A grin broke out on Carter’s face.
“No such luck, Harvard,” Captain yelled over his shoulder, causing Carter’s laugh to intensify.
I chuckled, shaking my head as I watched the pair disappear behind the Captain’s door. At the same time, my cell phone rang. I picked it up from my cot without looking and answered, “Hello.”
“Hi, son.”
My eyes snapped shut in regret. I should’ve checked before I answered.
“Hey, Ma.”
I’ve barely spoken to my mother since the night of my father’s birthday party. When we did speak, she tried to ask if I was still seeing Angela. Hearing the disapproval in her voice, I chose to maintain my distance for the time being.
“Are you working?”
“Yup.”
“Okay, I don’t want to keep you, but I did want to ask if we could meet for lunch or dinner. I’d like to talk. We haven’t spoken,reallyspoken, in so long.”
I snorted. “I can’t do lunch or dinner. I’m working an overnight shift.”
“What about tomorrow?”
I closed my eyes, chest rising as I inhaled. “We can do breakfast around nine-fifteen tomorrow morning.”
“You won’t be too tired after your shift?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, let’s meet at that little breakfast place not too far from campus that you love.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Okay, son. I love you.”
“Me too, Ma.” I disconnected the call wondering what to expect at breakfast.
****
I walked into the breakfast place that was just a block away from the university where my mother had been a faculty member for more than twenty years. When I looked around, I saw my mother waving in my direction, already seated at one of the booths. I sauntered over to her table, feeling the eleven calls we went on the previous night. My goal was to get this over as soon as possible and head home for some sleep.
“Hey, Mom,” I greeted, pressing a kiss to her cheek before sitting.
She frowned. “You look tired.”
“We had a busy night.” I ran a hand down my face.
“I figured you would be tired. I ordered a cup of coffee for you. Black.” She pushed a mug of piping hot coffee across the shiny surface of the wooden table towards me.
Relief flooded my veins as soon as the smell of the coffee hit my nostrils. This jolt of caffeine would help hold me over for the next hour or two until I could get home to my bed.
“Thanks for this.” I took a sip. “So, what’d you want to talk about?”
“Let’s order breakfast first, shall we.” She waved her hand for the waitress.
I held my tongue just wanting to get this over and done with. I was tired as hell, and frankly, I was leery of what my mother had to say. She ordered an omelet with toast and fruit, while I got a breakfast sandwich on an everything bagel.
“Okay, breakfast has been ordered.”
