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There is a long pause. “Jon, are you okay?”
Why does everyone keep asking me that? “Yes.”
“You aren’t getting stressed out, are you?”
“No.”
“Jonathan Howard.”
“Okay, a little. She’s…she doesn’t believe in schedules.”
“Oh.”
“The only food she keeps on hand is fifty types of cereal.”
“Hmm.”
“And, well, she has kind of a filthy mouth.”
Jesus, when Avery cusses, I can’t control the way my body reacts. I try not to let my mother know how I feel about that. It’s not like she used profanity in front of me, but I could hear her cussing while she was upstairs getting ready. It’s not anything I have ever been into before. Never really thought about it, to tell you the truth. But for some reason, hearing Avery mutterfuck me… set all my nerves on edge. And not in a bad way.
“Nothing you aren’t used to. I know what some of your programmers are like.”
I shake my head. Sometimes I want to tell my mother I have done more with my life than just computer stuff. It’s in the past, but there’s always been this little part of me that wanted to share my work with the CIA.
“Is there a reason you called?”
“You’re my baby boy.”
“A fact that both of us have known for a while. I don’t see the reason for calling all of a sudden.”
She continues on as if I didn’t make a smart-ass remark.
“And after getting off the phone with Estella, I thought maybe I should call you. She’s worried about you.”
I snort.
“Jonathon.”
“You’ve used my full name twice in one phone call. I guess I must be in trouble.” She doesn’t laugh like I expect her to.
“Mom, I’m fine. I promise. I’m worried about this woman because she seems to have gotten her clutches into Estella. That isn’t normal.”
“Yes, it is an odd relationship, but according to Estella, she was raised by her grandmother. Seems like Avery might be comfortable with your grandmother.”
“Still. Have you known Estella to ever do anything out of the kindness of her heart?”
“Yes.”
I blink. “You have?”
“We had the life we did, thanks to Estella. She isn’t a warm and fuzzy kind of person, but she did take care of us. Let’s be honest. She could have fought for custody in court. She didn’t, and I’ll always be grateful for that.”
I sigh. I know she’s right. “Okay. But, like I said, I want to keep an eye on this woman. She’s odd, to say the least. She brought a damned cat to dinner last night.”
My mother laughs. “That must have been a hoot.”
“Yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so weird in Grandmother’s house.” I smile, thinking about it.
