“Me too.” I lost myself in the warmth of his embrace. No one ever hugged like Eli. “Anyway, I’m taking off. I’ll see you this weekend.”
“Yes, talk to Grace.” With a smirk, he grabbed my chin and planted a hard kiss on my lips. “I’ll probably room with Nick Penny. He’d be okay with us having the room, but there’s a lot less explaining with Grace.”
“There is.” A smile pulled at my lips. Patting his ass, I climbed into my car. “Bye, Eli.”
He shut the door and waved as I started my engine.
The next day after classes,I threw my backpack on my bed and dug my phone from the pocket. I had a spare hour, and Grace still wasn’t home. Time to discover what Mom knew about Dad.
After shutting my door, I phoned Mom and put the call on speaker, and then hopped onto my bed, sitting cross-legged.
The line rang a few times and then picked up. “Hello? Wren?”
“Hey, Mom.” She wouldn’t have withheld this information. It wasn’t like her. I should start with the formalities. “How are things?” I pursed my lips.
“Fine. I closed on a house yesterday, so I’ve got a fat check on the way.” She chuckled. “How are things with you? You sound tense.”
Of course, she picked up on it. “I am. Dad called me last night.” I rubbed a tense muscle on my neck.
“He did? And it wasn’t your birthday. That’s a first.”
“Right?” Taking a deep breath, I straightened my spine. Now for the big question. “Did you know he moved here?”
“Moved where?” she asked.
“Here, to Arizona. Scottsdale, to be exact. He’s probably living less than thirty miles from me.” Would it hurt her to knowhe’d gotten his new wife pregnant? No, they’d divorced when I was young. I brushed my fingers in a circle across my bedspread.
“I did not know that.” She gave a sharp hum. “Wonder what he did with the house in the East Bay?” Her breath snagged. “I can look it up and see if he sold it or rented it out.” She snickered sharply. “Or if he just left it empty. I wouldn’t put it past him.”
Why did any of this matter? Maybe it was the realtor in her. “Anyway, Mom, he wants me to have dinner with him and Karen. I’m uh, going to see them next week.” My gut tensed. This felt like I was betraying her. I was though, wasn’t I? She’d raised me, while he’d barely paid child support.
“Oh?” She took a deep inhale. “Well, that seems positive, right? Maybe he’s finally come to his senses and decided to be a father.”
My heart stung. That was it exactly. With expecting a new baby, he had to step up. “He, uh, Karen is pregnant. With a boy.”
The line went silent for a beat.
“Mom?” Was she still there? I stared at my phone. Maybe I shouldn’t have told her.
“Oh,” she said. “You’ll finally have a sibling.”
“I…I will.” I worried my lower lip. This conversation was harder than I’d thought. “I don’t want to go to his house. I’m not sure what to do.” Could getting to know my dad cause a rift in my relationship with Mom? But we were so close.
“Wren, you need to go. He’s your father, and he should be in your life. Well, more than he has been.” She huffed. “I wished he’d come to his senses years ago, but this is the hand we’ve been dealt.”
“Yeah.” I planted my elbow on my thigh and my forehead in my hand. This sucked. Telling her this sucked. “So…”
“Yes?” Her voice lifted.
“I, um, have something else to tell you.” Shit, would she be upset about Eli too? She’d been there through my broken heart. “Eli Dawson is here playing football.”
“No…” She tsked. “Damn, you’re getting a full dose of past emotional trauma.” She chuckled.
“Yeah, sort of.” I picked at a thread on my shorts. “I’m seeing Eli again.” Might as well just say it. “He’s…he’s changed, Mom.”
She freed a sharp breath. “Are you sure? I don’t want you getting hurt like that ever again. It was terrible.”
“I know, Mom. But Eli is out to his family and volunteers on a queer hotline at the university. He’s fully embraced his sexuality, and he’s…” Fuck, he’s so damn attractive andstrong. “He’s agreed to go with me to Dad’s and wants to be there for me.”
