choke on my coffee as I sit at the counter, eating the scrambled eggs and toast she made for breakfast. Even though it’s technically lunchtime, I didn’t wake up again until noon.
“Um…” I cough, looking down at my food with a frown. “Who is asking if you’re dying?”
“Well, Marcus asked if you made it here all right when you weren’t responding to his texts. Then he sent me a bunch of heart emojis and said, ‘I hope everything is okay with you. Please feel better.’”
She shoots me a stern look, and I shrug, still avoiding her stare. That’s nottooincriminating.
“Then, both Ben and Eric spammed me with hearts and crying faces and, I quote, ‘Noooooooo Mrs. C, you can’t die. Live, damn it. Think of your children!’ Just what the hell did you tell those boys you were coming down here for?”
“Jesus Christ,” I groan, dragging my hands down my face. Why do they have to be such idiots sometimes?
“It’s sweet that they think of themselves as my children.” Mom chuckles. “But my only real child has some explaining to do.”
I sigh. “I may have lied and told them you were sick.”
“Ethan.” Her voice is stern and admonishing, and I flinch.
“It was the only way I could get the emergency time off work, and I really needed to get away for a bit to…deal with some stuff,” I defend, flinching again.
“And you couldn’t have told your friends what was going on? You lied to them, too?” Mom frowns, looking at me closely.
