AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was about to object when Cage cut me off.
“Nero, says he has it!” he said abruptly.
It startled me. I had clearly upset him. But, at the same time, I couldn’t let him pay for me. It would be unfair. Nero might not have known it. And, Cage might not have realized how unfair it would be. But I knew, so I couldn’t let it happen.
“Can I at least leave the tip?”
“The tip?” Nero asked confused.
Cage growled. He was not happy.
“For the cook,” I clarified.
“If he wants to tip the cook, let him tip the cook,” the cook yelled from the kitchen.
I didn’t realize that he could hear us.
Nero laughed. “Alright, you can leave the tip.”
I pulled out enough to pay for the meal and left it on the table. I tried to do it so Nero didn’t know how much I was leaving, but he did. His eyes flicked up at me amused by what I had done. Thankfully he let it go.
“Do you want to leave your truck here and ride with me, or follow?” Nero asked.
Cage looked at me.
“Whatever you want to do,” I told him not wanting to upset him any more.
“We’ll follow you,” Cage said getting into his truck.
The drive to Nero’s place turned out to be long. They lived 25 minutes out of town. That was fine because it gave me time to check in with Cage.
“How are you feeling?”
“Nervous. Scared. What if she doesn’t like me?”
“Cage, she’ll love you. Everyone does. I just hope she likes me.”
Cage didn’t reply. Didn’t that mean that he was worried about the same thing?
I probably shouldn’t have come. I could see that now. But it was too late for him to drop me off at the bed and breakfast without making things worse between us. So I instead chose to keep my mouth closed and be as invisible as possible.
Cage was meeting his mother for the first time. I just wanted him to be comfortable. He seemed to be having a hard enough time as is. He didn’t need all of the complications that I brought along with what he was already going through.
When Nero’s truck pulled over, it was into a sparsely populated trailer park. I didn’t know what I was expecting but I wasn’t expecting this. I looked over at Cage to judge his reaction. He didn’t have one. I could tell that he was on edge, but it probably didn’t have to do with where we were.
Following Nero to an aging mobile home that reminded me of the office on a construction site, we parked next to Nero’s truck and joined Nero in front of it. Nero looked at Cage with sympathy in his eyes. He looked like he wanted to tell Cage something before he invited him in. He didn’t.
“Come,” he said nervously before leading us up the wobbly stairs to the front door.
Waiting at the bottom of them, I put my hand on the railing. Paint chips stuck to my palm. Subtly brushing them off, I waited my turn to ascend and enter.
Inside was worn, but tidy. The linoleum floors, floral wallpaper, and wooden kitchen cabinets had all faded to the same shade of beige. It was also very small. To the right of the door was the kitchen. To the left was the TV room and past that was a small hallway with three doors.
I turned to Cage. His eyes were locked on the woman sitting on the couch in front of the TV. With her dark, graying hair, angular features, and face full of dimples, there was only one person she could be. She had clearly been as beautiful as Cage was handsome. But time, and a hard life, had caught up with her.
Not having turned when we had entered, Nero called to her.
“Mama?” Nero said getting her to turn around.
