Page 18 of Jonny’s Redemption

“Only person I wanna talk to is sitting right in front of me.”

He knew he’d given her the right answer, even though he was simply telling the truth, when her smile turned blinding.

The phone stopped ringing and he asked, “Wanna go out to breakfast or stay in?”

Before she could answer, his phone started ringing again.

“You should at least see who it is.”

She was right, but he had a feeling he knew who it was. The guys had given up calling weeks ago. The only two people Jonny had communicated with since he’d been at the beach were his mother and nephew. Caleb didn’t call, though if he did, Jonny would’ve answered. The boy texted instead. The only person who still rang his phone was his mother.

Unfortunately, Jonny couldn’t put Anita Spencer off.

With a great deal of irritation he wished he didn’t feel, Jonny pulled his phone from his back pocket and looked at the screen. Irrational annoyance set in.

He swiped the screen to connect the call and brought his cell to his ear.

“Ma?”

“Jonathan.”

That’s all it took. Just his name and Jonny’s jaw clenched. It was barely coming on eleven o’clock in the morning and he heard it.

“Everything okay?” he asked gratuitously, knowing damn good and well there wasn’t a damn thing okay in his mother’s life.

The question was perfunctory. A cursory greeting. A ridiculous question he asked every time she called knowing how she’d answer.

“Of course.”

Lie.

Everything was always a goddamn lie.

He was acutely aware Bobby’s eyes were on him and try as he might Jonny couldn’t force his body to relax. Not when it wasn’t even lunch and he could hear the slur in his mother’s voice.

She’d started early. On a good day, Anita waited to hit the bottle until dinner time and didn’t finish until she was annihilated. On not so good days, she started as soon as she rolled out of bed.

It was a not so good day.

“Will you be home for your dad’s birthday?”

“Ma,” he snarled.

“I just thought you’d want to go to the cemetery with me this year. You haven’t been. I thought…maybe Caleb and Rory would like to go.”

Involuntary rage took over.

“Don’t you dare call Macy and ask her that shit.”

Jonny heard his mother’s swift inhale but he felt Bobby's presence. Just her nearness felt like a physical touch. She was getting up out of the chair, ready to come to him, comfort him. Any other time he’d welcome it, but not when he was speaking to his drunkard of a mother about his lying, cheating father. Not when the burn of their betrayal was slicing through him. He shook his head and Bobby’s step faltered but she didn’t stop her approach.

Jonny needed to get his mother off the phone with her promise that she wouldn’t reach out to his sister-in-law Macy.

“Why in the world not?”

Clueless.

“To start with, you’re halfway to sloshed. Macy doesn’t need to hear it.”