“I know,” I mumbled. “Never could put off bad news, though. Just prefer to get it and figure out what to do next.”
“Okay, Walk. I’m here for you,” he said, wrapping his arm around my chest as he pressed his body against mine.
Who knew that a soft cock against my ass was the comfort I needed right now?
I grimaced at the name on the screen as I hit the button for speakerphone. “Momma?”
“Augustus Walker Junior, you are no son of mine.”
“Good morning, Momma. I heard that you were caught on video driving a getaway car.”
“How dare you,” she said, voice quiet but filled with rage.
“I didn’t have anything to do with it. The police asked surrounding businesses for their surveillance footage, and they provided what they had.”
“You’re lying. My neighbor Geraldine saw you talking to the sheriff, holding that man’s hand, no doubt spilling your nastiness for all of Seguin to witness. Never in my life have I had the embarrassment of a night in jail. And now look at me.”
“Momma, you and Daddy tried to ruin my career, and then you tried to destroy Joel and Ozzie’s new restaurant. I’m sorry that you spent the night in jail, I really am. I hope you were treated well, and I hope you were safe. But you always said that when you make your choices, you also make your consequences. Don’t tell me you’re trying to go back on your word now.”
“Stop calling me Momma, you dirty boy.”
Guilt churned in my belly, but it was a weak thing.
“I’m not gonna take you seriously now,” I told her. “I know you’re upset, but I have no doubt that the justice system will treat you with kid gloves. I’ll be here when you realize what you’ve done and are ready to apologize.”
“You wantmeto apologize for whatI’vedone? How dare you. Look at whatyou’vedone. You’ve ruined this family. I’ve always wondered if somehow the wrong child hadn’t died, and now I know it’s true.”
Her words took my breath away, if only because they echoed what had been going on in my brain all these years since that awful night. I knew she was upset, and some part of me always knew my parents’ love was conditional. I just hadn’t been prepared forhowconditional.
“Momma, the thing I wonder is?—”
She hung up midsentence, not even letting me answer her.
“—if you ever truly loved either of your children at all. Or at least me.”
“Walk, I’m so sorry,” Oz said. “Come here.”
I turned toward him, and he put his arms around me in a tight embrace.
“I’ve never heard a parent say something so hateful to their child.”
“She didn’t use to be like that. Or—” I sighed. “—maybe she was, but never this bad.”
Ozzie kissed the side of my head. “I have all the sympathy in the world for a mother who’s lost their child. Really, I do. But people lose loved ones all the time without being hateful like that. And hell, if you’ve got to be hateful, hate the world. Hate God. Hate the government. Hate the system. But don’t hate your own son. She is so lost right now.”
“Yeah, well… getting disowned was not on this year’s bingo card, but here we are.”
I thumbed through my phone automatically and stopped when I realized I’d missed a text from my rep last night.
CarlaUnionRep:Mr. Walker, we need to discuss your case at your earliest convenience. I will be in the office early tomorrow morning.
I didn’t think it was possible for my stomach to drop farther, but it did. I showed Oz the text, and he wrinkled his forehead. “I don’t understand. I thought your rep said the case was basically dead in the water.”
“Maybe she just needs additional information? Maybe it has to do with people overhearing what I said the other day outside the restaurant?”
Ozzie ran his hand over his beard. Neither of us believed that. “Want me to go with you?”
I let out a dry laugh. “Thank you, but if I can’t attend a meeting without my boyfriend, that doesn’t say a lot about me.”
