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“Emmett. You’ve been ignoring my calls,” Mom greeted me after one ring. As usual, I could barely say hi before she went into whatever speech she had saved up for me. “You know, I’ll give you some credit for texting me to let me know that you are in New York this summer, but at some point, I’d expect you to call and explain why you lied about being away. To your own mother. Who loves you.”
I laughed, rubbing the back of my neck as I stood in front of my window and stared out at the street.
“I don’t know, Ma. I think it might’ve been the two-page list of friends’ daughters that you emailed me. Gotta say, that was a bit of a buzzkill.”
“I wasn’t telling you to show all of them around, I just thought you’d pick one or two to meet if the dates of their visits matched up with your availability. What’s so hard about that?”
“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know.” I ran my hand through my hair as I turned away from the window. “The real question is why you even believed that I’d be gone that long. I’ve never just upped and done that.”
Mom was quiet for a second.
“I don’t know, Emmett. I just assumed that maybe you’d finally gotten tired of everything and just… run off.” Something in
my chest twisted as I heard her sigh. “Honestly, a part of me hoped that you were really leaving for that long, because Lord knows you deserve it.”
“Stop.”
“I do mean it though, Emmett. As your mother, it would make me happy if I knew you could spend even a few weeks away. Just so you can get a breather. You could go to a resort or maybe some – ”
“Ma,” I interrupted. “New subject.”
She sighed again. “Fine, moving on,” she said, though it took her a second to think of something new to say. “How’s Aly? Are you two getting along okay?”
I snorted at her question. It made me feel like a kid again because it was always what she asked every week or so, after she figured Aly and I had enough time to “cool off” from our last fight. Not that we ever had real fights.
At least not till the big one junior year.
I honestly never thought we’d get to talk about that again, let alone make peace about it. But last night was miraculous – in more ways than one – and somehow, Aly and I were finally over our hurdle.
“She and I are getting along just fine,” I answered Mom, smirking at my own massive understatement.
“I feel bad that I promised her the house to herself and now you two are spending the summer under the same roof. Especially since you had that little falling out. I know it’s never quite been the same between you since.”
That “little” falling out. Yeah.
My parents obviously knew about what happened to cause Aly and my fight. The entire school knew. But years after all that shit went down, I lied to my mom and said that Aly had finally responded to my messages and we’d buried the hatchet. I kept the lie up by saying that we talked here and there, that I’d met her once or twice for lunch, but that we were no longer close.
It was for Aly’s sake more than mine. My mom had been in the hospital the day Aly was born – she loved her like a daughter, but she was also fiercely protective of me in a way that she wasn’t with even Julian. Maybe it was because I was the younger one. Maybe it was the fact that I was the one who was around during her darkest times. Whatever it was, it meant that there was no doubt in my mind that she’d take it personally and lash out at Aly for ignoring my attempts at contact.
And considering how much Aly had always craved my mother’s approval, I couldn’t do that to her.
“Well, if your roommate situation is peachy, that’s one less thing for me to worry about,” Mom said. “Anyway, now that I know you are not in the Maldives, will you be making it to the game this Sunday? Gram misses you and Ozzy.”
“Of course,” I said. Sundays at home were on autopilot for me. For as long as I could remember, I spent Sundays at Empire Stadium with my family. It had been a tradition since I was a baby – one that included Aly’s family, too. Of course now, the tradition had us sitting not in the bleachers but a VIP suite behind home plate.
Perks of being related to the owner.
“Perfect,” Mom said. “And feel free to bring Aly. I don’t think she’s watched the game from our suite yet.”
“Sounds good. But I thought I wasn’t allowed to bring girls to Sunday games,” I grinned.
“Well, Sunday is a family day, so no bringing girls unless they’re serious girlfriends. You know that,” Mom lectured. “But Aly is different. I know she’ll never be your girlfriend – Lord, I wish – but she’ll always be a part of the family.”
I held in my laugh. There was no reason for Mom to suspect anything romantic between Aly and myself, but I still didn’t want to tip off her ultra-sensitive radar when it came to my dating life. I could only imagine how she’d react if she found out that Aly and I were any kind of involved. She’d probably sob for hours and have wedding invitations out by the end of the week. Just the thought made me shudder.
“Anyway, Ma, I gotta go. Someone’s calling me.”
“A girl?”
