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I tried to collect myself and breathed deeply. I hadn’t cried like that in years. I took small, sucking breaths and tried to collect myself. Mayhew could call back any minute now, I told myself.
“Christie?”
“I’m sorry, Mom. I’m okay. I just...” The tears came back again. “I missed you.”
My mother laughed. Loudly. “Oh, sweetie, are you serious? Dry it up. You’re fine. You’ll see me tomorrow.” Her response was so far from what I expected it dried up my tears so fast I didn’t even have words to go with it.
My mother was the most clingy person I’d ever met, or at least clingy to me. How on earth was it that she was so calm after I hadn’t talked to her in, over forty-eight hours? “Mom, how are you not freaking out right now? What... I’m so confused. You’re a nut.”
She laughed again. “Let’s just say a little birdie told me you’ve been preoccupied.”
My face flushed, and my bones felt so stiff they might break if I moved. “He didn’t.”
“Ryan’s a cutie. He responded to one of my texts with a photo of his face and said you’d misplaced your phone. He’s so nice. He said he had plans to meet you.”
“Hewhat? When did he do that? Why would he do that?” I clutched my hair and groaned through gritted teeth. “Henevertold me he texted you.”
“He did. Right after you called him! He said he didn’t want me to worry, but he did mention not wanting to freak you out. Said you seemed like an anxious person.” She giggled again. “Boy, did he nail you.”
Rage filled my gut and swirled like a mass of black weights slapping my stomach and chest. My breaths were coming in spurts—hot, dangerous spurts filling my lungs and coming out as smoke through my nose while I chewed my thumbnail.
“Sorry I didn’t call, sweetie. I figured you were busy, and I’ve been pretty busy myself! How was your conference? Tell me everything about it.”
“My conference?” I’d been so excited to tell my mom about the conference and the idea of moving here but dreaded speaking to her after ghosting her for so long. But it still didn’t make sense. All this time, she’d known the number I was using and hadn’t once called me on it. Why?
Tears swelled my eyes again. I was an adult now. She knew that. But did I?
“Ryan said you’d been calling like crazy. Why if you knew I had his phone?”
“Well, I’m not going to let some random man have your phone without knowing who the hell he is!” she said in the commanding and matter-of-fact tone I recognized. I smiled. “I called him back a couple of times to ask about whether you’d made it to your hotel safe—Dallas is a big place! But I think he got tired of me asking him questions.”
I sniffed, my smile widening as I shook my head. “Of course, you were hounding him. I guess that explains why you weren’t hounding me, but still, I thought you’d be going insane with worry.”
“Nah. I knew you’d call when you were ready. Or when you got your phone back. I just like to know you’re okay, sweetie. Sounds like you’re fine!”
“So whatdon’tyou know then? I mean, I thought I was going to have to do so much explaining, and now I don’t even know what to say.”
“Well, I do wish you had told me about the flight cancelation. I knew it was canceled, but you never called! That was reckless. What if you’d been kidnapped?”
There she was. “Well, I wasn’t, and what do you meanInever called? Apparently, you’ve been talking to some strange man who took my phone and never thought to call me.”
“That’s not my fault. You shouldn’t sleep with random men at airports in the first place.”Oh my God!“But you have always had good intuition. So, if you’re ready to talk to your mother now, start with the conference. That’s the juicy part!”
The juicy part? Knowing I had a one-night stand wasn’t juicy enough? I couldn’t even feel my face; it was so numb and probably redder than I could imagine. I breathed deeply, telling myself there was no point in getting into it with her. She’d win whatever argument we ended up in, always. “It was really good, Mom. I wish you’d been there. Since Ryan had my phone, I didn’t have my notes.”
“Why didn’t you ask him to send them to you? It sounded like he was willing.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know why. But I did it without them.”
“Did you flub?”
“Did I—no, Mom, seriously? Why do you think I’d flub?”
“Oh, stop. I’m only kidding. But you’re always so organized. You get flustered when you don’t have it all together.”
“I did, though! I hadallof it together in my head. I didn’t flub, Mom!” I shoved my hands onto my hips as if she’d be able to see what I was doing.
She just giggled again. “I didn’t say you did! I wasasking. But that’s amazing, Christie. I’m so proud of you! Did you get a job?”
