Page 131 of Fierce Storm
“Good. Any wise words for what I should do?”
“Are you actually going to listen?”
“Maybe. You seem to have your head on straight this time. You didn’t make the best choice for your first partner, although I suppose you got three wonderful… one wonderful child out of it, and two that aren’t so bad. This time around, you did good. Phil is a keeper.”
“He is. But I’m afraid I can’t take credit for that one. He did the chasing. You know me. I’d all but given up on love.”
“Shut up. No, you hadn’t. You were on that dating app for…more established people.” I cringe and she laughs again.
“For old people, you mean?”
“Age is just a number, remember?”
“You’re right. And I was on that app. But I wasn’t looking forloveif you know what I mean.”
“God-fucking-dammit,” Easton groans behind me and I spin around so fast, my neck hurts. As fun as it is to see him in pain, I didnotwant to run into him today. “Why? Why are you always talking about things a son should never have to hear?”
“I told you not to visit. Seems like I have two disobedient children.”
“Three, actually.” Addie walks through the door, and I internally groan. Yay for random family meetups.
“Hi, Addie.” Mom waves while I blow out a breath.
“Hi, Mom.” Addie darts around Easton and pushes past me to stand next to Mom’s head, brushing Mom’s hair off her face. “How are you feeling? Are the doctors looking after you? Where’s Phil? I thought he was spending the night.”
“I’m good. The doctors are great, and Phil wasn’t needed here so I sent him home to check on the cat.”
I snort at the same time Easton does. Mom doesn’t have a cat. She’s just trying to amuse herself during one of Addie’s “mothering” moments.
“You have a cat? Since when?”
“That’s not important. What’s important is that I’m good. The doctors are sending me home this morning, so you all wasted your time.”
“It’s not wasted, Mom.” Addie rubs her hand with a sympathetic smile. “We all want to be here.”
“I don’t,” Easton announces, and Mom smiles appreciatively, always preferring honesty. “I hate hospitals and I kind of wish I’d called Phil before I came. Do you want a ride home? I’m heading to the stadium, so I’ll be going right past our building.”
“That would be great. Can you let Phil know he doesn’t have to come in?”
Easton nods as he pulls his phone from his pocket, heading into the hallway. And I take that as my cue to leave.
“I’m going to go, Mom.” I stand and squeeze Addie’s arm before walking around to the other side of the bed. “I’ll stop by later this afternoon. I’ve got some running around to do.”
“Is that code for work or your boss?” Addie bites back a smile and I roll my eyes.
“It’s code for running around.”
“You owe me lunch. I need to know everything.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“You better call me, bitch. I’m not leaving until we talk.”
Dammit. “In that case, lunch today. Twelve o’clock at the Westerley.”
“Sounds perfect.”
When I turn to Mom, she’s biting back a smile of her own, not at all taken aback by our sarcastic banter. “Love you, Mom. Thanks for the chat.”
