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“We’ve been following you. Nice parrot.”
Ah, yes, my fake parrot, and the life Hekon had created for me. “He’s pretty cool. Learned some bad habits. Not that I ever swear.”
“Right. So we want you to come. If it’s money, we’ll wire you whatever you need.”
“I guess you guys keep missing the part where I make plenty of money. I’ll even see if my boss will let me use the private jet so I don’t have to fly on a prop plane from last century. But I’mnotcoming home to be crucified.”
“No roasting or nails. Wedidsee you’re dating someone.”
Wait,what? What had Hekon put on my feed? I snapped my fingers at Akoni and Keon, and hit mute. “Quick. Find out who I’m dating.”
Akoni looked confused, but Keon tapped his tablet.
“Well… yeahhhhhhh….” I played for time while Keon figured out what Hekon had done. Keon smothered laughter and shoved the tablet at me.
Pictures of a humanized-Akoni and I living our best life on a beach in Maurlun. With the parrot. Climbing mountains. Free diving. Pictures “he” must have taken of me doing deep dives, vice versa, boating, climbing rocks, me with a shovel digging trenches, crawling in sewer lines…
Keon was also in some of the photos, and it wasn’t clear from some (especially the ones featuring all three of us) what was up. It didn’t seem unlikely from the photos that maybe he wasn’t just the third wheel…
Keon handed the tablet to Akoni, who turned it this way and that in total bafflement. He squinted, then looked at Keon. “Are you and I… a thing from these photos?”
“Might be,” Keon said.
“Hekon has a sick sense of humor.”
Ialmostmade a joke about they looked good together. Teasing Auryn and Akoni? Sure. Keon and Akoni? Probably not a great idea, considering their history. “Mom, I’m happy. I’m not interested in flying around the world to hear about how I fucked up my life or something. You guys went silent on me formonths. What did you think I was going to do? Race home?”
“We were hoping you’d come back to the United States.”
“Not very effective.”
“We noticed.”
“It was alsoreallygreat explaining it to some heads of state why my daddy flew down to impose a curfew.”
“Back to the reunion. This might be your last chance to see your grandparents.”
Ug, gut punch. “It’s not that simple, Mom.”
“How is it not simple? Buy a ticket, get on plane, fly, get off plane, come to the house. I know you’re capable of following instructions with more than six steps.”
Akoni and Keon had to struggle not to laugh while Auryn told themthe sass is genetic.
I looked at the ceiling. “Mom, I’ve been keeping things off social media for professional reasons.”
“I’m not anidiot.Which one are you fucking?”
“Mom…”
“Both of them? At the same time, even?”
“Mom!”
“Pregnant?”
“Hah. No.”
“You married one of them?”
