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His mother smiled at him and sat down in her ancient recliner. “You have no idea how good that sounds to me. People are overrated,” she said. “Fine, I’ll let you take me to my appointments, but you can’t stay here forever. You have a life to get back to.” His mother was wrong. He had no life to get back to and no one was waiting for him back in Huntsville, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. When he walked away from Wren, he promised himself that he’d never look back. It was for the best because there was no way that he’d fuck up his friendship with Blade because his unruly dick wanted Wren.
“We can work that out later,” Yonkers insisted. “When is your first treatment?” he asked.
“Tomorrow,” she said. “It’s stage two now, so they don’t want to wait to do treatment. I guess they’re worried that it will spread this time, so I’m starting right away.”
“Good,” he breathed, “it's better to be proactive about things like this.” He had no clue what he was talking about. Honestly, he had no idea what any of this would entail. He really didn’t have time to do much in the way of research when he was planning on traveling north to take care of his mother. But he planned on doing a ton of research while he was in New York.
She giggled as if capable of reading his mind. “You have no idea what’s about to happen, do you, Chris?” she asked.
He shrugged, “Not really, but I’m ready to learn. Just let me help you, Mom,” he begged. “I just want to help you.”
She nodded, “I appreciate that, Chris. Now, about dinner,” she said, “what can you make.”
“Anything,” he admitted. “I’m actually a pretty good cook now.”
“Well, wonders never cease,” his mother teased. “How about you go make us some dinner then?” she asked.
“Sure thing, Ma,” Yonkers agreed. He bent over to kiss his mother’s cheek as she sat in her chair. “You just stay put and relax.”
“Now, that is something that I can do,” she teased.
* * *
Yonkers had spent the better part of the month running his mom to doctor appointments and treatments, watching her get weaker by the day. Seeing her like this broke his heart, but all his mother seemed to care about was his wellbeing. No matter how many times he reminded her that it wasn’t true, she liked to point out that his job needed him and that he couldn’t stay with her forever. Working in IT gave him the ability to work from anywhere. Sure, his current government contract was with the Army, and he was reporting to Redstone Arsenal when he was back in Huntsville, but his boss understood the gravity of his situation and told him to take the time that he needed to care for his mother. He learned to work in hospital waiting rooms and even late into the evening, at his mom’s home, while she slept. He was making it work, but his mother’s worry about him was consuming her.
He didn’t miss having to report to base or having to deal with co-workers. Working remotely suited him. In fact, the only thing he missed about Huntsville was his club and God help him, Wren. He missed her most of all, but putting distance between them was for the best. If Blade found out that Yonkers had slept with his little sister, he’d murder him.
He had just started lunch for his mother, not that she’d eat it when the doorbell rang. She stood from the kitchen table. “I’ll get it, so you don’t burn my grilled cheese—again,” she teased.
“You need to rest, Mom,” he insisted.
“I need to eat more than I need to sit in that chair. You make my sandwich, and I’ll sit down and eat it after I get rid of whoever is at the door.” His mother was always a master negotiator. When he was a kid and refused to eat most of the major food groups, his mother would make him deals that had him eating all his broccoli and green beans.
“Fine, but don’t be long,” he ordered. “It’s almost done.”
“I don’t know where you got your bossy side from,” she said, shaking her head at him.
“I learned it from the best,” he teased. “You were a good role model, Ma.”
She chuckled and shouted for the person at the door to, “Hold their horses,” as she made her way to the front room. Yonkers could hear his mother talking to another woman and from the sound of their conversation, his mom was asking the person at the door a million questions. Yonkers turned off the burner and moved his mother’s grilled cheese sandwich to a plate before walking out to the front room.
He froze in his tracks when he found Wren standing on his mom’s front porch. He looked her up and down and damn if she didn’t look good—even in her overly baggy t-shirt and leggings.
“What are you doing here?” he breathed.
“I’ve come to find you,” she said. “We need to talk, Chris.”
His mother looked between them and sighed. “You should come in and sit down. You look about ready to drop.” He wondered what his mother was talking about. Wren looked great, but when he took another look at her, he could see how tired she was. It showed in her dark eyes. His mother was right, she did look about ready to drop.
“Chris just made some grilled cheese sandwiches; can I get you one?” his mom asked.
“That would be great,” Wren said. “Thank you for your kindness.” His mother breezed past him, telling him not to mess things up under her breath on the way to the kitchen.
“Blade said that he heard your mom is sick,” Wren whispered. “Will she be all right?”
He shrugged, “We don’t know yet. She’s in the middle of her treatments. She had breast cancer when I was a kid and well, it’s come back again. This time is proving a bit trickier, even with all the new medications.” Wren surely didn’t come all the way to New York to ask about his mother, right? “Why are you here, Wren?” he asked, cutting right to the point.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d want to see me. You left without a word, and I haven’t seen you since our—” she didn’t finish what she was about to say, but he knew exactly what she was going to say next.
