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“Well, are we ready for takeoff?” Cary claps his hands together, winking.
The kid’s faces light up and Cary is officially the best boyfriend ever.
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24
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There’s no formality in the way I pull the chair out for my mother to sit and push her back in. It’s the same natural action I’d do for my girlfriend when we eat out. The only reason I’m aware after doing so is that I want to start out on the right foot with Davina this evening. To be proud of the effort I’m making from the start and for everything to go well.
My mom’s got on the same outfit she wore on our trip to the memorial today. It’s less chic than her country club society norm, which is why it captured my attention. But I’m in jeans and a tee with leather thonged flip-flops.
It’s a good thing we’re at a casual beachcomber restaurant. I’m not sure I could do this back in Brighton at Royce’s over Lobster Thermidor and Steak au Poivre. We need the ability to get as messy as we had teaching Bhodi to crack the lobster tails the night before this. Not that I expect a scene. Davina is a little too refined for public displays of aggression.
Paper placemats are stamped with the menu. There’s a laminated beverage list stuck between the salt and pepper shakers. My mother orders a white wine and I get a draft beer.
Even though I planned the day’s surprise with Laurel in mind, my mother hasn’t stopped thanking me for the plane ride this afternoon. She stops short of expressing the meaning behind her gratitude, but I understand it has more to do with us including her.
Bhod and Emory excitedly clapped taxiing down the runway. Got the adults into the action as Laurel took over the controls. And we cheered again at touch down. When Davina and I left the beach house, the kids still hadn’t stopped talking about how high off of the ground we were. Peering out the tiny windows, the cars looked like lines of ants. It’s an experience they won’t forget. Me either.
The way everyone reacted to the surprise had my chest swelling. It wasn’t an ego stroke the initial way bringing them to the beach to spoil was. I feel like… a family guy. A normal human who does nice shit for the people he cares about because he can.
It’s one more check in the column of things I’ve done right. The list is growing. The overwhelming feeling that I’ve sucked at relationships—connecting with anyone, not only women—isn’t as pervasive as it had been.
“I like Bhodi. He reminds me of someone.” Davina winks, taking a sip from her glass.
“Don’t say me.” I cover my brow, sliding my hand down my beard. Heat rises from my collar. I turn my head and swig my beer.
My mom chuckles. “He’s a good boy. Seems attached to Holly. From what I’ve seen she’s a good mother.”
“She is.” It comes out more boastful than I expect.
The corners of Davina’s lips curl up. She hasn’t taken the statement as pretentious as it sounded. “You were worried I think less of her.”
There’s no sense beating around the bush. “I told Holly about you and Powell the other night, so it was more she’d think less of you.”Of me.“But my girlfriend has been through her own rough patch and people have spilled worse secrets to her.”
“The boy’s father isn’t part of the picture?”
“He’s gone. She’s raised him by herself. That’s why they’re so close.”
“We were too. Then you grew up. Stopped being my little boy.”
“Yeah, I suppose I did.” I huff. Looking back, I went from manipulating Transformers to women in the blink of an eye. “Listen, Mom, I wish I’d known what he was doing to you, to us.”
“Had I recognized it sooner, we both would’ve been better off,” my mom scoffs.
A lot of what Holly’s said about the choices she had runs through my brain. We’re here hashing it out, so why not place my cards on the table?
“If you had to do everything all over again would you have gone after my real father?”
“Hell, No. I would have had the courage to reinvent myself and raise you on my own the way Holly’s doing with Bhodi; Gotten a full-body tattoo. Not worried about what clothes I wore. Stopped trying to impress people whose friendships were fleeting. Learned all I could about your grandaddy’s company while he was still alive and been the one to take the dealership in a new direction.
“Nothing Rex accomplished was all that complicated, Cary. He brought in the right people to assist him; The ones with the true insight. I could have done the same had I had a modicum of confidence in myself as a young woman. It wasn’t a God-given talent your father had. Grandaddy taught Rex the business. My father was a good man who traded in kindness, even if it wasn’t a fair trade.”
It’s true. Rex may have stunted Davina, but she’s not stupid. Neither am I. I’m flipping twenty-five and in charge of billions of dollars a year in inventory. Behind closed doors in the corporate offices, it’s the executives Rexy hired to manage the things he couldn’t who are now showing me the ropes.
A cocky grin slides over my face.
