AllFreeNovel
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I watch her pull a pitcher of water out and fill the kettle on the stove for some tea. “Did you know Andrew lives in California? With a wife and two kids?”
My mom freezes. Yeah, it was probably shitty to blurt it all out like that, but he’s not exactly an easy topic to ease into. “No,” she finally answers. “I didn’t know that.”
“The kids aren’t his. Supposedly. They’re older than me. But if they’re not…he cheated.”
She walks over and takes a seat at the counter next to me. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I just wanted to tell you.”
“How did you find out?”
“Auden met his daughter at Stanford. She went to his house for Thanksgiving.”
“He’s not a bad man, Elliot.” She lets out a long sigh. “Just complicated. If you want to…reconnect, he might be open to it.”
“I don’t. I’m not.”
She studies my face for a minute. “Okay. That’s okay, too.”
“Do you regret what happened with him?”
She shakes her head. “No, I really don’t, and not just because it gave me you. I learned a lot of important lessons. In a twisted way, I’ll always be grateful for the pain he caused me.”
“Me too,” I tell her. And I mean it. I wouldn’t be who I am today otherwise.
“Mom!” Izzie’s voice echoes from upstairs.
“Sounds like she’s reconsidering bathing. I’d better…”
“It’s fine. Go. Really, I just wanted to tell you.”
“Okay.” She leans over and kisses the top of my head, something she hasn’t done since I was a kid. “I love you, Elliot.”
“Love you too.”
“I heard the lake froze.”
“Yeah, I’ll be headed there first thing tomorrow.”
“I figured.” She smiles and heads upstairs. I turn back to my open laptop like nothing ever happened.
It’s funny how the moments that put you at peace aren’t necessarily the ones you expect, how a quiet conversation in the kitchen can erase more resentment than years of memorizing a former player’s stats just so you know what numbers you need to beat.
Auden
The loudspeaker crackles to life, waking the many plane passengers who dozed off hours ago. Unfortunately, I was never one of them. I fidgeted and second-guessed and recited what I should say to him.
I raise the white screen covering the little window to my left to watch the sun rise over fluffy white clouds.
“Do you live in Calgary?” the elderly woman who’s my seatmate asks.
“Uh, no,” I reply. “Just visiting.”
She smiles. “First trip?”
“No, I’ve been here before. In the summer.”
“Only in the summer?” She eyes the thin jacket I’m wearing.
